holidayreviews.info

Sunday Day 8

I set off to the Pirate tower at just after 7am and there wasn't a cloud in the sky and what looked to be a plain sunrise. However on arrival I could see a large boat with arc lights on in the Papagayo area

So I couldn't let that go by with going down there.

The boat had a huge crane on board and I was trying to work out whether they were dropping statues over the side.
but at this point in time it seem to be launching a small boat over the side before leaving and a pilot boat remained on site


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So now in a different position and no clouds about, it was left to use my imagination of making the sunrise interesting


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This old lamp looked good to use for a contrast of modern lighting against the sun


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but I now had a long walk back and the sun had got up high enough for me to line up the bell tower with the sun


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once back at the marina my statue was still there


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and all the others so what was that all about this morning lol


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another nice day


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and the ARMAS ferry has just come back from maintenance


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The green flag was flying over the beach as all holiday


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and the rickshaw was doing a run. They have an electric motor on board to assist their pedalling


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for us it was around the swimming pool


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but ended up playing a Scandinavian skittles game which I lost lol


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I was then tipped off that the boat I had seen this morning was at the end of the marina but by the time I got there it was gone


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Lunch was at Cafe del Puerto in the marina

the menu


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which has a nice view of the boats


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and has the Art Deco feel to the surroundings. They do have a statue of a naked lady holding a ball at the front but shades were down to spoil any photograph


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best to show you my burger lol


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Mrs Db had a toastie


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an afternoon by the pool and a cup of tea on the balcony before sunset


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This evening we are going to Blue Notes and thought the marina looked attracted all lit up


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and Christmas lights were beginning to go up


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Mrs Db had the seabass


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I had that tasty rack of lamb again


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End of Day 8


Monday Day 9


Yes I was up for the sunrise but PB was still in darkness but unfortunately no sunrise today and a walk back to apartments lol


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However, today Anne and Barry came to collect us at 10am for a trip to the Salt Plains


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Many years ago salt was one of Lanzarote's main industries and salt was exported all over the world. In the early days the salt was used to preserve the fish on boats that spent days at sea before refrigeration came along and hundreds of people were employed. There were Salt Pans at Costa Teguise, Matagorda and North of Arrecife and smaller derelict one like the one in Playa Blanca marina itself. A hotel now sits on the site at Costa Teguise (Las Salinas) and Development has taken over the area at Matagorda were Salt Pans use to be leading towards the Airport.


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But just outside Playa Blanca this Salt Pan which covers 400,000 sq metres has now become a tourist attraction and still produces around 15,000 tons of salt every year but only a third of what it use to produce

I believe the wind fans work water pumps to push water into the grid sytems

Unfortunately I couldn't get near the towers and the wind made it difficult to hold the camera still


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then the water condenses leaving the salt behind


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One can buy the salt on site as it is for sale in all sized bags


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we then drove down to a spot where strong waves come in and you can see they would make it a good area to collect salt


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From there we went on to Los Hervideros which are also known as the bubbling pots


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It's a place created by the volcanic eruptions and hardening of the lava has producing a labyrinth of caves


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The Atlantic ocean pounds into the caves


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There are routes around the holes and one can go down some of them to get closer. Now did Barry and I really walk across that path lol


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Anne holds up a piece of rock with some Olivine inside which can be found on the beach at El Golfo and sometimes smoothed by tide, this is the gemstone for August and known as the poor man's emerald. There was an honesty box to buy it for a euro but more on that later.


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As I wanted to get down closer to the water


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further on there was a rock formation that had a walkway but close off and I spotted a white object, Barry suggested it could be a Dinosaur bone lol


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Zooming in, this is the closest I could get to it, what do you think it could be ?


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Barry and Anne then drove us to El Golfo which is known for it's fish restaurants and the Green lake


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There is a pathway up to the lake which wouldn't be suitable for wheelchairs but a slow climb

The lake is said to have a green colour due volcanic minerals and micro-organisms but a sort of Algae to me and not caused by Olivine


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Anne was telling me that not all Olivine one sees on the stalls comes from Lanzarote.

