Last week I went on holiday for a second visit to the beautiful Spanish Island, Gran Canaria, which sits close to the north west of Africa. The hotel I stayed at for a second time was Anfi del Mar Beach Club and I will talk all about that later on, but for now sit back and relax, this post is going to be a long one about all the things I did in my 7 days in heaven!
I'm going to start off with the hotel, I feel like where you stay can really make or break your holiday. Anfi del Mar in a short description is a collection of 4 hotels, Anfi Beach Club, Monte Anfi, Puerto Anfi and Gran Anfi. They are all located within walking distance to each other and are located on a beach front on the south west coast of the island. Anfi Beach Club is where we stayed and is the one hotel that is located directly adjacent to the beach. The beach has white sand imported from the Caribbean which contrasts to Gran Canarias typical volcanic grey sand found on other beaches around the island. The hotels are carved out of volcanic rock creating a beautiful natural feel to the whole area. The room we stayed in was a studio room. It was absolutely massive for a studio room and it still included an all marble bathroom which we had in a different type of apartment we stayed in last year. Off our balcony that included a table, chairs and two sun loungers, we had a view of the pool, part of the beach, the port of Arguineguin in the distance and a big hill which we would later climb up. I cannot fault Anfi Beach Club on their hotel, everything is sparkling clean with grass as soft as a fresh new carpet and gardens tended to as if the Queen was about to arrive, it is like staying in paradise with all the nicest people you could have around you.
Along the beach front there is an assortment of shops, restaurants, bars and an incredible popular dessert place called Gelateria Capriccio which is absolutely delicious and I went there every day without fail. Alongside the beach is a small man-made island in the shape of a heart. Awh how cute! I called it the Heart Island and believe ITV have really missed out on an opportunity to not have Love Island filmed here. But thank god it isn't, otherwise I wouldn't be able to enjoy it for myself! Across the bridge and onto the Heart Island is a path running all the way around with a well-tended to garden, beside it is a port and the beach on the other side. The main thing that occupies the Heart island is Maroa Club de Mar. Maroa for short, is a bar, restaurant and a luxury sun bed area with sun bed service which means they come to you just like in a restaurant and ask if you need anything, drinks of all sorts, food, whatever you need, all day long. We spent one day at Maroa as it is quite pricey and you always got to treat yourself when you're on holiday right? I loved it there, we had a joint sun bed which was literally the size of a double bed and Mojito's in posh glasses. Oh la la. We took a dip in the sea at the beach, enjoyed the music and all-day service on our big double sun bed. Also, on our last night we went to the bar to have one final farewell Mojito. Spoilt rotten!
Going back to the big hill that we could see from our balcony. To try and get some form of exercise to compensate eating lots of ice creams from Capriccio, we decided to climb this hill. We did it before and I admit it was not my favourite thing to do last year. It is steep, it is dusty and it does not have an easy path to just walk up, this is a full on work out in my opinion. However, this time round it was easier and we both got to the top of it in only 20 minutes, half the time we did it in 2018. I think knowing what to expect walking up and my determination to not look over the side helped out a lot, and the view at the end was so worth it.
Instead of sitting in our swim gear around the pool and on the beach for the full 7 days, we decided we would explore Palmitos Park. Anfi like most hotels have days out that they can help plan for you so off we went for a full day out. Anfi had a free coach transfer every Thursday to Palmitos Park, we got on at 10am and got to the park about 30 minutes later. Easy peasy. Our tickets to Palmitos Park cost €32 each, it included a Birds of Prey show, Dolphin Show and Parrot Show as well as being able to go around the park viewing other animals. I thought this was a great price as I know you can pay that same amount just to see a Dolphin show itself. The Birds of Prey show was by far my favourite show of the whole day. I got to see 2 Bald Eagles fly out far and high into the mountains at the same time, Vultures swooping above our heads as well as many other big birds that I know I would never see in the wild over here in the UK. It was an amazing experience to witness. Alongside the shows and animals was also and aquarium and a beautiful butterfly and orchid house.
Good food is a must on holiday. Apart from the restaurants along the beach front at Anfi, a taxi drive to Puerto Rico (not to be confused with the Puerto Rico in Central America) just 10 minutes away can provide you with all the food you can think of to eat, as well as our favourite all you can eat Chinese buffet! Yes, we had a Chinese on holiday and it was amazing. Another restaurant that we visited in Puerto Rico is called San Miguel. We had prawns in hot garlic and chilli oil, grilled chorizo sausage with onions and for mains we had pasta and a mixed grill. After our lovely dinner we explored the new shopping centre and came across a chic bar called Tipsy Elements. I had a passionfruit pornstar martini with a shot of champagne and it was no joke, the best drink I have ever drank in my whole entire 21 years of existence. The look of the bar was also stylish with plants growing out the walls, fire heaters, plush pillows, fancy wooden menus and a fountain. It was like stepping into an expensive bar in London, but at a fraction of the price. Puerto Rico also has all the gift shops and tax-free perfume shops you could need. I bagged myself a Kenzo World perfume as a treat to myself, not that I hadn't treated myself too much already.
On Saturday night we went to a festival called Fiestas del Carmen. The festival is spread over a week or two and it is a religious festival. We saw a number of floats that had built in barbeques, fridges and bars that served the local people canarian food and drink. The floats were all decorated differently and were followed by dancers and local canarian community bands singing and playing a range of string instruments. The local people were all dressed beautifully in traditional clothing as families, friends and the community of all ages came together to celebrate. It was a great atmosphere and was not like any other religious celebration I have come across before and I was glad to witness the Canarian's enjoying their culture.
If you made it to the end of this post, congratulations, it was a long one I know. But hopefully this may have sparked the want to visit Gran Canaria sometime soon, I know I will be returning soon without a doubt!
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