holidayreviews.info

The start of this holiday was truly memorable for us and I go on to tell you why. The flight from Luton was at 8:30 am and we had ordered a taxi to pick us up at 5:30am. All was fine, except Luton Airport charging £2 to drop/ or pick up anybody and the drop off point seemed further away from what it used to be. We rolled our cases to reach the terminal building at just 6:20am.

Once inside, we went upstairs to find the Thomson’s check-in desk was empty and we walked all the way down the winding maze set up for crowds to reach the desk, when we could have just walked straight to it from an unauthorised aisle next to it lol.

This time Mrs Db had booked us extra leg room, after Thomson phoned her offering it at £17.50 pp each way, we had only ever booked leg room once before with another airline, which had put in extra row of seats and were jammed against the bulk head which made it the most uncomfortable journey that we had ever had.

As we were the first there at check in, Mrs Db was offered a survey form asking “what did we think would be required for a good check in”. Mrs Db said, not having to queue but by the time she had finished the survey there was a small queue lol.

So with cases on their way to the plane, it was time for a breakfast, Mrs Db was going to have a breakfast bap for £5.99 where as I was going to have the traditional English for £7.99. Whilst waiting for a couple in front to be served, the guy from the couple said, "do you want this voucher" and on looking, it was 2 x traditional breakfast for £10, well that’s a good start to the holiday, not sure where the voucher came from but “two traditional breakfast please Miss” and she put an extra piece of bacon on Mrs Db’s lol

After breakfast, we watched the flight gate countdown board that Luton has, for the calling of flight gates and spot on at 7:45am our gate was called. As soon as we got to the gate, it was instant boarding, “come on Delboy you haven’t time to take pictures” said a concerned Mrs Db, but we have allocated seats and nearly first here


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There were two rows of extra leg room seats half way down the middle of the plane, just over the wing, plenty of leg room, I would say a foot from my knees to the seat. We were sat down by 8am.


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The hostess came to see us, now if you sit in these seats you have to work the door, you put your hand under the plastic glass and it will come away and then you pull the lever out and down but only if the captain tells you to, “Are you happy with that, or do you want to move”. No we are ok with that.

Soon everyone was seated and by 8:15am we were heading out to the runway and the TV’s came down.

The hostess said, “I’d like you to put your papers down and pay special attention to the safety video”
And here she was again lol


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I thought, “It’s all right for you little miss, blowing your whistle and showing your torch but I’ve got extra responsibilities here” lol. The video finished and Mrs Db said she could be 30 years old by now, “Oh” I said,” I wonder what she would be doing now, would she perhaps be advertising party mixes for Iceland like Kerry Cantona”

The plane was in the air just after 8:20am


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Soon it was not long before we had started our approach to Arrecife


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And we would arrive 10 minutes early at 11:50am

However our cases were one of the last to come off the carousel and no waiting for coaches this year, “down the corridor and turn left” said the rep

Then up the ramp and passed the old coach bays, now no longer use


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using a couple of escalators to get to the top of the new coach bay


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A quick count on the coach by the rep with “don’t drink the water, buy bottled and our welcome packs would be in reception” and the coach was away at 12:30pm


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stopping at the Rubicon Palace, Timanfaya Palace, Flamingo Beach / Blue Village before our drop off but we arrive so early, our room wasn’t ready. However, no problems, we just had our cases locked in a room and went over to Lani’s for lunch.

I had the bacon sandwich which had about 6 rashers inside, and tasted nice, but I'm really fussy and hate fat


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so after disecting out the fat, I said I wouldn't be having one of those again but in fairness there was quite a bit of bacon


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the fat was chopped up and fed to the waiting fish below lol

anyway, after suitably fed and the first taste of holiday beer, it was back to the Pueblo Marinero to be given our room keys, now the hotel apartments have been under going a refurbishment, no longer do you have much chance of getting a sea / pool room, unless one pays the extra price for a premier room.


