Gran Canaria, 2018.



GRAN CANARIA BLOG
MARCH 2018

For my blogs on other islands, click;
Fuerteventura HERE
Gran Canaria HERE
Madeira (2 visits) HERE and HERE
Majorca (2 visits) HERE and HERE
Skiathos (Greece) HERE
Kefalonia HERE
Cyprus 2018 HERE
Parga 2019 (Greece) HERE





The 'Beast from the East' weather front (as it had been dubbed by the media) was fast approaching, and I spent a sleepless Monday night peering regularly out of the bedroom window to see if the forecast snow had arrived. Flying from Manchester airport in the very early hours of Tuesday, I was very tense.

We set off at 4:30am, and it started to snow around 5am.

This was what the planes looked like when we got to the airport.

Sitting on board, the view through the window 
over the wing was dire.

We had a wait of one hour while the plane was de-iced, then it was up, up and away!

Fast forward 4 hours......
Same plane, same wing, different sky :-)

Our home for the next 16 days, 
Jardin Dorada suites, Maspalomas.

The G&T patio, which backed onto a golf course. 
Serenity personified :-)



The next day was overcast, but warm.
These huge canals are there to take away flood water - do they REALLY need to be that big??

During Saturday night, it rained.....HARD! 
This answered my question.
Yes - they DO!

A walk along Maspalomas beach showed conditions were not perfect.
The Canaries (and the rest of Europe) have had a weird winter. We were told that they have had so much rain, they have enough water for to last THREE YEARS! 

 Looking over a sculpture to the Faro (lighthouse) of Maspalomas.

The nature reserve pond - swollen and overflowing, due to the recent rains.

There was only one way to get across the overflow.

Just a pile of wet sand - right?

THIS is what these guys turn wet sand into - the most detailed sculptures.
This one is the last supper.

 Three little minions.

Me and my pal Homer.


We decided to take a trip to Puerto Mogan, or 'Little Venice', as it's known (because of the many canals).
The wind, which had dropped considerably, had whipped the waves up, and it was EXCITING!
NB - on any video on this blog, click on the 'full screen' icon (bottom right) to get the best effect.

Two panoramas of Puerto Mogan bay.

Although the open sea was heavy, 
in the protected bay, all was calm.

Click on any picture, especially these panoramas, for a larger version to get the full effect.


The pretty streets of Puerto Mogan.



I tried my Spanish out on a local, but couldn't get a word out of him!



Back at the complex, this little fellow came hunting for scraps on the patio after dinner. 





 The weather was calming down, and the sunshine was ramping up.



Prickly pear - called that for a very good reason!
If you're ever tempted to pick one, here's some advice......
DON'T!


PART TWO.

How lovely is this? 
Sue makes her way to breakfast through a leafy arch.

Just one of the many lovely traffic islands on Gran Canaria.
The other Canary islands also do this.
It's this attention to detail, and pride that shows the islands care.

We walked into Del Inglis to pick up the hire car we had. We intended to explore the islands inner.

"We have your car, sir" They said.......


"We've given you an UPGRADE", they said.......


"IT'S A SKODA!!!" I said!!

Skoda or not, we headed off for our first foray into the mountainous interior of Gran Canaria.
The roads are a joy to drive, with their many twists and turns.

Not for the faint hearted, however.


The first major viewpoint,




We got to the village of Fataga, one of the prettiest villages I've ever seen.

We stopped for coffee in this delightful cafe.

The view from the patio was to die for!

A sumptuous array of  hams behind the bar.

We sat in the shade by the church, eating ice cream and taking in the views.
As you can see, the weather had improved significantly, and we could really feel the hot sun.
This was more like it!

What do you do if there's a large rock in the road??
Here, they put a line round it, and treat it as a roundabout!

Time to face the midday sun. We reached Roque Nublo, and began the 90 minute walk up to it.

This rock is called 'The Bishop' - it's fairly obvious why.

Sue records it all for posterity.

Roque Nublo - for scale, there are some people at the bottom.


A snow covered Mount Teidi on Tenerife, 
peeping out of the clouds.

That is SOME view!!


Our kind of road!

With views like this all around, Sue & I were in heaven.

After what was a superb day in the mountains, we returned to our bungalow, watching this 'cool cat' avoiding the late, but still strong, rays.

A G&T on the patio while watching the sunset seemed in order.

Next day, Sue had her eye on a secret 'hidden gem', one of those beaches or places that you read about.....(so how are they 'secret'?) :-)

Anyway, we love exploring, so it was off into the mountains again, this time towards a place called Tasartico.

On the way, we just HAD to stop at this viewpoint.



Look carefully, see the rusty old, burnt-out 2CV at the bottom?

Visitors on island trips are often brought to see the colours in the amazing volcanic features at the side of this road.

You ALWAYS get a road sign that insists on 'photo-bombing' your best shots!

With views like these, I could drive these roads for no reason ALL day!

But reason we had, and after reading; 'drive as far as you can, then park up and walk down the road' - we set off.

