28th August 2020, 03:53
| #1 |
| Newbie  Join Date: Aug 2020 Location: Milton Keynes
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| Gran Canaria, Spain : Eat. Sleep. Drive. Beach. Repeat. The kid and the Mrs joined me in Netherlands(summer of 2018) given that I have been spending more time with my client. They had flown over from the UK. Though the Mrs could work remotely, they had time to kill. The Mrs kept the kid busy within the premises of the hotel and evenings were spent roaming and exploring Amsterdam. We spent a good time driving around during the weekends so these were taken care of. I realised I’d be spending a few more weeks with the client but there was an opportunity to take some days off. And so the search began for places to spend 5 good days away from work. Sitting on the hotel room’s balcony with an ipad and laptop to hand off we went onto the whole wide world. We were not on Insta but Tripadvisor and SkyScanner became our tools of choice. Gran Canaria somehow caught our attention and flights were booked.   A view as we cruised on the Catamaran  Gran Canaria as seen by the people i'd spoken to. Meme soured from https://www.gran-canaria-info.com . The Mrs was tasked with choosing the accommodation. She pulled a winner with a lovely AirBnB condo on a cliff right next to the North Atlantic. This was an absolutely fantastic place which ticked off all our requirements :
 Jorge's condo is the one on the right corner, ground floor  Approaching the Condo  Steps and walk way on the cliff side. a short walk and you are at the small beach with the great north Atlantic to dip your feet in Back in Amsterdam, I had started the search for our means of transportation. Instead of Expedia or the direct car hire sites(i.,e SIXT, AVIS, Hertz, Europcar etc., ), I base my searches on broker sites and site aggregators which consolidate the offers from all major car rental companies. These broker sites also include offers from off-airport renters (close distance mostly with shuttles for drop off and pick up) which offer great vfm options. Here, I drew the trump card. On my favourite broker site, I found a decent economy car, still with four doors at an unbelievable price of EUR 15.50 for the 5 days. Beat that Mrs! This was from a local car hire company. The broker site mentioned Renault Clio or similar but the cars this renter had were all Fiats. We were allotted a Fiat Panda Cross with low mileage on the clock. I wasn’t after any premium or luxury rides and this suit me perfectly fine. By law, it is mandatory for kids to be in booster or proper child seat and I had to pick this up from the rental company. Ironically, the price for the child seat(EUR 5 per day) was more than the price of the car hire itself!   Inset pic sourced from the web With our bags in the boot, we started. The destination was not showing up on my TomTom app(my bad, as I hadn’t input the Spanish characters properly) and hence resorted to Google maps. The directions for the highway and A-roads were pretty clear but for some reason Google Maps took us direct into the town centre and then decided to give us a tour of the whole damn municipality. I parked the car, approached a local and then called Jorge to help me with directions. The local was then able to precisely type in the street name on my TomTom and off we went. We were late, our delay initially due to a late departure of the flight and later compounded by Google maps giving us an impromptu tour of the locality. Jorge was waiting for us and gave us some good tips and information about the local beaches before leaving us with the keys to the place.  A mini garden with gnomes next to the balcony One good thing we did was to not have a definitive list of places to visit or tick off the list. We wanted to explore at our leisure and that’s the benefit of having your own means of transportation. So this article is not a guide for must see places, not that this area of Spain lacks in anything. I’d never driven in Spain before. Actually, We had never been to Spain before! If I remember well, this was the only factor that made us book this trip to Gran Canaria. Then again, Gran Canaria is not mainland Spain. It’s a island south of Mainland Spain in the North Atlantic with Morocco on the East and Tenerife on the west. The highways are pretty wide (6 lanes in some, 4 lanes in most areas) and well maintained. The auxiliary roads are a delight to drive traversing through hills and curvy roads. The roads in Spain are well maintained, atleast the main Highways and principal mountain roads. Having said that, the roads are often winding and at least in some places are not particularly wide. There is of course no street lighting, and an