There was a stall selling it down below and the stall owner kindly answered our questions. The stone in the rock found on Lanzarote is not suitable as it breaks up.


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even these necklaces if I understood correctly come from elsewhere


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The majority of the stones come from Arizona which are a better quality


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so this stone definitely doesn't come from Lanzarote


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The sun had come out so just popped up to the lake again as it is said to look greener but I think the best time to photograph it might be in the afternoon with the sun behind


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We the drove down to the end of El Golfo where there is a coastal walk towards Timanfaya National Park


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a couple on the rocks


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here the sea really bashes the shoreline


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The town of El Golfo its their fish restaurants


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we had coffees watching a guy cleaning fish


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soon it was time to go back


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but got a photograph of the guy with lots of seagulls looking on lol


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we drove over via Femes before coming into Playa Blanca

Thank you to Anne and Barry who drove us around to get these extra pictures for the forum users to enable them to see a bit more of Lanzarote

for Lunch Mrs Db and I went over to Berrugo's

Menu


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we had Sangria which was a little disappointing


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Mrs Db has and omelette


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I had a bacon sandwich


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the food was fine but the fruit in the sangria sunk to the bottom before it arrived, a quote from Basil Fawlty came to mind

In the afternoon we had table tennis and I still lost lol


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so a sunset amongst the rocks from me


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This evening decided to return to El Horno's and walked to town


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Their front entrance open at night


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menu


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Tonight there were only a few people eating how strange it was packed last time


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I had the steak gorgonzola


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Mrs Db had the peppered steak


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and a free drink of our choice mine was a whiskey


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End of Day 9

Tuesday Day 10

Another day and very little cloud about


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Perfect morning from the balcony


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and a morning around the pool which involved taking part in killer darts which I lost lol


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The beach is popular today


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Just above the beach and to the left is the Papagayo Commercial Centre which has the Harp bar


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The Jungle Bar


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The supermarket underneath them has had a small refurbishment


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Barney's where I like their burgers


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opposite is the Burger King that is open late if anybody is desperate for a meal


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Wax's bar for the football


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Dive shop


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Busker's have Karaoke nights


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Tito's Cafe which is new


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The 12D cinema has closed but on investigation I hear it is shortly going to the Lanzsur Club Hotel but will find that out before the end of the holiday

A Dive school


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Waikiki bar i don't recall being there last year


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There is a shop that hires mobility scooters but don't know anything about them to comment


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The Spice Fusion we ate in a few night back and included in the first half of the review


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Mollies bar


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Which has billiard tables


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Casale Franco's Italian restaurant


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Across the road in the High St there is a run of shops, bars, restaurants and banks

Mama Mia's bar


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The Tavern


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Cervante's restaurant is the one opposite the zebra crossing where we ate earlier on


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Play area for children with a galleon ship to climb on


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The main taxi rank for Playa Blanca opposite there is a chemist


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so if anybody wants baby formula here is what they have


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The popular First Minute Excursion shop opposite the taxi rank


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further up the road towards the garage roundabout I noticed this Orange shop don't know anything about it and not noticed it there before


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The Chemist by the garage roundabout has these baby formula's


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a really hot day today and a sunset


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We decided to go to the Volcan Del Timanfaya again

The menu


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I had the pork ribs very nice


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Mrs DB had the mixed kebabs


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Plus we had a shared icecream with two spoons


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And we qualified for a free  large caramel vodka to finish



End of Day 10



Wednesday Day 11


Am I getting up too early lol


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Something different lol


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Lovely day from our balcony and can't complain about the weather


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Good around the swimming pool


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But I'm going to look at the progress of the Lanzarote Park, have a look at the Lanzasur Water Park and find the new venue for the 12d cinema


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A poster showing what the sea museum may look like


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so now in town along the promenade


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Some guys are fishing and I like the shape of the steps in the picture


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The Fureteventura small boat


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a yellow boat has been out here for a couple of days but not sure what its purpose is


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Life Guard hut on Flamingo beach


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Finally arriving at the Lanzasur Club, I asked where the entrance was to the Water Park and was guided through their village only to come out on an entrance which was accessible from the street.


