I arrived by a tiny propeller plane to Las Palmas. The flight was pleasant, smooth and the staff at Air Marroc were the best I've come across. I then checked into my hostel, The Little Surf House, which was amazing, clean, bright and welcoming without feeling clinically put together like a chain of hotels - everything a hostel should be!
Rosa, the owner, met us and had learned from this very blog that I grew up in Ramsgate, somewhere she had lived for 9 months. For people from a small town this is a MAJOR NOVELTY, and I am nothing if not a victim of novelty. So we chatted about Ramsgate and what to do in Las Palmas. It has to be said that Rosa was amazingly helpful, even getting me signed up to an international hostel group to help me save money.
Over the coming week I, along with a friend, did a tour of Las Palmas, visiting the old quarter, Vagetta, which holds a tapas night every Thursday. You can actually get tapas and beer for two euros! It's beautiful and full of large imposing Dutch architecture, I sincerely wish I could live in one of these beautiful period homes!
We also went to Maspalomas, which for my taste is too touristy. That being said I did pick up an awesome Back to the Future tshirt which I would have added a picture of if Blogger worked properly with Google Drive! Anyway, Maspalomas doesn't really have a soul or any Spanish spirit, but what it does have is night life. We ended up arriving for the last night of gay pride. While it's not my cup of tea, I did meet some great people from Albania who worked at one of the bars. I am still in touch with them, so that's good. I'd say they were my first new travelling friends. In that I met them and not that they wear sovereigns and bad fake tan!
The shopping in Las Palmas is good, they have a big shopping centre on the sea front with restaurants and lot of sports outlets, plus a gym and what's really great is that it's open late. I went there at 9pm and there was no sign of shops shutting, which is what I like to see. I also came across something I'd never encountered in European shops. If you go into the main supermarket with a plastic bag, you have to use a machine to seal another bag around it - one assumes to prevent shop lifting, though you could quite easily break this outter bag if you wanted and carry on your pilfering ways, if that's your intent.
All this aside, what I really want to talk about is the activity in Las Palmas. As someone who enjoys being active this place was amazing. Within a stones throw of the hostel I could go rock climbing, do yoga, visit several gyms, visit a dance studio. Plus, still within stones throw is the beach, where you can use a number of outdoor gyms or run the length of Las Canteras coast with the swathes of other joggers taking in the views of the sea, harbour and the island's biggest auditorium. Finally as if that wasn't enough, Rosa is on hand to arrange paragliding, surfing, wind surfing, kayaking, mountain biking and I'm sure a whole host of other activities.
The eternal spring weather also means that activities are on most of the time, though there are still some times when they have to down tools to keep people safe.
All in all, I'd definitely stay here again. In fact I plan to. Maybe a little earlier in the year, but not by much as temperatures still went up to 30 degrees at times, which is high enough when you're being active. I'll also be back to visit my new found friends and have a big night out in Maspalomas, though it will be Las Palmas I'll be returning to as the lifestyle has really captured my heart.
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