holidayreviews.info

Day 1


It was a dark damp foggy Sunday morning when the taxi picked us up and the driver decided to keep to the main roads to Luton rather than risk going over the foggy Whipsnade way. We hoped there wouldn't be any long plane delays as we arrived at the airport around 6:30am. However, looking at the screens at the airport there were no delays. At the Thomson check in/ bag drop there was one empty counter with staff waiting but like us British do, we meandered down the maze set up for the busy crowds rather than walking down a straight empty lane not being used by another airline on the side lol.

With the bags dropped off and our boarding passes scanned we were off to air side, we just had time to have a breakfast roll, which contained a choice of either two eggs, or two sausages or 3 bacon rashers for £5.95 but Delboy managed to negotiate a sausage with two pieces of bacon lol

Although dearer, to us it is tastier roll than the microwave rolls Thomsons now do onboard the aircraft. Soon gate 6 was called and we headed on what turned out to be the longest walk that we have ever experience at Luton, (I was looking to see if i could see the lights of Aylesbury Civic Centre lol) and not the usual gate we go to, not sure if this is a new building


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Not my usual picture of the plane, I don't think it was there

One was just coming in through the mist but in the wrong colours


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Everyone was called to the gate for boarding along with the newly arrived WizzAir plane and the queues to gate 5 and 6 briefly amalagmated before parting their separate ways and one had to be careful one didn't get on the last plane to Georgia lol.

However, we ended up on an airport bus


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and driven in the fog to a galaxy far far away or Thomson hanger 61 I think it was called lol


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So everyone was onboard and the plane taxied out, safety procedure was given and then we were told that the captain has said, the fog had come down heavier and requested all electrical equipment be switched off until after take off even in flight mode. As we approached for take off the runway lit up with a thousand yellow lights, I think the pilot was going to follow the yellow brick road lol but no pictures.

Anyway, we were up and I can talk to you again lol

This year, I have a tablet which is a HUDL bought with my shopping vouchers, and allowed me to play mahjong whilst not taking the usual pictures of the clouds lol


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after reaching level 4 on Mahjong, the captain was making his approach to Arreciffe

And Puerto Del Carmen was coming into view


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Then Matagorda where they wave to you from the beach


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The plane landed at approx 12.25pm

So here we were waiting for our luggage at 12.35pm, here are the hire car people that have counters both sides, some that you may want to hire from and others not


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we got our luggage at 12.58pm having waited for the carousel to start and were one of the last to get our baggage off which was a pity, as friends of ours were just going home and were waiting to see us. They had made the best of their two weeks of heavy rain and storms lasted most of their holiday, Friday and Saturday Arrecife airport had been closed and passengers were still reeling from delays and cancellations of flights. After a short chat we wished them a good journey home fearing we may miss our coach if we talked any longer.

and the taxi rank outside, should we have missed the Coach lol


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we had to get to Coach bay 54 which was down the end of the terminal and left outside and up the ramp

for anybody disabled, there is a lift to get you upstairs which i missed photographing last year


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but for the majority there are two moving escalators to get you to the top


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I never realised how many of these bay areas there are, there are rows of them and private transfers like Last Minute shown here in bay 52 are also up here, but for us a rush to bay 54 lol


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not sure why, because 4 minutes later we were on the coach, no names etc were taken/or checked and after pulling out, the coach had to stop again to pick up a couple that nearly missed it


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we had to go to Puerto Calero to drop off the couple first before heading to Playa Blanca

After various drop offs, 1 hour 20 mins later we were in our apartments at the marina. This year we were given a room in a different block to the last two years

all much the same, the sofa cover and net curtains have lost their newness from last year


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but this time we had a view over the pool and marina which we quite liked

The bathroom was the same and bathroom towels could do with renewing

the bathroom missed out on the refurbishment and like the other rooms was still a bit dated


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Lets try out the Mirror,

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all, ESSEXANGEL is, came the reply, well that's not fair all the Mirrors in the other rooms said I was ! lol

well delboy, we are all a year older and my eyes aren't as good

Mrs Db, did you pack the poisoned apples lol

Anyway, without further ado, it was a trip to Lani's snack bar at the marina for a bit of lunch


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menu


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So two large beers were ordered


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I fancied a sausage in a roll but not sure if it was jet lag or something lol, but I ordered a hotdog thinking that was a sausage roll but it turned out to be something you get out of a tin, so didn't get my first meal right for the second year running lol


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Mrs Db always gets hers right, having ordered a tuna baggette with chips


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It was a nice afternoon and one almosts feels guilty for those going home


