Transatlantic cruise

This Pullmantur cruise cost £108 per person and sailed from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to Salvador de Bahia in Brazil.

The £108 includes food and drink (not including alcohol), 8 nights accommodation in an inside cabin and on-board entertainment. 

The cruise has 14 decks, including restaurants, bars, swimming pool, jacuzzis, spa, gym, library, shops, casino, climbing wall, theatre and sports court.

The reason this cruise is so cheap is because the cruise season has finished in Europe and beginning in the Caribbean and South America and the cruise relocates for this period.

We found this deal on HolidayPirates.com which I highly recommend for great travelling deals.

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After saying goodbye to Yvonne's family over a coffee in a shopping centre near the port, we walked to the big cruise ship and was greeted with a long queue still four hours before departure.

Once on board we found our room on deck 6, refreshed ourselves and then went for our 3 course dinner included in the price. We sat on table 277, with other 5 people also residents in England.

After dessert, we made a routine of going up to deck 11 and have more food at the buffet. There is food available all day!

After buffet breakfast the next morning, we were chilling at the pool area when we saw lots of dolphins swimming next to the cruise! It was a beautiful moment but we didn't manage to photograph them.

Our dinner table of 7 was the same throughout the cruise. We had Henry from Scotland, who works as a flying attendant, Joss from Guildford, a full-time traveler, Helene and Conrad, a young couple soon to move to Denmark and finally Dave from Manchester who is the life and soul of table 277.

This group kept united the whole cruise, always doing things together, playing cards, sunbathing and eating (mainly eating).

The crowd in this cruise is different to the usual. We have hippies, backpackers and families... young faces in general and the atmosphere is relaxed, spontaneous and happy. Everyone is friendly: there are hippies outside of their circle, people that just talk to every set of people, and even people that sit with someone new every day at lunch time.

There is nothing I can say about this cruise that would make it any less amazing than it has been, and with information of a return cruise in March, who knows?

El agujero + Gofio mill. Gran Canaria 16.11.15

Today we woke up and decided to go for a walk to explore Galdar again. This time we headed towards the sea, which led us to a rocky beach called "El agujero". The walk took around 45 minutes, including the time we spent wondering whether we would get anywhere walking that way (even though Yvonne lived in Galdar 20 years she had never been to that beach before).

The way we walked to get there was quiet, there was nearly no one around only banana plantations and small farm houses along a narrow road. After walking a long time under a 35ºC sun, we could finally see the way to the beach, we followed the signs and ended up inside some banana plantations where a worker helped us out to his amusement.

Finally at the beach, we sat down and relaxed for a few minutes to the sound of the waves hitting the rocks and watching the surfers. The small avenue doesn´t have any shops, it all consists on houses very close to the shore and at the beach, there is a cute little sea water pool where you can bathe. The water looks so clean even we had to try it, so we sat down in one of the sides of the pool and left our feet in the water, watching small fish swimming around them.

When it was time to head back we found a sign, and the sign showed us an old aborigine settlement and a graveyard. It is not open to the public since it is very fragile and in its original shape.

We also found a little shop where we got refreshments and again, another archeological site welcomed us to see the remains of an old coastal home. Galdar is full of history!

On our way back we stopped at the gofio* mill in Becerril, where the owner told us everything about the history of the mill: that it is the oldest working mill in the island, that it has 3 metre wide walls because the water "pipes" used to go on top of the mill and how the system has changed from water to fire and now the mill works with electricity. The worker allowed me to go in the mill to take a picture of it and I bought half a kilo of corn gofio which I thoroughly enjoyed.

*Gofio is a powder made of toasted grain (mainly corn or wheat) and it is used in coffee, as a single drink with milk, in biscuits, stews and you can also make a delicious dish with it.

79 year-old birthday party + San Felipe. Gran Canaria 15.11.15

We attended Yvonne's grandmother's 79th bitrthday party, hosted by Uncle Sergio and Auntie Esther who prepared plenty of food and drink for the many guests.

Yvonne's Grandmother (Agueda) is mother to 7, of which most were at the party, I also got to see four generations in one room, including three new additions since last time we visited in the New Year. This big family just keeps getting bigger!

The venue lasted 5 hours, including the cake, me singing Guantanamera with Agueda and a long time to get updated with everyone's life in the past few months or years. In a house that is only a five minute walk to Las Canteras beach, there was no better location for this party.

On the way back from the party, we stopped at San Felipe, a village famous for surfing. Most houses in this village have an amazing sea view and you can bathe in the sea water pools that have been created for the inhabitants of this place. This village is small and easy to miss, just after the Pepe Chiringo and the BP in the highway to Galdar from Las Palmas. Check it out!

