Category: Gran Canaria

Monday 7th –

Goodbye Gran Canaria.🛫

Monday was our last bit of time in Gran Canaria, and it was spent getting ready to leave and head towards the airport.

As the drive to this side of the island had taken almost 2 hours, I was concerned about another long sickening drive back.
Mike reassured me the drive would NOT be as long.
But I did not expect a 20 min. drive…?
“Why are we parking Mike?”
“Cause we are here Jess, early too.”
“How can we be here in 20 min. when it took us 2 hours the other day…?”
“Well, that was the scenic route and this was the normal one.”

So yes, my husband took us two extra hours, through the mountains on terrible roads so we could ‘See more’.
Because you really ‘see more’ when your eyes are closed and your carsick 🙄  

 

We drove around almost the entire island.

Anyways… Thankfully he seen the sense in taking the normal, short drive back to the airport😏 

Since we had extra time we stopped at another shopping centre to browse a bit.
We browsed to hard and came out with chocolate.
I told him grocery stores were our weakness.

Returned the rental car and got all checked in for the flight back.

We had saved the Sushi to eat during the flight ( it had been refrigerated no worries😝) but then the take off was delayed so we ate it while waiting. 

 
I bought an awesome, fuzzy, grey and white blanket at one of the stores ( weird souvenir from a hot place but I love it so oh well 😉💗 ) that was perfect for staying warm this flight.
We slept a bit during the first bit but then we got the munchies.
So broke out the snacks and the wallet for another Coffee and later a Redbull.
I haven’t had an energy drink for some time and the half I was allowed, embarrassingly enough to admit, did affect me 😁
I told Mike if he wants me to learn more Dutch, Redbulls may be the way to go since they make me talk a lot more than usual and at least the energy would go somewhere useful then.

I guess we will see if he thinks that plan is worth acting on or if my hyperness is not worth barring for a few extra words learnt in the Dutch language 😜

Once we got back to our car, we headed to Sarah’s house as she had asked if we wanted to have supper there.
So we enjoyed a meal of cheese stuffed chicken, potato wedges and salad.    

   

Sarah and I discussed our mutual love of movies, massages and food and also how our husbands had the same, somewhat lacking back-rub methods 😉👌🏻
At least we now have each other if the need for a romantic movie and massage arises 😋

After our meal and visit was over we went to a German grocery store.

The fruits and nuts are cheaper in Germany then they are in Holland.
Stocked up on those items and headed to John and Inge’s as we were going to spend the night there.
Fiji was bigger and I don’t think he missed us to much, but I think his babysitters missed us having him 😉

Sunday 6th- 

The breakfast at Maipez wasn’t quite as impressive 😜

We headed out to the shopping areas pretty quickly, though the first one was closed since it was Sunday.
While looking for the next shopping centre, we passed what we think was a sailing school.

Tons of white sails speckled on the blue… and bringing the cargo ships into imaginable proportion (pointed out by my observant brother after seeing the picture on our family chat)
We found a parking garage and entered the large shopping centre.

Pretty quickly I was drawn to some pretty looking gelato… breakfast was little so who cares that it was still morning.
It was my dairy intake 😏

We spent some time checking out the shops and came across a skating rink set up outside… in the plus 20 weather.
It was a little bit of a sensory confusion, hot weather, t-shirts and then skates but hey, they want to experience what we Canadians enjoy for free too I guess 😏

A beach was really close by so we walked over there and took our shoes off to enjoy the black and brown sand.
The weather may have been nice but the water was pretty chill even for just the toes.
So we stayed out and got our thrills by watching those brave enough to be in the water.
Seen a couple talented surfers and a couple painful looking crashes… really not sure how you can get pounded by the waves, possibly into coral, not take in salt water and not die.
So that went drastic a little fast but seriously I still don’t get it totally 🤔

Mike was trying to write in the sand but the waves were not on his side.
After about three tries he did get it to stay long enough for a picture 😉

 Jemstory continued, Gran Canaria. Dec.2015
Back at the parking garage I expected Mike to know where we had parked as he is pretty good with directions and layouts where as I… am not. As in zero, as in I can hardly find my way around a mall I’ve lived by my whole life, pathetic I know.
My father would not be proud 😔
But back to the story, Mike did NOT know where the car was. At all.
We walked around the garage awhile and then went to the next level and then my feet hurt so I sat by the Mall doors while Mike searched.
He did find it though all in all it probably took us 20 minutes. 😁

He wanted to stop at a grocery store ( even though we still had a large stock of junk food at the hotel  ).
We tested some sushi, I a little hesitantly since I’ve never had it before but it was crab and actually pretty tasty.