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I will go into great detail on the apartments separately later, as there is a lot more going on around the apartments but it does look nicer but really cosmetic stuff, like new curtains bedding etc but very little change to the bathroom, which IMO really needs to be upgraded to get the boutique feel.

this year's balcony views are similar which we are extremely happy with, but didn't pay for that cloud lol


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Hotel apartments how I see the chnages in more detail

So Mrs Db likes to unpack and I had the horrible job of going to Wax's bar to get the football scores for her


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I counted, they had eight TV's in the place lol and it was 2.5 euros for large beers


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Then I had to do a quick shop for breakfast tomorrow and then get back to Mrs Db, I didnt take photos of the goods but later it will come clear why lol

We decided that we would eat at Lani's this evening, only a 3 minute walk away, as we were both really tired, not sure whether there was a sunset. On arriving at Lani's I didn't think the food had gone up, the house red was 11.75 a bottle


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we decided to eat inside, basically, to keep the food hot

I chose pork ribs, which seem to turn out to be a whole pig on a plate and a lot to eat


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Mrs Db had chicken stroganoff, which she said was nice


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a nice evening ending up with coffees


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Day 2, Monday

It looks a lovely morning Mrs Db


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So it was breakfast on the balcony, just muesli and toast and marmalade with a view


but today for us, it would be a beach day on Dorada


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I think I dipped my toes in here, it did look tempting


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chairbeds and parasols are still 3 euros a component

above the beach is the 5 star Princesa Yaiza Hotel


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small cafes are at both ends of the beach


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a lovely relaxing morning


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soon it was lunchtime and not too happy with the food in the cafe above last year, we decided to try one in the Papagaya Centre, not quite the same view as the cafe but we tried the harp, I had a burger of monster size for 4.50


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Mrs Db had a toasted sandwich which was cheaper, sorry didn't photo the menu but I got it the next day


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but by 3pm the clouds had come across and it was time to go back for tea on the balcony


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The road next to the Pueblo Marinero has quite a bit of parking, mainly because there is an indoor shopping centre (but this has all since changed in a refurbishment)


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so I thought I pop across to show you whats inside, to me it's not used to it's potential but I expect its hard to get the shops to invest in there


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a large supermarket but i'm told, not as cheap as the one in town now taken over by a Hyperdino


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It also has a ten lane ten pin bowling alley upstairs, which I had never looked at before, so delboy has a gander up there


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according to a leaflet I picked up in Spanish, at the right time, it's 8 euro's pp for 2 games


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so making my way out, next door is another set of apartments that over look the marina call Rubimar


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so I thought I would go along and have a look

they are both adult / kids apartments


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but I did read one or two people saying the walls are a bit thin lol but not been so you need to decide for yourselves


next the Hotel Volcan backs on to the marina and has a roof in the shape of a volcano and lights lit up at night looking like lava flow


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so I had a look at their pool


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I haven't stayed there but an equally good location and only 20 minutes walk into town

I did walk around the marina but I'll save that for later, so it was now evening and we decided to try the recommended Casale Franco, an Italian restaurant at the Papagaya Centre, which has wood burning stove


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I had the campagnola pizza, I have had many pizzas in my life but this had to be the best, the caramelised onions and goats cheese was delicious


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Mrs Db had the tagliatelle bolognese, which she said was lovely


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the house wine was reasonably priced around 11 euro's but don't have the list

we said we would return before going home

[then it was back to our apartment after another nice day

End of Day 2

Day 3, Tuesday

another good looking day from the balcony


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so it was time for one of our walks, we notice this year the "no cycling "sign had disappeared at the marina end but unsure if you can now cycle that bit


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however, getting near to Hesparia, the sign of "no cycling" remains, a bit whiffy at that point too


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not so many on the beach, so perhaps a good choice of a walk


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the hedgerows around the Princesa Yaiza are particularly colourful this year


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so going along town's promenade



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Hello what's going on here, why so many people watching lol
what are all these seagulls doing ?