occasional potential issue is falling rocks. The biggest risks however, would come from driving too fast around bends without clear vision. One must be aware too of the many cycling groups who use mountain roads throughout the Canary Islands to train. I also don’t remember any seeing any services or fuel stations on any of the mountain roads. The GC-200, one of the best costal routes to drive, was closed due to falling rocks. Cenobio de Valerón – The Caves of Valeron Quoting from their info board : The Cenobio de Valeron is an impressive archaeological site in the Canary Islands, not only because of the site itself, but also because of its location, on the deep sheer slopes of Cuesta de Silva. To decipher, there is an amazing road to reach this place. Though at a higher altitude, the roads were super well maintained and very easy to get to.  The road to Cenobio de Valeron  The OLD and the NEW… Motorway and Auxiliary road. Noticed a good number of cyclists in groups on these routes. Heard this terrain is very popular for training before participating in bigger events.  The caves can be accessed through a handy staircase. These caves were excavated in the rock by ancient natives and used mainly as silos(food storage perhaps)  El Bufadero de la Garita A search on Tripadvisor found us this interesting place. El Bufadero is close to the promenade. It’s a blow hole formed naturally, a geographical feature which is beautiful, captivating and also dangerous. The rocks have cavities in their interior, so when the tide goes up and fills them, these holes “spurt” the water while making a very characteristic sound, as if they were snorting (“bufando”, in Spanish). Hence the name Bufadero.  We went there in the morning and the tide was not so high. Its at its best in the late afternoons and evenings but not recommended as its not that well lit. Lives have been lost here in the past. We were cautious and didn’t want to risk everything just for a selfie. Pico de las Nieves Pico del Pozo de las Nieves is, at 1,949 metres, the highest point of the island of Gran Canaria and also its centre. The mountain roads leading to this place are easy to negotiate, and they reward any who ventures along them with breath taking scenery around every bend.  As we drove, the Mrs spotted some passing clouds. Was well worth the stop as we were rewarded with an awesome experience.  The road to the summit is called GC-134. It’s asphalted but pretty steep, with sections up to 23%.The road is certainly breath taking.    It is often much cooler up here and it can get quite misty but when the whether is good, the views are amazing.  There is a ravine walk from here to Roque Nublo(the volcanic rock that is jutting out) which we all voted on not to take, as the sun was burning hot at the top .Most of the highest plateau is occupied by a military base, including a big ball-shaped radar. Civilian visitors are allowed to enter a platform somewhat below the base.   A statue of the christ at the peak of the mountain.  Getting ready to leave...  The town of Arucas Maspalomas and Playa del Ingles These are the main touristy places lined with resorts and hotels that we wanted to stay away from, but still, there was that inclination to visit the sand dunes. Walking along the sand dunes, I felt I’d noticed something different, walked back and took an escorted camel ride across the dunes. This luckily happened to be one of those days where we did not use the camera or click any pictures. Spain in general is very liberal and one of the motivational factor for the eurpoean crowd apart from the winter’s sun is Spain’s attitude towards topless sunbathing. Once on the beach, we noticed a few topless ladies and before the lil one could ask any questions and start feeling curious, we diverted his attention to a beach shop nearby. Needless to say, we didn’t spend much time on the Maspalomas beach.  Meme soured from https://www.gran-canaria-info.com . There is one aspect of Maspalomas which should be mentioned. Quote : “Spain is very liberal regarding dresswear in its coastal beach resorts. Topless bathing in Spain is permitted in most places, and nudism is legal and sometimes common away from the main resorts. There are specially designated nudist areas on some of the beaches, and the stretch between Meloneras and Playa del Inglés is no exception. The naturist section is close to the Playa del Inglés end of the beach, but to be honest they may be seen elsewhere, including walking along the shoreline and in secluded localities among the vegetation in the dunes. It's accepted. If you have children or for whatever reason would rather not be "exposed" to this, then stay by the main resorts.” Wish I had read