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The fish were still around the marina awaiting the odd chip thrown over the side


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Well we can't sit here drinking all afternoon, Mrs Db has the unpacking to do and I have to get in all the groceries but they do stay open in the marina until 11pm


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Now what do we need water, maramade, milk, cereal, bread, butter and some orange juice

They are dearer in the marina supermarket than the big Superdino's but the amount of shopping to do was not worth the shoe leather to town at this stage

by the time we had got sorted it had clouded over and there would be no sunset tonight


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but a quick round up of the shopping and prices


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Just one word on the milk, last year the Hipperdino's stopped doing Cravendale milk which lasts without going off, but I did use their milk last year and in all fairness I didn't have any trouble with it like the year before, but this milk was on offer, produced by Muller Wise and the three bottles of it I bought lasted the whole fortnight


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Having gathered my football results on my little HUDL and then a wash and change, it was time to pop over to Lani's for an evening meal, well it's been a long day and the short walk to the marina not far from our apartment sounds good to us


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The house wine at Lani's was 11.75 but it tasted a little bit like sherry and would perhaps try the white another time, the waiter did try and suggest higher priced ones but we were happy with their red last year, perhaps it has changed or our taste had lol


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I went for the chicken burritos


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Mrs Db had tortellini which she said would have fed an army lol


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and a nice evening was had, with a saxiphonist playing in the background but just a little too loud for conversation


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end of Day 1

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Day 2

It was a sun / cloudy morning


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Word had spread around the complex that I was no longer the fairest of them all lol

and as I was eating my breakfast on the balcony, there was a knock on the door


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It was the hotel manager who had heard all about the old mirror, "we would like to help you out Delboy, can we change your mirror for a new shiny one", yes of course, come in and two men brought a new mirror in


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we are sorry about the old mirror but this one should do the trick


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So lets try this again, Mirror, Mirror on the wall who's the fairest of them all


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You are Delboy, well what did you expect, it's always a fairytale ending if I write the review lol, sorry ESSEXANGEL

So fun aside, it wasn't a day one could trust on the beach, so it was a walk around town to see what has changed


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The rear entrance onto the promenade from the boutique hotel called the Casa Del Embajador ranks quite high on TA but doesn't have a pool


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It's handy for the shops and Promenade restaurants


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Pleased to say the town beach is back in order after last year's storm


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Then it was almost washed away


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The Fred Olsen Ferry was coming in


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Seems to be a new restaurant called Asiatico on the front


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The La Chalanita restaurant


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Their menu, i might give them a try this year


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The price of a return trip on the Armas ferry remains at 23 euros (now 27) in Tourist Ticket, however if you book at day early it is 20/21 euros


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They do not have any deals with Fred Oslen and I was told that both ferries charge the full rate of 44 euro's at the offices at the end of the harbour

a second fish spa comes to Playa Blanca high street


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A lot of people have talked about the Spar being reasonable for their suntan lotion and marmalade, so I had a sortie in there


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The deli


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and their suntan lotion range


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a new shoe shop on the prom but Mrs Db picked up a pair of trainers which were 70 euro's


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Anyway that was the shopping browsing done, I thought I would try the Ice House at the Papagayo Centre to compare them with Barney's but the Ice House remained closed for a three week period

time to go to Barney's for a burger, just a good as last years lol


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Mrs Db more sensible had a nice toastie


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The cloud still hadn't lifted but it was still warm


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So we walked back to the Apartment, others were catching the sun around the pool


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but by 5:30 we had a shower


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tonight we are going to one of our favourite restaurants, Casale Franco's, unfortunately they will be closed in our second week for holiday and they close on Tuesdays


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A big decision for me to go for the steak in brandy sauce and not one of those lovely pizzas but the melted gorgonzola on top of the steak was lovely


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Mrs Db had the strips of steak in peppercorn and brandy sauce and it was very enjoyable


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another lovely evening

End of Day 2

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Day 3

A bit of early morning rain, so we had our breakfast inside the apartment and decided we would have a walk around to see if it clears up and perhaps go on the beach a bit later


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At the marina there is a swimming pool that can be used by anybody for 10 euros, under 12's 5 euros so a place to go if your villa doesn't have a pool and is open from 10am till 5pm it has a restaurant and facilities around it


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This is a new revamp cafe at the marina


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The weather is beginning to clear up now


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but that cloud still makes if iffy for the beach


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but always nice to see some impressive boats in the marina


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I particularly liked this one, or though I could never sail in it lol


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The Little Marmite restaurant had closed for their holidays


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plenty of boats coming in here to keep the restos happy but as we got near the far end of the marina


