GRAN CANARIA

Years and years ago during a particularly bleak winter I asked my husband if we could go for a week to Canary Islands.Workaholic that he was,he said no, maybe at Easter if things "quieten down".But I had set my heart on seven glorious days in the sun,so I said if he was not coming with me,I would go alone.He looked at me doubtfully - you alone?,a little girl from the sticks,[as he used to call me jokingly if he disagreed with me referring to my being only 159 cm tall to his 182 I think,or a little taller,and I was from a small village at the end of a dirt track,the last settlement between two mountains ], you would never go anywhere without me. Wouldn't I,just watch me.There was a beautiful hotel called Tamarindos, at the time one of the few five the star hotels on Canary Islands,if not the only one, and the British Airways offered a good deal, so I booked it.Five star?! I suppose a four star would not be good enough for her majesty,laughed my husband [this was his second nickname for me, there were two more - a pocket Venus - I was born in May,Venus being my guiding planet, or a battleship, and there was a time and place for each of them!] when I showed him the fully booked flight and a hotel.Well, you always say nothing is too good for me, so let's not just do the talk,let's do the walk,I replied.And walk I did. To Gran Canaria.I do not remember about the Tamarindos much,I remember taking at least 3 tours around the island and spending the rest of the time on Maspalomas beach,sunbathing in the nude on the very edge of this sandy beach, where naturists were allowed.I have not been to the Maspalomas since,even though have cruised to Gran Canaria several times in the past six year.The ships always dock in the capital Las Palmas.Las Palmas is not a place to love.There is not a decent coffee shop or a cake to die for,the croissants are filled with cream and who knows what,totally not to my taste.I walked for good hour this morning,eyeing along the way a nice place to sit down.There was nothing.In the end I entered the first place that offered coffee.There was sliced pizza on display and I asked a pleasant young girl to warm me a slice,and black coffee with milk separately,please.The pizza brought to me did not look like pizza I thought I was getting,the base was thick and quite sloppy,not even heated through,the coffee looked the part, but once tasted I could not force myself to stomach it.I decided to cut my losses,paid, even left a tip-the girls were lovely, just the food was not.And the next time I come to Gran Canaria on a ship I would not be getting off it.