On the way down, there were a lot of cloches, some had bananas in, but most had tomatoes - MILLIONS of them! We saw this dump, and I wish I knew why they had been discarded? There were tomatoes in all states of ripeness, just dumped???

Now, this WAS a surprise!! After walking for just over an hour, 3.6KM (we also realised we COULD have driven further down the road), we came across this - a full blown camp site!!
It had pitches, little shed-type things to stay in, a supermarket....it even had a SWIMMING POOL (but this had been filled in - I wonder why??).
( Read about it HERE )

HOORAY! Tasartico beach - well, it IS, but we were blissfully unaware that we had missed the path to the ACTUAL beach we were SUPPOSED to be visiting - THIS one!


But, it was still idyllic, and we settled down to the sound of the waves and some serious sunning and reading

After a long, relaxing session we packed up and readied ourselves for the long walk back - ALL uphill!

Mind you, with a chocolate fountain back at the hotel later on as a reward, Sue was indefatigable!

Morning brought this sky as we went across for breakfast.
We fancied a beach day, 
Weather was set fair and fine, so off we went. 

There are some real engineering feats on this island! This is
Amadores. The hotels are gravity defying!


Amadores marina.

A long, relaxing beach day, swimming, sunning and snorkeling was followed by a lovely sunset at Maspalomas.




Next on the 'to do' list was Roque Bentayga, sister to Nublo. 
We'd seen, but never visited this site before - time to amend things.
As usual, the views on the way were incredible, and we were lucky to have the perfect weather again.

Click on this picture for a panorama.

Mount Teide on Tenerife was visible above the cloud.

Our goal came into view - Roque Bentayga.



The government have built a visitor centre here, recently refurbished, and it's all FREE! 
This video is the super panorama from the 
terrace of the visitors centre. 
That's Roque Nublo in the distance.




We began the climb up to Bentayga on the well-laid path, which was edged by these starkly yellow flowers. It's a bit of a shock to see flowers when you're used to just cacti!

Sue enjoys the sun & the climb.

The indigenous people dug caves into the volcanic rock here to live in. 
I like this picture, as I am sitting in the past to take it, while Sue uses modern technology.

Lots of evidence of human activity.

This particular place, and carving in the floor, is thought to have been significant, either spiritually, or astrologically.
You can find out all about Bentayga by clicking HERE


The path stops at the base of Bentayga pinnacle. 
It's a sacred place, and the last section is vertical. 

Lots of almond trees in this area.
While we were there, they were in flower.

We continued on our drive right across the island towards Puerto de las Nieves. The drive was incredible, with hardly any other traffic.
At one point, we  were enveloped in heavy cloud, which rolled in suddenly from nowhere.


Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, we came upon this town. It was high in the mountains, and had so many things going on, you'd think it was a seaside place!! Lots of bikers and visitors thronged, & this local cafe/restaurant was busy, with FOUR large rooms and a patio. You would never think a place this big would survive, but it does.

There was even a guy giving DONKEY RIDES!!


There was a diversion, not easy in the mountains, as there's usually only the one road. I wondered if it was worth going along the road, just to see if it was passable.
Glad I didn't - this was why it was impassable - a whole section of it was missing!


We reached the quiet Puerto de las Nieves. 
The mountains were still holding on to some of the cloud from earlier, and it looked fabulous. What a backdrop.

This place is very sleepy. There were just, what we assumed to be, locals on the beach and in the bars and restaurants.


Lovely day for a prom' stroll.


Typical cafes and restaurants lined the sea front.


Anyway, time to leave - it's THAT way.


On the way home, we saw a couple of Hoopoe birds, foraging in the dead leaves.


Part Three.
The Dolphins.


We decided on a trip to see the dolphins.
'Money back, if you don't see them', they said. At 30 euros, we thought we'd give it a go.
We were taken to Aguinaguin, and boarded the boat.


That's better, a bit of wind in your hair.
We were taken about 10 miles out, the sea was calm, and we started to watch.

I was a bit bored, so did a very bad 'Titanic' impression.

After searching for a while, the shout went up and there they were in our bow wave.

More appeared, then more - we were all excited.
Soon, they were performing jumps to 'ooo's and ahhhs' from the boat.




Everyone was trying to capture their jumps.











THE CARNIVAL.

Maspalomas carnival is one of the biggest in Europe. We'd heard about it on our last trip 6 years ago, so Sue timed this trip so we could see it.
We weren't disappointed.

Of course, you had to dodge the undead.....




I got into the spirit too.

Exquisite, outlandish and flamboyant costumes were the order of the day, here are just a few of my favourites.






Bread or dead :-)

This guy was hilarious - he kept in character all the time, stern-faced and dour, despite the skirt and high heels!!

Cheese has obviously gone the their heads.

The party went on all evening and right into the wee small hours, but for us, it was time to head back.


The carnival was over, and for us too. The rest of our holiday was spent just chilling and enjoying the welcome sunshine (of which, there was plenty).

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