We bought a chicken sushi from the same brand, though I don’t know exactly how authentic chicken SUSHI is…

After again relaxing at the hotel for a while, putting my tired feet up and drifting in and out of sleep because Mike didn’t want me to nap 🙄
We went out on the search for food.
It took awhile as per usual.
The streets are tiny and confusing as well as schedules are a little weird in Spain.
Like supper really late or actually we are closed between 8:30 – 9:00 p.m.
The person at the gas station suggested a restaurant but we couldn’t find it so we ended up parking and just walking the streets and hopefully come upon something.
Which we did.
A very local, little restaurant called ‘El Despacho’.
If it wasn’t for Mike I wouldn’t have been able to figure anything out there, turns out he knows a little Spanish. Big surprise.
So he and the waitress/ owner slightly communicated and chose a dish.
When the dish came out we thought it was going to be a pretty disappointing meal… Bright red little pieces of sausage and soggy looking homemade fries.
BUT, we were ever so happily surprised, don’t judge a plate by its presentation I guess.

Mike and I are both really picky about sausage, we don’t like chewy bits or weird flavours but we probably should have asked what kind of sausage those were so we could buy it bulk 😜
It was super flavourful yet subtle and the homemade fries were delicious and super salty which is the always a plus for fries in our books 😉👌🏻

Saturday 5th –

I’ll tell you what, Gloria Palace knows how to make a breakfast.
Mike and I don’t even love breakfast but we were impressed.
We walked into the breakfast room and sort of just stood still for a minute and just looked around trying to figure out where to begin.
They had different areas for everything, sweets, eggs, meats, yogurt and cereals, drinks and breads.

We loaded up our plates and went to eat on the balcony overlooking the ocean.

We decided to walked around the hotel to explore what it had to offer before heading out.
Pools, restaurants, lounge and spa areas are spread out, almost all offering an ocean view.
Back at our room, we grabbed our backpacks and headed out to see the town and beach.

We walked along the beachfront stores and into a little shopping area.
So many souvenir shops all carrying the same items make it hard to try to find something unique FROM Gran Canaria, not just China.

Once we were finished walking around there we went back to the hotel to pack up and check out so we could start the drive over to the other side of the island.

It turned out to be an almost 2 hour drive, on twisty mountain roads.
I didn’t find it real enjoyable.
We made a couple stops at lookouts and beaches along the way.

The first one was a rock beach.

A few signs there told of how the beach had been used during war, a stone wall lookout built into the cliff side could be seen when you looked closely.
Another stop wasn’t at a beach but a look out along the coastline.
The terrific shades of blue ocean crashing into the rocks below never cease to bring happiness to me. 💙

Back into the car for more of the interesting driving conditions and finally we got to the town Mike had wanted to stop in for supper.

This was a true fishing town. 🐟🐡🐠
The restaurants all boast of fresh fish, squid and more fishy things.
Unfortunately those fresh fish also come served with their heads and bones all intact so we opted for a less authentic meal.

One dish we seen available was called ‘Wrinkled Potatoes’ ?! 😜

When we parked the vehicle at a private owned parking lot, the man who owned it was super nice and willing to help even though his English was very limited.
Mike asked him why town was so busy and suddenly he is walking with us along the streets explaining different sights and directions to go.
We went back to him to ask where we should eat.
He told us ‘El Dedo De Dois’ ( also the name of the town ) was good and where he always eats.

So we sat down there and ordered garlic shrimp and breaded chicken breast with fries.

The shrimp was very tasty and brought out in the pan with the hot cooking oil and we think some kind of fried nut.
The chicken was lacking… Mike said maybe don’t order chicken from a fishing town again 😏
Meals seem very cheap here though, plates averaged 6 euros on all the restaurants we had glanced at.

After we finished eating we drove through Las Palmas (the big shopping area here) to get to our hotel for the next two nights.

We checked in at the ‘Hotel Maipez’ which is a personally run hotel and has more of a local/relaxed feel to it.