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oh, boxes of fish being delivered


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well the fish don't come fresher than this, not sure which restaurant/s has them


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anyway, excitement over, we continue towards the harbour


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Now people often ask whether you can buy fresh fish in Playa Blanca and someone suggested the harbour had a shop, so that one had to be investigated lol


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so around by the harbour edge is this place


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inside I go lol


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all kinds of fish, even yellow coloured snake like fish


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I noticed a wahoo/barracuda type fish, they are the 7.50 ones lol


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I'm pretty certain the one at the back with the ribbed fin is a tuna but what do I know I never catch the things


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well I bet you didn't guess you would be looking on a fishmonger's slab in this walk did you lol

anyway, somebody on TA said a guy called Phil in the harbourside kiosk gave good deals on trips, so I thought I would have a look

several kiosks down at the harbour


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anyway this is his kiosk


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I did see Phil later and said, "I had read about him on TA" but he said he was innocent lol, nice guy

anyway now the otherside of the harbour and another good TV place mentioned was called Popeyes


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and the Irish Anvil coming up


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a centre called Limones here but not many shops taken up


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further along is the Puerto Chico apartments


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and the town centre is not far away


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so now passed the Iberostar Lanzarote Park


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and down to Flamingo Beach


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where at this time of writing, there are no chairbeds


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stories of they are put away for winter didnt wash with me, and I understand there is a dispute with the bed people and the council

after a coffee, we had a walk around the Flamingo Beach Resort


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They have a splash tree


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and a very small laned pool, perhaps for kid competitions


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and back to the promenade


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we then took the next turning to the main road and came across the Lanzur Water Park and accomodation


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people have wondered what it was like, so I took some pics


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I think this is their accommodation


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further along the road we came to the front entrance of Puerto Chico's


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and then we returned to our apartment where it had got quite cloudy


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this evening we had a sunset


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the evening meal we went to the harbour front where we dined at the Volcano De Timafaya


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a bottle of the house red was still 9.25 euros

I had the fillet steak with Rochefort sauce, very nice it was


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Mrs Db had chicken kebabs also very good


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another nice day over

End of Day 3

Day 4, Wednesday

Well the day started of cloudy and we could quite decide if it would turn out nice, so Mrs Db read her kindle whilst I went across to the market


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I was one of the first few there

lots of jewelery and others had tables clothes and dresses etc


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the time was about 10:06am and that cloud hadn't lifted


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by that time more people had arrived


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Coaches were coming in from other resorts

This guy was extracting juice from sugar cane to make drinks


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I was fascinated by one of these bottle covers in a suit of armour but wallet kept saying what do you want one of those for ?


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and would it be a sort of chastity belt, trying to stop me reaching for the wine

not sure whether that picture would fit over my fireplace lol


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however, i have many pictures of the market but not wanting to bore you all we decided to go lol


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soon the sun came out


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a guy was fishing


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and it was time for the beach


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oh


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ah that's better


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we delayed the lunch until two, in case the sun went in


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but our fears were unfounded


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we went to the Harp again but this time I got the menu lol


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I had the Italian burger, it had gorgonzola in it but I wasn't as impressed as the previous one


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Mrs Db was good and had a salad, no comments please but it did look plain


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The sun continued for the rest of the afternoon which was spent on the beach

followed by a mug of tea on the balcony and watching the sun go down


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In the evening we went to our favourite Mexican and we were the only ones in there. We both had the Buffalo Bill's but the chicken seem to come from the wrong parts of the chicken and not sure what the beef was made of, we were both disappointed, as the rest of the meal was nice


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End of Day 4

Day 5 Thursday

It's 7:30am Mrs Db, I have been thinking, I have never taken a sunrise picture in Lanzarote because our balcony faces west. I would need to go to the Pirate Tower to get the shot. "Your mad", said Mrs Db, as I quickly made her a cup of tea, and changed from my pyjamas into a tee shirt and shorts which seemed to be the same as my pyjamas. "Listen very carefully I will do this only once" as I grabbed my camera and raced down the prom.

