Day 28 - Telde, Melenara and La Garita

Our plan today was to visit Telde, the second City of Gran Canaria.  We drove to Telde but found it impossible to park anywhere,  we  drove around for 30 minutes but every parking space seemed to be taken. 

Plan two was to head over to the coastal area of Melenara, we walked the short promenade and stopped for a coffee.

We the headed of to the coastal village of La Garita, this turned out to be a huge disappointment,  a small beach with no visible cafes or restaurants. 

We cut our losses and drove down to Aringa, we had lunch at the Miramar restaurant and then enjoyed the afternoon sunshine on the seafront. 

Day 27 - Mountains and Coast

The day started with a drive into the mountains of Santa Lucia. The roads meandered alongside dramatic scenery but thankfully the road surfaces were very good.

We stopped off at the village of Santa Lucia with its superb views of the mountain range.  We wandered around this beautifully kept village with its picturesque square and  impressive church.

We then descended back down and the drive back down was even more dramatic,  at times it felt as if we were on a rollercoaster, the drop down to the valley below has to be seen to be believed.  I know that my co-pilot/ navigator had her eyes closed at certain times such was the drop on her side.

In the afternoon we drove onto the coast, we had a seafood lunch and then went for a long walk along the seafront. 

Day 26 - Epiphany

A quite start to the day of epiphany,  it is a bank holiday in Gran Canaria. 

In the morning we took a stroll around Aguimes just to get a breath of fresh air and to see some of the other parts of the small town of Aguimes. 

The one thing we have noticed is how clean the streets of Gran Canaria are,  the people obviously take a great pride in their island. 

Day - 25 Guayadeque ravine, Ingenio and Arinaga.

A really good exploring the local area started off with a drive over to Guayadeque ravine. This impressive ravine has cliffs covered in vegetation soaring to over 300 metres in height. 

We visited the houses, church and restaurant that are built onto the caves.
The narrow,  winding roads were thankfully quiet. 

Next stop was the town of Ingenio, another town known for its statues in the streets and its impressive church.

We then headed over to the coastal town of Arinaga. In the warm sunshine we strolled around the promenade of the crescent shaped beach with its strong smell of salt from the Atlantic Ocean. 

We stopped off at the Miramar restaurant where Mandy had, what she described,  as the finest fresh tuna salad that she had ever tasted

In the evening we walked into town to see the impressive 3 Kings parade that made its way through the streets of the town. On reaching the main square there was a reenactment of the Birth with a cast of hundreds of locals.

Video of parade at https://youtu.be/-oLDpozjVB0*
Shot by Ray Cordell



We finished off the night at the Las Cuevas bar listening to some traditional music played by the locals.

Day 24 - Aguimes

We have now moved onto our third part of our tour of Gran Canaria,  we have done the City and the coast. Now we have moved into a  Canarian mountain village, Aguimes. 

The beautiful old traditional  village is a haven of tranquillity and our house is full of character, expoded beams on high ceilings but also has mod cons needed. 

In the afternoon we wandered through the old town, which has many bronze statues dotted around the narrow streets and in the heart of the town is the imposing church of San Sebastian. 

In the evening went into the old part of town, the Christmas lights in the local plaza looked delightful. 

We visited a couple of local bars before deciding on villa Rosa restaurant for dinner. Rob tasted the "Black pig", a dish the area is famous for.

Day 23 - Market day at Puerto Del Mogan

On our final day in Patalavaca we decided to return to Puerto Mogan, but this time by road.











We turned up in the small town to find out that it was "Market day", so it was fairly busy with lots of stall holders selling a variety of merchandise. 











We the walked over to the small, but crowded beach before stopping off for a light lunch.

Returning to Patalavaca, we walked up to The Palm Garden restaurant and enjoyed an excellent meal. 

Day 22 - Coastal Walk to San Agustin

A slightly overcast day with a nippy sea breeze, so we decided to drive over to Playa del Ingles and walked North towards San Agustin. 












This walk is on flat ground and the path is in very good condition. There were plenty of wind surfers taking advantage of the breezy conditions. 

We stopped of in San Augustin where we had a coffee and Rob got a haircut. 

At the end of Playa San Agustin we turned around and walked back.
The walk came in at about 5.6 miles

This evening there was a beautiful sunset from our balcony overlooking the  Atlantic. 

Day 21 - Happy New Year 2020

A Very Happy and healthy New Year to all our Family , friends and visitors to the blog.

Day 20 - Maspalomas Sand dunes and New Years eve.

This morning we hopped into the car and headed over to the town of Maspalomas. We took a walk down the boardwalk, which was suprisingly crowded before stopping off for brunch.











We then headed over the the famous sand dunes,  its surprising how difficult it is to walk on them and when the wind whips off the top, the can sting any exposed part of the body.

In the evening we  made our way over to Arguineguín where we enjoyed a wonderful meal at a Chinese restaurant and enjoyed the company of a lovely Swedish couple. We then watched the fireworks over Anfi beach from our balcony.

https://youtu.be/eHZEeOyvwDg

Day 19 - A boat trip to Mogan

This morning we skipped over to the port of Arguineguín to catch a ferry to Puerto Del Mogan.











Before we set sail there was a very sobering incident. The Spanish coastguard landed a number of immigrants who appeared to have sailed from Africa. Thankfully the Red cross seemed to have the incident in hand.

We then sailed along the Southern coast of the Island,  stopping off at Anfi and Puerto Rico. The coastline was quite rugged and dramatic. 











The small port of Puerto del Mogan was quite picturesque making a change from some of the built up towns along the coast. We wandered through the market and explored the neatly kept backstreets, had a bite to eat and then made our way back to the ferry.