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above the harbour


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and then along to the pirate tower however, the sun was in the wrong position or I was lol


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The coastline heading towards Papagayo is quite rugged at this point


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The tower was made to warn the town of pirates coming, a common occurrance in the 1600/1700 hundreds, also I am told there is another on Fuerteventura and a second on Lanzarote

I was going to venture out on the rocks whilst Mrs Db waited on a seat on the promenade


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down below, locals were fishing


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In the distance was the Dream Castillo and Sandos Papagayo hotels


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Dream Castillo


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Sandos Papagayo


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Anyway lunchtime was in the marina at Lani's snack bar


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Mrs Db had an omelette


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and I had their burger but IMO didn't match the one at Barney's


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After the lunch we went back to the apartment but really it could have been a beach day had we trusted the weather a little more lol

but we sat on our balcony with a cup of tea, the weather came close to giving us a sunset but clouds had the last laugh


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Tonight we are eating in our other favourite restaurant Cervantes on the high st opposite the church, there is no sea view but the steaks are lovely

Tonight we were going to have fillet steak Cervantes, which can only be had as a pair

We each had one of these which was superb


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Then we found we were buying a sweet, which we don't normally do but it was just a shared fancy ice cream between us. However, we watched a couple having liquors set fire to on the table with added coffee and cream, a sweet menu was give to another couple close by and the lady said, I don't want this, I want what they are having, at bit like Harry met Sally lol


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End of Day 3

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Day 4

Wednesday was market day at the marina and we again had a short sharp shower preventing us enjoying breakfast on the balcony and leaving it up in the air for going to the beach


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however, we decided to stay poolside, the sunbeds are free lol


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but as you may be aware by now Delboy can't sit still for 5 minutes, well there is a market on lol


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Plenty of colour around these markets


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Leather stuff


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and all kinds of bags


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all kinds of glassware


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Lanzarote carvings


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Oh and there is the Knight I fancied last year but the price has gone up 5€s, I was told it was a different one to last year


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And there is the same glass engraver still etching out the tropies that Arsenal failed to win last year lol


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And a man demonstrating the latest cutter that cuts up everything


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Anyway, these are just a selection from loads of photos I have of the market

on the way out there was Mr Blue Sky, who would make the sun come out for a few cents in his basket lol


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The it was back to the apartments, where Delboy gets roped into a game

no it wasn't a knobbly Knees competition that Delboy could have easily won


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but a Finnish game of skittles called Molkky, where numbered logs are stood up together like pins, knock one down only and you get the score on the top of that pin numbered 1-12, knock three down and you just score 3


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any logs that are hit are stood up again in the position they fall

As the game progresses, the logs get further apart and the object of the game is to score 15 or 30, miss hitting the logs altogether and you lose a life (you get 3 lives and your out)

Three guys managed to get a score of 30 on the fourth round and went into a final play off, Delboy needed the 12 pin but hit the 10 pin next to it and was out


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After the skittles, I came back to the pool bar to a sympathetic Mrs Db, where discussions on how unlucky i was took place, over a beer and baguette lol


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It turned out a nice afternoon and someone was so thirsty they just used the pool


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back on our balcony, it looked as if there was a chance of a sunset


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Well just a sunset


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Tonight we are eating in the Volcan De Timanfaya located on the promenade in town


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The menu
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I chose the steak in Porto sauce and a jacket potato, very nice it was


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Mrs Db had mixed kebab which she enjoyed


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End of Day 4

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Day 5

Thursday morning and it was looking great for weather

I could see Fuerteventura quite clearly through my camera lens and today Mrs Db was going to sit around the pool for a couple of hours whilst I attempted to walk to horseshoe bay, a much talked about and photographed place, where I had never been to before.


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I was going to keep times of the walk, starting at the taxi bay in the marina

I was going to walk as fast as I could, cutting corners to see how long it would take, at the Sandos Papagayo is was 27 minutes and wouldn't want to go that speed to any restaurants


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I was going to attempt to go over the ridge, rather than walk the beach just in case it was quicker lol


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but unfortunately, the route was leading me away from the beaches, only Delboy with a coastline in front of him could get it wrong and timing at this point stopped lol


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but I didn't mind, I might just get the better views from up here


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The First of the beaches you reach from the Sandos Papagayo is Playa Mujeres


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From here you can see the dirt track road going down to that beach


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But for me, I needed to get back on track and not get led further away but the terrain wasn't too helpful

i now had to scramble down this gully which was worse that it looks here, good job Mrs Db wasn't with me lol


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I ended up getting down on the dirt road which didn't look too bad to drive a car on