My god, it's coming up, who said, you could walk the marina in 5 minutes, as I got faster and faster to try and catch it


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Oh sugar, I'm just 5 minutes late


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oh well, can't waste the good light, I'll go round the marina lol


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The Rubimar hasn't awoken yet


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Casa Brigida


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Vino Blanco


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Blue Note for Jazz nights


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shoe shop for the yachters


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Little Marmite run by a French couple


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nice yacht lol


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so walking back to other restaurants on the prom that was covered yesterday with market stalls


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La Taberna


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Le Commendatore


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El Mano Casa de Comidas


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Lani's


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Supermarket


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Afrodite Little Italy


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Lani's snack bar


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Then is was back to Mrs Db, "I blinking well missed it by 5 minute, perhaps I'll try tomorrow" lol

The lovely morning continue


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an angler was fishing


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but we were off to the beach


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once Mrs Db was settled with the sunbeds, I was off to check out the Papagaya Centre to see what had changed

There is a supermarket on the front, had an exchange rate 6 euro's per hundred less than most others


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an Italian restaurant


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Wax's bar, for the football with eight TV's lol


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Barney's, a new one that makes homemade burgers, I might try that lunchtime


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and a Burger King opposite


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upstairs is Mollies Bar, not tried it


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Casale Franco's the Italian restaurant that we ate in the other night, recommend it


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looking down at the floor below


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DJ sports bar, not been in it


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There is also a diving centre / shop downstairs


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So going down the high st now, we come to the town's church


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Opposite appears to be a new childrens play area being developed


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Then a run of cafe's and restaurants


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Then I spotted PB had a night club

upstairs on the left, is the well known Atlantico restaurant and if you go downstairs, you could end up with a lap dance lol, so dont get confused with the rabbit on the menu


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Cevantes that we will try this year on a recommendation


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now across the road is a pirate ship for kids to play on and I completely missed it last year


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so on the left hand side we come to PB biggest taxi rank


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where as opposite, more shops


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which now includes the Last Minute travel excursion shop for cheap tours


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Then another Hiperdino store


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back on the left, we have the rear of a number of restaurants that overlook the promenade

the well known Romanica restaurant


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and a club bar


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now just before the Spar in the precinct


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the road bears round to the right and goes up hill


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now people often have asked where the bus garage is, the big cheapest supermarket and the medical centre where they will accept the EHIC card in an emergency (but not for coughs and colds), so I'm going to point them out

now at this roundabout, for the bus station and the large supermarket we turn left


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however, the health clinic is straight ahead, with the yellow and blue cross on its wall


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and a left turn, next to this restaurant


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now if we go back to the roundabout, as before and turn left


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the bus garage is that flat building over there on the right


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so straight ahead now. Now the number 30 runs around the town from one end to the other

so if you are at the extremes of town, you can catch the no 30, the flat fare is 1,45 euro's


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I'm told the number 61 goes to Puerto del Carmen and is often crowded but this bus shows 161


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this is what the local no 30 looks like, as it's difficult if you don't know, with so may tour buses about


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now across the road from the bus station, the square flat building is the main supermarket, which few people and myself knew little about and it's where the locals shop


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It is said to be cheaper than the other smaller shops, so Delboy goes to investigate lol


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The entrance is around the back of it and not on the main road


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so lol


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now thay have a fresh fish counter


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a meat deli


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and fruit, the idea was, that if anybody wants to know the prices, I can zoom in on some of the stuff


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It also has an underground car park but you need to get a shopping receipt. Once you know where the supermarket is, you can weave your way back into town on foot via the back streets

now it's back to Mrs Db for lunch lol

we tried Barney's in the Papagay Centre and found IMO the best burgers in town, so far and thick homemade ones too


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Mrs Db had a salad


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and we shared a bowl of chips, beer was only 2.5 euros

the rest of the afternoon was on the beach


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Then we cracked open the complimentary sparking wine the hotel had given us


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and watched the sun go down


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This evening we would go posh, dining at the Casa Brigida at the marina

I ordered Duck at 15.50 and the house red was the same price


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Mrs Db had pork with layered tower of creamed potatoes


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however, we didn't have starters and declined the water and bread which are extra, after which we both felt we were not part of the ambience and with a bill of nearly 50 euro's it was the only place that didn't give us a small drink at the end

but it's nearly christmas, we enjoyed the meal and we were not going to let that spoil the day


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End of Day 5

Day 6, Friday

I was awake by 7:15am, "listen very carefully I will do this only once" lol, I'm in time to get the sunrise, shorts and tee shirt on, no time to give Mrs Db her cup of tea, this is important for the forum

blinking heck, it's cloudy


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I kid you not, there was two pairs of people, sitting on the rocks in budha type fashion, also waiting for the sun to come up
but within 30 minutes the sun had broken through