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I asked an official if I could take some photographs for a review to show people what is available and they seem to agree. However, the lady at the ticket office said I would still have to pay lol


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So sorry guys, I'm afraid  it's just views from the street


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but I think you can get a good idea from them


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Most would be happy on these tubes


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seems that they have someone to help on landings


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However, I now could not establish where the 12D cinema was going to be placed So it was back around to the Lanzasur Club


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Where I asked two Thomson reps but they didn't know, they then took me to reception and a very nice lady said she didn't know. She even tried on the internet for me but I had tried that myself. "I know", said the lady, "the person in the jewellery shop is local she mine know". Discussions took place and finally it was established the 12D cinema will be opening behind the games room

It hasn't opened yet but the lady said it will be open to the public. They also have a bar near it in the hotel reception that the public can use. So that is the story "opening soon"


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Lunchtime was back at the swimming pool

Tuna baguettes all round and an afternoon at the pool


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A cat using Freddy's cat house, there are many cats that depend on him and many I see are waiting for him to come around at dawn.


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Not sure what the proper name for these stones would be but one of the makers was still around leaving me better ones standing up to photograph


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Could these be the three wise men lol


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Tonight Casale Franco's is open after their holidays, so we are going there


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It had been so hot today I could not sit on out balcony and it was still warm enough to sit outside and enjoy a meal


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Menu


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I had the steak Bistecca which was lovely


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Mrs Db had the Piccata pork fillet


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and a free Limoncella after a lovely evening

End of Day 11

Thursday Day 12

Off to the Pirate watch tower it had clearly been raining during the night


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The dawn looks ok


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Sunrise


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but now on this new angle of silhouettes


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a semi cloudy day but happy around the pool


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and a vital billiards match lol


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of course ilost lol


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Our usual tuna and I will probably grow fins if I eat any more


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Which would be handy for water volleyball but I didn't take part


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No real sunset tonight


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and tonight we are going back to Cervante's

The menu, I think they have the cheapest T-Bone steaks


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I had the mixed meat and it's a struggle to eat it all


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Mrs Db had the steak with Roquefort sauce


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And on the way back passing the Harp, Elvis was in the building lol


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Passing the Princesa Yaiza there was a very large crowd of a hundred or more in the courtyard and a few minutes later quite a good firework display


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I'm guessing it may be a charity gala, it was a vast crowd of people


End of Day 12




Friday Day 13

Morning Delboy, I don't see any dawn happening from up here


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I think you are right

I'll pop down to see if I can improve the photograph of the statue with a wave coming in with a camera one can amuse oneself


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It's cloudy from our balcony today


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Oh dear its raining hard, it seems cruel to take a photograph whilst I am in the dry lol


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We can get Arab TV which does show some cracking films which are American with Arab subtitles which are not needed. This morning I started to watch "The imagination of Doctor Parnassus" and I think the Director of the film had a bigger imagination than me. Mrs Db had to look up the internet to work out what I had been watching lol


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Fortunately the weather cleared up and we decided to go into town for lunch.


WE got as far as the Papagayo Commercial Centre and it tipped down.


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Barney's seem to be the choice rather than go further and get wet


The menu


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We decided to have some Sangria to relax a bit. Now this is how it should be made not with tinned fruit that sink lol


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I had their burger which I still find the best


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Mrs Db had her toastie


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and it was sunny again


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somebody asked about taxi's whilst I was away so I photograghed the rates from the marina


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Checking the sunset from our balcony I notice a water jet man in the sea


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So it was down on the promenade for a closer look


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Sunset, with a bit going on out at sea lol


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This evening we are going to try the Petite Marmite restaurant. Christmas lights had gone up in the marina walkway


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I had the lamb chops


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Mrs Db had the sirloin steak. I did have a menu taken outside earlier


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This is the pudding menu and they are good on making Crepes


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Unfortunately there was a big party of local people that did make it too noisy for us but we just picked the wrong night to go.


