Gran Canaria: an island of contrasts (Gran Canaria)

Member Name: janna

Product:	Gran Canaria
Date:	10/02/01 (599 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: ideal climate, relatively short flight, inexpensive holiday

Disadvantages: none

Gran Canaria is one of seven Canary Islands situated in the Atlantic about 60 miles west of Africa. The most popular of which are Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. We have visited Gran Canaria on a couple of occasions. The flight from the UK takes only about four hours and we have found the year round climate of around 22C to make a nice break from a dreary English winter.

And I will let you into a well-kept Canarian secret - a little beach at Montana Arena, frequented by the locals and situated in the south of the island; which is where my husband and I found ourselves on Christmas Day, sunbathing on a golden sandy beach and swimming and snorkeling in the sea. Christmas lunch on the beach consisted of a chicken (cooked earlier), salad and fresh fruit, washed down with a bottle of wine.

The south of the island is popular with holidaymakers in search of sun, sea and sand. Away from the beaches, the landscape of Gran Canaria is very diverse, with high snow capped volcanic peaks in the centre, whilst the north has pine forests and fertile plantations.

Whenever we go on holiday we tend to hire a car for sightseeing purposes. We have driven little hire cars up mountains and down tracks that lead to deserted beaches. On one visit to the mountains of the interior we were driving along winding roads, which became rough tracks and then dead ends; we were going round and round in circles passing other hire cars, also lost!

Places to visit ~
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Maspalomas
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Maspalomas is situated on the southern tip of the island and is famous for undulating Sahara-like sand dunes. The dunes are ideal suntraps and can be very peaceful and relaxing. If you want an all over tan, part of this beach is available to nudists (and exhibitionists!)

The resort of Maspalomas offers a leisurely relaxed atmosphere. There are two water parks in this area - the best of which is Aquasur
with giant multicoloured plastic tubes, wave created swimming pools, water chutes, a relaxing moat - grab a tube and float round for hours if you wish. And a very steep water slide. The only comment I can make about the latter is - thank goodness there was a nearby toilet - colonic irrigation for free!!

At the rear of this area, not too far from Sonneland a market is held on wednesdays and sundays where pottery, leather goods, lacy tablecloths as well as the usual cheap tourist tat including t-shirts, cheap watches, tacky jewellery can be found.

Talking of Sonneland, there are a lot of time-share touts in this area. If you do not wish to waste 4/5 hours of your time being shown around an apartment complex etc., tell them you have no money, own no credit cards, are on the dole and live in rented accommodation. This makes them lose interest in you rapidly.

Playa del Ingles
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If you are looking for nightlife Playa del Ingles offers an abundance of bars, restaurants and nightclubs. It offers several commercial centres with plenty of shops which are open til late in the evening. Buy your tax and duty free wines, spirits and cigarettes here.

The commercial centres include the Kasbah, Gran Chaparral and Yumbo Centres. And talking about the Yumbo Centre, I must tell the reader about something that happened to my husband - he pulled!!! (but not in a way you might expect). The ground floor of the Yumbo Centre offers lively evening entertainment, and is a great place for people-watching due to it's numerous gay bars. On our first visit, we chose a bar where couples (of the one male with one female variety) were sitting. The owner of the bar, a very distinguished looking English gent in his 70's, took a liking to my husband. It was all very good-natured, but since then husband has had to endure such comments as "Would he like to be an elderly man's toyboy?" (husband was 48 at the t
ime). And to this day, husband says "He wasn't anywhere near 70 years old!". But believe me, he was.

Puerto Rico
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Photographs of Puerto Rico taken in the sixties show one hotel set in the cliffs. It has developed into a purpose-built resort of white terraced buildings set in a hillside location. The beach offers the usual watersports that can be seen all around the coast. We were not overly impressed with Puerto Rico with it's tourist influenced bars and restaurants, but perhaps worth a visit on your way to Puerto Mogan.

Puerto de Mogan
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On the southwest coast Puerto Mogan, virtually untouched by tourism has a Venetian-style harbour. It is a very pretty resort with a fine old town. To experience the beauty of the sea, the Golden Submarine leaves the port for trips to a reef. There is also a nice restaurant serving locally caught fish and salads on the waterfront.

Las Palmas
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Situated in the north of the island and it's capital city. The Cathedral dominates the old part of the city and this, together with the Museum, with it's Spanish colonial art is well worth a visit.

If you, like myself, want to try traditional Canarian food, some of the best restaurants are situated in Las Palmas; avocados, papaw, papaya are grown in Gran Canaria; try seabream with herb and garlic sauce, a mild cheese is produced locally; sea bass baked in salt or rabbit in hot chilli sauce. mmmm delicious.

Whilst walking around Las Palmas be sure to wear comfortable shoes as many of the pedestrian areas are cobbled. Around the Vegueta and Triana areas are a range of old-fashioned and modern shops.

We visited Reptilandia in the northwest of the island. Many years ago we owned a tropical fish shop, which also specialised in the sale of reptiles and amphibians. So, if we come across a reptile collection on our travels, we usually vi
sit it. It is situated a bit off the beaten track, not too far from Agaete and you can see lizards, snakes, crocodiles etc. as well as a small collection of parrots. The reptiles appeared to be well cared for and mostly in spacious enclosures.

Sporting Activities ~
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Maspalomas offers an 18-hole golf course - husband is a keen golfer, but found green fees to be expensive here (well, they were at Christmas). We were particularly impressed with the 9-hole golf course at Bandama in the north. It was founded by a group of British ex-pats and has green and luscious fairways.

Water sports are available at most coastal resorts. These include windsurfing, diving, water-skiing, jet skiis etc. if you are so inclined. Also shark-fishing is available from Puerto Rico.

Being a horserider I tend to take my riding gear whenever I go on holiday. Although I didn't ride there, the riding school near Bandama seemed to be one of the best, with horses being in good condition. I did ride at El Rancho Grande at Juan Grande in the south. I will not go into detail other than to say I cannot recommend these stables; but if anyone passes this way, could they please take 'Campero' a packet of polo mints (he is a horse) and tell him they are from Janna.

Overall Opinion ~
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If you are looking for a one or two week break, the Canary Islands are ideal. Eating out, car hire etc. is relatively inexpensive, and it is not too far to travel from the United Kingdom. We have visited all of the islands; alright some of the resorts may be a bit like Blackpool, but there are also some unspoiled and picturesque places to visit.

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