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but back on the balcony


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a diving boat was off out from the marnia


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but for us another beach day, can we sit down there Mrs Db


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with Mrs Db settled, I was heading to town to see what had changed there, this time, I didn't pick siesta time with everything closed lol

Have a look at the town's small beach, you might not see it again lol


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so we start at the bottom with the Spar store


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a perfume shop


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opposite, cafe icecream shop and another perfume shop


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same side, a tobacconist / drinks store and then a sports shop


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side road


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a clothes shop


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yet another perfume shop


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electronic store, a word of warning, there are no such thing as cheap cameras or video recorder, lap tops or ipads in Lanzarote.


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Jewellery / watches shop


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loads of clothes shops


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another electronic shop, I repeat my warning, there are no cheap cameras in Lanzarote


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Tobacconist and drinks


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tourist place, that do CustomerTravel tour etc, new this year, they have one in the marina as well


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icecream parlour


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another jewellers, not sure what you would do if your new watch that you bought went wrong


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large beer in happy hour was 1.5 euro's


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shoe world lol


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two fashion stores one something to do with Boss lol


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Tobacconist and Drinks store, most do exchange, the general rate was 1.19 but inside here, that rate is only for travellers cheques, cash was 1.18, there was a little notice on the left of the store but it seem to have got blown away that day lol


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perfumery again


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coming up to the harbour now


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a bar


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The mexican place which use to be our favourite but not the best meal this time around


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This place has had bad reviews on TA for their dealings with people


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although I have a pic of every shop in town I'm going to stop here


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back at the beach here are the pleasure fees for sports


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I think I'll stick with the beach lol


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or a pint and lunch in Barney's


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I had a toasted sandwich and shared chips


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The rest of the afternoon was spent on the beach, not sure if that said "the tall chips challenger" but I must be in the running by now lol


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We as arrange to meet Jomark and his lovely wife from the Lanzarote forum and chatted with them for an hour over coffee's at momentos para llevars


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After I had a look over the wall at the Princesa Yaiza's apartments, which I heard are accessed through a tunnel lol


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The sunset was low key tonight


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but a nice sky


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now here comes a tale, the TV in our room has two arab channels that continue to show English speaking movies with Arab subtitles which hardly show up on the screen, tonight 6-8pm it was Karate Kid the new one, "Delboy, your bath water is running" but the nasty sensei has just told his pupil to break Daniel son's leg in the semi final, I can't leave it now

It sure passed that bit of time waiting to go out to dinner, which mean't I had to jump into the bath and get ready quicker at the end

Tonight we ate first time in the Trattoria


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I had the mexican chicken, I think my chicken had lived a very long life but at 7.5 euro's a filling meal lol


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Mrs Db had kebabs


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End of Day 6

Day 7, Saturday

For us it was another beach day


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but by lunchtime it had clouded over


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so we went up to Barney's for lunch, at this point, I realised that I could be doing a review of the best burgers in town, so I thought, I would have something more sensible

Lasagna


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Mrs Db had the tagatelli


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Then it was football showing back at the apartment in the bar area

only a medioca sunset tonight


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tonight we were dining at the Little Marmite at the end of the Marina


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I had Lamb chops, maybe it was because I only had Lasagna earlier, but it didn't seem quite so big to eat


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Mrs Db had pork chops in a sauce


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However, when the temptation came around for desserts, we both buckled

The Crepes were to die for, I had chocolate sauce in mine


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Mrs Db had lemon in her's


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it has a nice atmosphere there, sitting semi outside undercover


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After asking for the bill, we did get forgotten but the lady gave us two measures of bailey's for our troubles.

Mrs Db was very cold by the time we reached our apartments, not even waiting for me to take a picture of the moon lol.

On arriving, a text came through from jomark saying they would be at Vino Blanco at the marina if we fancied a nightcap, I had just taken a picture of that lol


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Mrs Jomark had a cocktail that Delboy would have been proud of, except it didnt have any drambuie in it, infact it didn't have anything in it, as she was driving


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we chatted together for a hour and a half, it was nice to meet them both


Another day ended

End of Day 7