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End of Day 13

Saturday Day 14

Sunrise isn't too good


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I tried to get an improved photograph of the statue for my latest hobby but it rained on me lol


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So not a good move


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We even got rainbows over Playa Blanca


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Almost dropping the pot of gold on these people, it could be you lol? hmm got a rain spot on my camera lens too


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The rain had stopped and it was market day


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Dresses were blowing in the wind


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How long is this string


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it was too windy around the pool area


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and down it comes again, try not needing a fleece in this, how the weather can change


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Has it stopped yet ?


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So its the film Bourne Legacy on tv for me lol

so baguettes in the pool bar


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This afternoon we had three teams of three playing bowls and because of the weather it was decided that if it rains the team leading at that point would win. Well it was my last throw and it begain to rain I got the perfect throw winning our team two points and we rushed to the shelter. It was high fives all round I was on the winning team at last. Suddenly it stopped raining and the decision was to play on and guess what we ended up losing lol


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And to rub it in it started to rain heavy again


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It was sunset time and I think the Film Pearl Harbour was on and I missed the ending but I had Mrs Db to ask what happened in the end lol


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For our meal we were going to Casale Franco's once more


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but sat inside


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The Pasta Menu


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We had some toasted bread


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I had my favourite pizza campagnola


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Mrs Db had ravioli di zucca


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lovely meals with a free glass of Limonella


End of Day 14

Sunday Day 15

Normally would just have breakfast and leave about 11am on the Luton flight but because we have chosen to fly from Gatwick we have virtually a full day in Playa Blanca. So I thought I would do a last sunrise to finish it off. However, getting to the pirate watch tower I could see a small boat with arc lights on and using my zoom on the camera it looked interesting.


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So I couldn't let this go and was off down to the Mirador Papagayo as that boat is in the coned off sea museum area


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I couldn't make out what it was doing there


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The sun was begining to come up


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but all became clear when a bigger boat came along


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to which the small boat acted as a pilot to guide it into the area


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Zooming in I could clearly see concrete statues on the deck


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However, the large boat couldn't anchor in the area and the pilot boat had to take various ropes from the large boat and anchor them outside the buoys or to some of the buoys themselves


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getting the boat tied up took so much time and guess what, yes it began to rain

and not wanting to get my fleece wet for my trip home I had to leave them. My guess is those statues that I saw earlier were going to be put into the sea this morning.


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Back at the apartment the rain had stopped and I noticed cones were going out


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Police were there at the marina and making enquires there was to be two charity races from the Princesa Yaiza to the marina and back. Perhaps the reason for the crowd and fireworks at the Princesa Yaiza Friday night


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The first race was for children


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Then came the wind and rain


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Then it cleared up just in time for the adult race


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We had to be out of our room by 12 noon, so Mrs Db and I had decided to have a walk around the marina but it rained on us


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but as soon as it stopped we made ouer way to Lani's snack bar


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Mrs Db had a chicken bagguette


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I had a Hawaiian toastie (it had pineapple in it lol)


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Afterwards we sat in the pool bar looking at the football scores coming in whilst looking at my watch to see the Luton flight would now be leaving. I consoled Mrs Db that for every hour we now sat in PB Thomson's were giving us a £100 saving lol


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The coach was picking us up at 18:10 and the last sunset in PB was not a good one


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The coach had pick ups at the Cay Beach, Sun Tropical others in Puerto Calero and Puerto Del Carmen before arriving at an empty airport

no queues to check in


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And empty inside with only Manchester and Gatwick left to fly. However, our plane had just flown in from Lapland and was only a small 757-200 and the seat room was small and for me an uncomfortable flight and not idea for a sleep.


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We had a good holiday and up to the last three days would have said the weather would have been the best but it is pot luck this time of the year and one can see how it can change from 77 degs late Wednesday to going home on Sunday.

Hope you enjoyed holidaying with the Delboy's once again

End of Day 15