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Gran Canaria

The Canary Islands, situated in the Atlantic Ocean, 100 kilometers west of the coast of Morocco are an autonomous community of Spain.

Contrary to belief, The Canary Islands did not get their name from the Canary, in fact, it’s quite the opposite. The Canary is a native species of The Canary Islands and took its name from the islands, not vice versa.

The story behind the name of the islands goes that when the ancient Romans first arrived, they saw that a large number of large wild dogs were living there. Hence they called the islands ‘Insularia Canaria’ which translates to ‘the Island of Dogs’.

Dogs have been important in the Canary Islands throughout history. They are shown on the coat of arms and are depicted on the Canarian Flag.

Archaeologists of burial caves on the islands often find a dog buried with his master. It was believed that by doing this, the dog could then guide its master’s soul to heaven.

The Canary Islands consist of seven main islands ( plus several other smaller ones) – In order of size they are :-

• Tenerife
• Fuerteventura
• Gran Canaria
• Lanzarote
• La Palma
• La Gomera
• El Hierro

Playa Del Ingles, Gran Canaria

We decided on the resort of Playa Del Ingles in Gran Canaria as our destination after Rome. This is a place that we have visited many times before and know well.

We loved Rome but the weather was pretty miserable. This made the thought of staying a month in the (almost) guaranteed sunshine of the Canaries a very easy decision to make.

We arrived on the 17th January 2021 intending to spend one month here.

Well, that month has flown by! We have already been here for over 3 weeks and have now started to discuss whether staying here for a little longer makes more sense.

As with Rome and Greece, because of COVID, everything is very quiet here.

There have been level 3 COVID restrictions during the time we have been here. This means a 10 pm-6 am street curfew and bars and restaurants can only operate an outside/terrace service.

The beaches are generally quiet during the week but tend to get a little busier at weekends when the locals are using them.

This week is normally carnival week in Gran Canaria. As with most festivals, this year it was canceled. However, the level 3 restriction was kept in place to be sure that no one hosted their own carnival celebrations. This strategy seems to have worked as the whole resort has remained quiet throughout the week.

The good news though is that from next week the restriction level will be dropped to level 2. This means a slight but positive relaxation of the restrictions. Bars and restaurants can now open until 11 pm and can allow customers inside to 50% of their capacity.

Gran Canaria has one of the lowest infection rates in Spain and it is easy to see why. Almost everything is done outside and with so few tourists at the moment the 2mtrs distance rule is very easy to adhere to.

Our accommodation

For our time in Playa Del Ingles, we searched the Airbnb listings and managed to find a really lovely bungalow on a small complex. There are hundreds of these bungalows in the resort. Most are very similar and have the same general layout. They usually consist of –

• Small living area
• Bedroom with two single beds
• Kitchenette
• shower/toilet

Ours has all these PLUS

• 3 Minutes walk to the Yumbo centre
• 10 Minutes walk to the beach
• Swimming Pool on the complex
• Superfast strong WIFI
• A really lovely little totally private garden

The Garden really is its pièce de résistance and the strong WIFI means that Karyo has been able to do his work whilst sitting in the sunshine outside. In his lunch break, we are even able to go for a swim! He is a very happy chappie!

We have enjoyed being here so much that we have now decided to extend our stay for another month. That will take us to the end of March which is the time that because of new Brexit regulations we have to leave the Schengen Zone.

As we have some paperwork that needs signing back home we have decided that our next stop will be Manchester! – We have booked our flight for 25th March and will return home to tie up one or two loose ends that we still need to do.

Then, once things are sorted back home we will then be able to decide what and where is next?

But for now, we still have five more weeks to enjoy this beautiful Island ..