No wifi, no english tv, to cold for the pool.
Not complaining at all, simply fact stating, so Mike figured we should head back out and look for dessert maybe.
I’m glad he did because what we ended up eating at ‘Jordin Canario’ was pretty delicious.
The waiter tried to explain a few desserts and then he asked if we trusted him to choose for us.
We said go for it and we were glad we did.
Coffees with sweetened condensed milk and two desserts, both hard to explain but i’ll attempt to.
Our favourite was a traditional Canarian dessert named ‘Huevos Moles’ and supposedly isn’t easily found many places.  Its made with corn flour and overall has a slight cornbread taste.👌🏻
It’s almost a room temperature pudding texture on top… but deeper in the dish the dessert is cold and almost ice cream consistency.
Mike and I both said the dessert was super good but really confusing to our mouths :p
The other dish was ‘ Polvito Uruguayo’, a creamy, sweet mound of fluffy filling, topped with crunchy sugars and crumbs. Pretty much an elaborate pudding.
We were a little worried what it was going to cost as it seemed like a bit more of a classy place and the dishes being as tasty as they were, but it was only 12 euros for two specialty coffees and two specialty desserts!

If only eating was that affordable at all restaurants… but then we would for sure be a chubby married couple so it’s probably a good thing in the end.😋

Friday 4th –

Left the house at 3:45am to drive to the Weeze Airport, just across the border in Germany.

Boarded the plane at around 7… It’s a budget airline so that means seats done recline, no tv’s, no seat pockets in front of you even.
It must also mean no heat because I was freezing cold the whole 4 hours and 45 min pretty much.
Oh and you have to pay for drinks, coffee to warm and waken was bought and worth it since it was good coffee at least. 

 

The man in front of us threw up while landing, So that was really nice to smell/ see…😷

Mike suggested I wait for luggage while he got in line for the car rental.
Both waits took fairly long but eventually we got out and began to see what Gran Canaria had to offer.

We both said it actually reminds us a fair bit of Arizona.
Palm trees and cactuses, mountains and dirt, not a ton of greenery or trees except for where it’s planted along the roads and towns.

We drove towards our hotel, making stops along the way at the bank and a grocery store to stock up on drinks and snacks.

Decided to sit down and enjoy the sun and ocean view at a restaurant along side the beach. 

 
After relaxing awhile there, we got back on track to head to the hotel.
Hotels, stores and homes are all built into the mountain sides along the coast, so it makes for very pretty, interesting sights as you drive.  

 
Streets are small and crowded, not much for parking spots or driving in general at times and I’m always reminded how glad I am that Mike is the calm, capable driver he is.
I can think of many others, (myself included) who would make the driving experiences memorable, and not for good reasons.

After a few turn arounds and Mike pointing out every hotel he THOUGHT of booking but didn’t (pretty much the entire cliff sides worth) we made it to our hotel, “Gloria Palace” .

The staff greeted us with a beverage of choice before we went to check out our room.
A spacious room with a balcony in the sun, looking out across the ocean awaited us.

As we stood on our balcony, a pigeon came to visit us.
We watched him a bit and I apologised to him for not having any food handy to give him.
A moment later as he was standing on the ledge, he literally just stepped off the edge and dropped down.
No spreading or fluttering of wings, no looking around, just one step off and straight down.
Mike said he probably committed suicide since I had no food for him.
Doesn’t sound too funny here, it was one of those “you had to have been there” moments, but we found it startlingly entertaining  😝

We relaxed there for a while before again hitting the streets and exploring.
We ended up at a grocery store … Those seem to be our favourite and a few more seemingly essential items were purchased.
The stores here have many specialty sections specifically for English, Norwegian, Dutch etc. as many older people stay in Gran Canaria to enjoy the average 20’s winter temperature.
Mike was overjoyed to find a favourite Norwegian chocolate he likes called “Smash”.
Chocolate covered chips.. Not so special in my opinion but whatever floats your boat eh 😉

Supper was the snacks we had acquired throughout the day, as well as the leftover pizza from lunch.
Eaten from the comfort of bed, with the sounds of the ocean for our dinner music.
Our evening was spent talking, eating and catching up with family via group chats.

Early to bed as flying tires a person out.
Most people anyways … Mike doesn’t seem to know the meaning of slowing down yet, marriage hasn’t caught up with him 😜