I know I said that pictures of our pub would be next. I keep forgetting to actually take the camera to work. So I promise as soon as I have the pictures, I will post them. It was a little sad not to see family for the holidays, but it will be that much more fun to see everybody in February. Anywho Jess and I decided that we were not going to be doing Christmas gifts for each other this year. Instead we would go on a short trip between Christmas and New Years together. Orignally the plan was Paris, this proved to be too expensive, as did Amsterdam. SO We shortened it toLondon. We had the hotel and the trains picked out and everything. At the last minute Jess suggests that we go somewhere warm. I know that it is unlikely as the cost prohibits it. Anywho we decided to check out what Ryanair has on sale for that time period just to check. This is how we wound up in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands for our trip. It was amazing. Spanish, tropical, colonial, urban, European, beaches, 72 degrees f and a respectable 12 hours of daylight. (Glasgow is quite dark. on the 21st sunset was at 3:30pm) Anywho here are a few photos from the trip....
Our Hotel. The AC Gran Canaria. Primarily a Business Hotel, had some amazing prices due to the season, it was also 3 blocks from the beach. Our room was on the 11th floor and was fabulous.
A street in the city of Las Palmas. The whole city was nice and it was just great to be able to walk around in flippies or to catch a bus. This was actually the same neighborhood as our hotel, and was where we spent most of our time.
The second day we were there the Queen Victoria was in port. It's the sister ship of the QM2 which we took to England in August. It was cool to see it not a bit sad that we weren't on a cruise. Basically we went to see it cause I am a huge boat nerd.
This is the plaza in front of the Cathedral. It took us quite some time to get there it was like a 4 mile walk. But we stopped had a beer, went back for dinner, saw so much of the city and then took a bus back. We did not stay for services, they were in Spanish, and my spanish is garbage.
The third day we took a bus to the south of the Island to the resort town of Maspalomas. Full of Germans. The main attraction is the Maspalomas national park (Spanish park) It is basically the southern tip of the island covered in acres of sand dunes and German people. It was really cool to see, and the beach was gorgeous, but we were both glad we stayed int he colonial area.
More Dunes. It was quite the hike to the beach, or at least to the water. I decided to pick a land mark on the horizon and lead Jess and I to it. It worked, we made it to the water in no time.
The landmark led to an interesting beach picnic. If you can't read the sign, it says "zona nudista" I'll let you translate, and remember the Germans.
The happy holiday makers on their last morning in the sunshine. Self pic taken by me.
It was primarily a beach vacation, but we took several walks, and loved the streetscape.
--Till next time
Pete
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