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Now the road sign to the other beaches, I can do Mujeres beach on the way back


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so a left and follow the road, hell its a long road lol


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any way this wasn't going to be scenic, so at the first opportunity I'm cutting right

So I have found my way down to the second beach, which should be Playa Del Pozo, there are wells around here and the water was said to have help the conquest of the place by the Normans but I saw a couple of what I thought were covered drains which you can just see in this picture but may or may not be the wells


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but time to head for the next beach


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and head for the next bay

It seems to only be accessed by a narrow gully going down to the sea


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I have some many lovely pictures of this area it's difficult to choose which ones


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I'm not even sure this bay has a name this and horseshoe bay seems to come under the name of Playa de Papagayo

but a step down and up a gully gets one to this cafe area and car park and jumping down 2 feet these days shows I have little bounce left lol


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and around the back of the cafe is the path down to horseshoe bay


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This is probably the most photographed beach in Lanzarote and I haven't seen it before


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but usually taken from this angle


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But for now I move on to see which beaches are beyond this one

Following the rugged coastline I head for Caleta del Congio which is said to be a nudist beach


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Armed with a camera I am going to have to be fairly descreet to get good shots of the bay


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With initially going wrong my time was really up and there is a further beach beyond that I was not going to make but just a quick shot of it

But I'll try and get over the top for a few shots and around by the building


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So up the hill I trek lol

and at the top now


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anyway, time to head back to Mrs Db via the beach

I would say 50% were nudists here so I am being very careful


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So walking back via horseshoe bay

however, walked out on the peninsular for a few photos


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The little cafe there but no time for a beer


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but a walk back via the beaches


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Were these the mystery wells that I missed, perhaps a further investigation another year


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So now back to Playa Mujeres that I missed on the way out, I waited for the sun to come out for a few minutes but it didn't lol


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but of course, as soon as I got across the beach it came out lol


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and after 3 and half hours of walking I was back to Mrs Db for another beer and baguette at the pool, only to be roped into a table tennis competition this afternoon


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I have been to these sort of events in the past and this is when one finds Mr Ping Yong happens to be staying in the same apartments your weeks. With the result of the ping pong ball being smashed across the table after bouncing from one wall to the next


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Believe it or not there were two left handed Delboy's and we had drawn one another in the first round

But I quickly went out of the competition 11-5 which is not surprising, as I haven't won anything like this since winning 'man of the week' at Pontins in 1984 lol. The two finalists were good but the score got to 10-10 and with all the smashing of the balls I didn't realise who had won lol

after a recovery tea on the balcony, it looks like a good sunset coming

So out with the camera again lol


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The moon was out, as we headed for Casale Franco's for that pizza that I have waited a year for lol


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Tonight I was going to try the Zola, mushrooms, gorgonzola and walnuts, sounds a nice combination

It was yummy


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Mrs Db was going to try the salmon which was recommended to her by friends Mrs Db thought is was a very nice meal


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but what's this Mrs Db could manage a sweet if I would help her, this tiramisu was scrummy


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house wine was 12.50€'s

In the meantime, Mr Ping Wong was launching Chinese Lanterns from the Dorada beach in the hope he would draw me in the table tennis next week


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where as those at the Rubicon Palace at the far end of the resort were probably reporting UFO's to the Spanish Air force lol


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Which ended a fabulous day where I almost took 250 photos


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Day 6

As I looked out of our apartment window, "Oh it's a nice sunny morning Mrs Db, it could be a beach day"


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And it was another breakfast enjoyed on the balcony


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So it was down to the beach for the first time lol


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oh bliss lol


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Joggers were jogging


People were limbering up on equipment that had been painted dark green or black, perhaps to be more in keeping with the environment or warn them what might happen if they did too much lol


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Oh was that a toe dip you had there Delboy lol


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People have asked how you get to the Superdino and park after coming into town for the first time, I might just go and check it out as I am still a bit confused myself lol, "Well if it starts to rain you might find me back in the apartment", replied Mrs Db


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Well the cloud didn't last, as Delboy investigates on the way where the front entrance is to the Casa Del Embajador, which I find is down a side street behind the town church

It all seems a very seluded secure place to stay but I understand there is no pool or air con


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another new bike hire/ excursion place I haven't seen before


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Anyway, here I am on the outskirts of town on the LZ-2 looking at a sign saying 39 kilometres to the hospital if anybody wanted to know that fact lol


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So turning around and facing the roundabout with the windmill on it, you go straight on passing the garage on your right, the Thomson coach is going right to the Rubicon Palace end so dont go that way lol


