A little birdie tells me that the weather at home has been lovely which pleases me. The warmer weather and clear skies always cheers me up and somehow gives me more energy and I am sure it’s the same for everyone else. The weather here in Gran Caneria has been grand; it’s a little cloudy to start with but by mid-morning it’s about 23 which is just about bearable to walk in. It gets up to about 28 in the afternoon which, after a long lunch with which generally involves wine, is perfect to flake out on a sunbed. I could live in the Canaries full time.
In the end we decided against hiring a car or a motorbike for a couple of reasons. Firstly, bike hire on the island is not cheap, around 80 euros a day, which makes it even more expensive than hiring a car. But the main reason for not getting transport is that Phil doesn’t want to. When he told me that for once on holiday, he wanted to relax and work on his book, he wasn’t joking. So given that he doesn’t get much time to himself, I need to respect his wishes, it’s only fair. It’s a complete turnaround because normally it’s Phil that wants to explore and I’m the lazy bones that prefers to sit by a pool and read.
From what little I have seen of Gran Caneria (which is not much) my first impression is that it is fairly manufactured but I can only base that opinion on the southern part of the island. I am certain if we were to head inland we would quite easily stumble across caveman and traditionally village life. After breakfast on Friday we caught the free shuttle bus into the centre of Maspalomas. We headed down to the beach and then turned right and walked along the promenade which was lined with some very upmarket bars, restaurants and shops. It was a lovely walk and we walked as far as the path would take us which was to a place called Meloneras. We turned around and headed back to town and in total gave us a good hour and a half walk.
When we got back to where we started which was at the light house, we decided to explore the shops. We found lots of modern posh shops as I would call them but none that could tempt us in. Heading back towards the beach but turning left by the Grand Palace Hotel, we accidentally stumbled upon a cobbled street filled with stalls and little bars with outside tables which is where we stopped for lunch. Phil had spotted a Spanish bar with an oriental buffet so this is where we sat down. Phil thoroughly enjoyed his Chinese food, he went up several times and it served me as a reminder for the future, that buffets are no good for Phil. His temptation to over eat cannot be curbed, but I don’t suppose it matters having the odd treat, after all we are on holiday. The rest of Friday was reading, sunbathing and generally chilling out.
Phil was rather disappointed that we can’t get many English TV channels; we get Sky News & BBC World News and that’s about it, the rest of the channels are predominantly Spanish with a smattering of German channels. Phil wanted to watch the Malaysian Gran Prix qualifying which was on live at 9am on Saturday morning. Normally he likes to watch with a cold beer but this wasn’t an option being on so early in the morning. He had the choice of watching it in Spanish or German, he choose the latter. We left out our apartment just before 11am and caught a taxi to the Jumbo Shopping Centre in Playa del Ingles. Phil blew up our hairdryer and we wanted to get a new one, luckily we found one quite easily and made our way to the beach. On the way down, we stopped to look at a couple of car & bike hire places but decided against for reasons I said above. To give us some exercise, we decided we’d walk back to Maspalomas staying as close to the beach as possible. We found a new boulevard running through bars and cafes and then eventually running along the sand dunes. When this came to an end we had the choice of walking on the sand dunes and along by the sea or turning inland. I choose the later which did turn out to be the wrong choice. One hour and a half later we did eventually get back to the centre of Maspalomas. Phil was sweating and cursing but he did admit when we reached our destination that it had done him some good.
It was lunchtime by this time and we were both hungry. Our very basic guidebook recommended the buffet at La Foresta restaurant at the Maspalomas Oasis Hotel. It took us ages to find the main entrance to the Oasis but once we were in and saw how posh the hotel was, we decided it wasn’t for us. For one thing, the lunch time buffet was expensive and we were way too underdressed. We decided to head back to the charming street that we found the day before but this time we tried a different café. We both had the same, a plate of sardines with salad and canarian potatoes. Sardines are not my favourite fish and the canarian potatoes weren’t as nice as we remembered but never mind a carafe of house red made it all gone down rather nicely. Our Saturday night was much the same as every other night, shower, snacks, reading and then bedtime which was half eight for me and 9pm for Phil. Oh yes, I know we are rather sad. We got to bed just as most other people are going out.
To be honest, my head cold has got me down a bit; yesterday I stopped taking the flu drugs because they were making me feel drowsy. When I said this to Phil, he laughed out loud and said it was probably the wine! Cheeky boy, but I’m guessing it’s a combination of both but today (Sunday) I am pleased to say that I am feeling much better. We are having a really easy day today. Phil made me breakfast in bed and then settled down to watch the Grand Prix which gave me time to catch up with the blog. Nothing else very exciting planned for today I’m afraid. In fact we are not leaving the complex, we are going to the BBQ lunch at our restaurant because we haven’t tried it yet. After lunch Phil plans to write more on his book and I, well I suppose I shall find me a sunbed and have a siesta. Plenty of sunshine, lots of R&R, jugs of Sangria, just what the doctor ordered!!
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