ABSTRACT
Alonso de Nava Grimón, marquis of Villanueva del Prado, is a key figure amongst the many personalities marked the Enlightenment in the Canary Islands. Already in 1784 he had gone to Paris with his friend Agustín de Betancourt, and he brought back an excellent library which today is preserved in what was his palace in La Laguna. In 1809 he was appointed representative of the Canary Islands in the Cortes. His boat trip from Lanzarote to Seville suffered so many vicissitudes that, after landing on the Cape of San Vicente, he decided to continue his journey by land. This communication describes his march along the Algarve, and then through Spain until reaching Seville. Comments on the letters the marquis wrote to his friend Teresa Juana Guerra del Hoyo are provided. In them, he vividly discusses all the incidents of the journey, describing whatever attracts his attention: the landscapes, the people, the villages, the cities, the urban planning, and the Portuguese traditions, highlighting the similarities and the differences with his Canary Islands.