this earlier. The sand dunes were on another level. It is a great place, the Dunes of Maspalomas are by no means uniform. Immediately behind the beach, the sand hills have all the appearance of a desert in miniature. There are places where almost as far as the eye can see, there is nothing to look at but the sand and the tell-tale footprints which show where others have walked before you. As we started to walk along the dunes, I did spot a naturist, who, with his family jewels hanging out in the open, was standing having a smoke, next to a shrub where his partner was resting. Hence, walked back and took an escorted camel ride across the dunes to play things safe and keep the mind sane. Continued in the next thread / reply Last edited by HDarsi : 28th August 2020 at 13:32. |
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28th August 2020, 14:44
| #2 |
| Newbie Join Date: Aug 2020 Location: Milton Keynes
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| re: Gran Canaria, Spain : Eat. Sleep. Drive. Beach. Repeat. Catamaran Cruise and Parasailing We tried calling the cruise operators to book ourselves on their tours but due to bad telephone and mobile coverage, we couldn't get through. We then opted to go to their kiosk directly to check for options. Gran Canaria in the south is for tourists. Its jam packed with foriegners on hotel and resorts lined streets as far as the eye can see. Jorge suggested we try the Morgan pier, and thats where we went. The trips for the day had already set sail and we booked ourselves for the next day. When we arrived the next day, the pier was empty and we were told the catamaran had already departed. It seems they had to shift the timings for operational convenience and we were missed out on the comms update. The folks at Afrikat tours then called the cruise captain, informed him the situation and he confirmed he was not far off. The Afrikat team then drove us 3 in a high speed dinghy boat to the waiting Catamaran in pure James Bond filmy style! We got a high speed boat ride for free! The cruise offers whale and dolphin watching experiences but these experiences were totally dependent on whims and fancy of the aforementioned whales and dolphins. Today, they were having a snooze day perhaps, so we didn't see any.They stop close to a beach for lunch, with a lovely buffet spread. Lunch and drinks were included in the price(beer and spirits included). Onboard the Catamaran, they offered short trips to nearby islands in smaller boats, jetski rides, banana boat rides etc., these to be paid for, ofcourse. The boys(the kid and myself) don't swim, as we haven't learnt yet. The Mrs could, but she opted to keep us company while the others on the cruise jumped into the ocean for a cool dip in the safe proximity of the Catamaran. When they announced they had Parasailing on offer, we jumped on it. The Mrs and I had taken the Paragliding at Rohtang pass in the past, but parasailing was a new experience. A small boat picked us up from the Catamaran. The boat crew offered to keep the lil one occupied. They also suggested, if we were upto it, we could do it the 3 of us together. Off we went into the air!   Galdar and the evenings next to the North Atlantic Our Airbnb was located in a small commune called Galdar towards the north of the island. This is very close to the secluded port of Sardina, home to crystal waters and golden sands, and as far away from the teeming resorts of the south as you’re likely to get.  The View from the approach road.  Path from the Condo leading to the door that opens onto the cliff side  A few more steps and that’s the view….  These views that we had every evening with our feet gently dangling in the water had spoilt us for the rest of the beaches and the condo’s own swimming pool. We did go around other places in Gran Canaria, took leisurely strolls in the cute towns of Telde and Agaete. But, our drive back to this place and to get back to this sojourn was all we had on our minds.  Click to enlarge the Panorama Was this trip worth it? For sure, it was an equal mix of exploring and spending time with the family relaxing in the lovely outdoors…. Work was the last thing on my mind when I was there. Will I come back again? Yes, in a couple of years later but this time around with a different set of wheels once the Mrs and Kid have finished learning to ride a motorcycle. Last edited by HDarsi : 28th August 2020 at 15:47. |
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29th August 2020, 05:45
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31st August 2020, 14:34
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31st August 2020, 19:03
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