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As you pass the garage you stay on the road, unlike me who is walking it lol


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###########################################################
ROUTE TO THE SUPERMARKET HAS NOW APPARENTLY RECENTLY CHANGED DUE TO A ONE WAY SYSTEM AND INSTEAD OF THE FOLLOWING YOU GO STRAIGHT ON PASS THE NEXT ROUNDABOUT AND THEN TAKE THE NEXT SIDE ROAD ON THE RIGHT WHICH LEADS YOU TO THE SUPERMARKET CAR PARK FROM THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION

I will amend the route next time in Playa Blanca so ignore the following route
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At the Superdino

The honey rum was only 4.66€'s in there, so I had to buy a bottle for the apartment lol, well it's thirsty work checking out stuff


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Anyway, it didn't rain and Mrs Db was on the beach ready for lunch

I had a burger XL in Barney's but it came with potatoes without me realising and we ordered chips to share


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Poor Mrs Db I couldn't help her out with the chips


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by about 3:30pm it had got cloudy and it was time to go back for a cup of tea


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tonight was another sunset


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as frogman and his mate like James Bond carried a little boat up the pebbles


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tonight we would try Atlantico above the high st but found the Nag's Head and the restaurant were both closed for holidays, so we went to Cervantes again

I had the Chateabriand which I thought came with a sauce but had red and green sauce for the pototoes


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I wasn't sure if I had the right dish but I had 4 of the most tender pieces of fillet, and looking it up afterwards Chateabriand is one of the best cuts of beef, which was lovely


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Mrs Db had beef stroganoff, and again the beef in it was lovely


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of course Delboy couldn't miss out on one of those liquor coffee's that light the table lol, Mrs Db chose Tia Maria for us which didn't seem to work and I had a glass looking like a miner's lamp


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But the taste was good lol


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another nice day ended

End of Day 6

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Day 7

was another cloudy morning


So we decided to spend some time around the pool. However, before I came away, I tried book an organised walk over the volcanoes but the group could only pick me up from Playa Blanca if there were two of us. However, Mrs Db didn't fancy it as it would be too far.

I hadn't heard anymore from the group, and not wanting to miss out I went to Tourist Ticket office in the marina and found several other companies did the trip, however, Monday seemed to be the only key day for it but as I wanting a good sunny day for photo's, I held back until today Saturday and the forecast for Monday was sunny/cloud. So I was going to make a special trip to see Phil in the harbour kiosk, as others on here have been quite happy using him.

So this is how the day went

on the way along the promenade I took pictures of the restaurants/ shops still there


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Now Playa Blanca has a gym in town but didn't know a lot about it, the door was open and the owner was sweeping up outside, so I asked if I could go in and take a few photos


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So here we go


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I have the prices somewhere


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I have the rest but will add them later

finally getting to the harbour kiosk, to find Phil was on holiday lol


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but a very helpful lady called Bettina, fixed me up with the trip via Kayak and walk, I would be collected outside the apartments on Monday at 8:30am and told to wear good boots or trainers.

So back to the apartment and I put my glasses on and studied the leaflet, on the back it said see Lanzarote from the sea and walk. I said to Mrs Db, looks as if I'm on the wrong trip here, the last thing i want to be on is a Kayak lol. So back I went to the Kiosk and was told Kayak and Walk was the name of the company and I was reassured I was on the right walking trip. lol

Well the end of the Harbour to the marina is about a 1.5 miles, so walking there and back twice was good practise for Monday.


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On the way back I saw the guy setting up the stones


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Delboy has to ask, "how long have you been doing this?", I asked, "Since April, but October and November have been better for less wind", "Do you use glue or anything to stick them", "No, only materials from the beach', was the reply. "So why do you do it", "Well I build a temple of peace and tranquility for people that ask", Oh I said. (Don't shoot the messenger here, I'm finding things out for you ) :coy:

Lunch was a beer and bagguette on the balcony, whilst I kept up to date with the football results


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tonight a surprise sunset


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Tonight we are going to Casale Franco's for the last night before their holiday and my last chance to have another of their pizzas

I was going to have the campagnola, the one I had last year


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We will go to other restaurants in our second week but not missing the last night lol. it was lovely


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Mrs Db had the Pork fillets in marsala sauce


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She really enjoyed it


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I did say to the owner that another internet couple from Dublin may be coming tonight, I didn't have the courage of Mrs Whickers to speak to each table but their accent gave it away to the owner and we had a little chat and CMDDublin kindly gave Mrs Db and I a glass of wine, so nice to meet TA people at Playa Blanca

So a week gone

End of Day 7