Gáldar. Gran Canaria 14.11.2015

 


Gáldar (Yvonne's hometown) is a town in the north west of Gran Canaria. It is the old capital of the island, before the Spanish arrived. This town has a lot of cultural and historical interest. Galdar hosts the "Painted Cave", an archeological site that contains paintings and remains of houses of a pre-hispanic settlement.

To get to Galdar, you only have to take a bus from the main bus station. Number 103 or 105, and it costs 3'10 euros a single and takes around 40 minutes on a very scenic coastal road.

We walked into Galdar from Yvonne's house in the early evening and there was a great atmosphere around the main church with people sitting outside bars, restaraunts and cafes with live traditional music being played that everyone seemed to enjoy. We went to one cafe where we had ice cream and a cup of tea (Ollie's words: "You can take me out of England but you can't take England out of me"). Close to this area there is a museum, the already mentioned "painted cave", that has been uncovered in recent years and you get a great feeling of how they lived before the Spanish arrived. Entry costs €6 per person and it takes around 45 minutes to an hour to see the entire museum counting in the informative clips about the life of aborigenes, how the entry of Spain affected them and what happened to them then.

In the past couple of years, 7 more caves have been found in Galdar, along with cookery items and graves. The paintings found in the caves and items used by aborigenes can also be found in t-shirts, earrings and necklaces.

In the centre of the town there is also a square with a fountain overlooked by a church built initially in 1496, and reconstructed in 1778-1826 over the place where "Guanartemes" (a group of aborigenes) had their palace. It is now considered the centre of the town.

Do not hesitate to visit Galdar and get immersed in the history of the pre-hispanic societies.

Maspalomas. Gran Canaria. 12.11.2015

This time we headed to the more touristic side of the island. Maspalomas is where you would stay if you come to Gran Canaria. It´s specifically designed for tourists and you can find just about anything you want from your country of origin.

We first stopped by the Varadero shopping centre. It looks more like a market and you can find cheap clothes and beach items. It is surrounded by British, German and Scandinavian places (restaurants, bars and even hospitals). This is also the area where you find the best hotels and the best nightlife of the island, if that is what you´re looking for.

At the back of this shopping centre you will see an avenue next to the sea that will lead you to the lighthouse. Even though the lighthouse is closed to the public and you can not go in it, it is a pretty place for pictures and to chill. At this walk we found an archeological site that has remains of pre-hispanic buildings signed with all the history of the discovery of this site.

After having a walk to the lighthouse and taking way too many pictures, we headed to the dunes. You can walk to them but we took the car just to go up to the top of the dunes. However, we were late to arrive and it was already dark. The only picture I have is the one down here. Sorry!

You can walk the dunes but you need to allow a few hours and be interested on sports and trekking. It can be quite a tough walk, especially during the summer. The advantage: it´s completely free.

Columbus' house. Gran Canaria 11.11.2015

La Casa de Colon (Columbus' house) is a museum in the historical centre of Las Palmas. Columbus stopped here in 1492 and again on two more occasions on his way to America. This area of the city has remained faithful to his memory.
The museum consists on thirteen exhibitions including the history of the city, replicas of the ships and Latin American culture previous to the discovery.

To get there it is five minutes from the main bus station and easily found following the sign posts. It costs four euros for an adult to go in the museum, and you should allow one hour to see both floors of the museum. It opens 10 am to 6 pm Monday to Saturday and Sundays and public holidays 10 am to 3 pm.

We got there at around 4 pm. The museum is currently under construction for an extension. Now there are even parrots next to the shop (to attract more tourists, I expect) and it does attract them, Ollie nearly got his toe bitten by one after it charged at him. Luckily the security guard was around and things didn't get too nasty.

The museum is in the old town, and it is surrounded by historical building like Santa Ana's church.

There are also bars, cafes, restaurants and shops in the vicinity. It is a must if you're looking for some culture beyond the lovely Canarian beaches.

Arrived to Gran Canaria 10.11.2015

We got dropped off at Gloucester Green coach station in Oxford and waited impatiently for an hour surrounded by drunks waiting for the last bus home after Monday student night out.

We got the bus at 1 am going to Stansted airport just hoping to shut our eyes for a few hours, which was easier said than done. And when we finally arrived to the airport, dropped our baggage and went through security, Burger King caught our eye.

We were now ready to go!

Once in the plane we had to deal with British holiday groups drinking alcohol at early hours in the morning. It ended up in one of them vomiting all the way to the Canary Islands and being video recorded by his mates.

We also talked to the girl sitting next to us (Dragana) who is a Bosnian living in London, and later discovered we are going on the same cruise to Brazil! We exchanged contacts at the airport of Las Palmas and went out separate ways.

We have finally arrived.