I mentioned in my last post that on our last day we were heading to other side of the city, metaphorically and literally speaking. Metaphorically as we were heading from the old town to the more contemporary beach area and literally as the beach is on the opposite side of the narrow peninsula the city is built on.
When we visited the city for the day on our last trip everything was a bit rushed especially as the beach and the old town are a few km apart and require a bus trip to travel between them. This time we had an opportunity to enjoy both the old town and beach area at leisure.
Our last day was Epiphany which is the major Spanish Christmas Holiday celebrating the arrival of the three wise men and the exchanging of gifts. We heard the excited screams of the young children in the flat across from ours, clearly opening presents and I saw one of the parades of cars with people dressed up as the three wise men when checking out the bus times.
I was a bit worried that everything might be closed up for the holiday but while conventional shops are shut, everyone else goes out for the day (much easier in sunnier climes than a dank December day in the UK) so all the restaurants and bars were open (and busy) and the buses ran as normal.
We had a nice leisurely morning stroll along the promenade to the north.
The weather seemed to improving slowly, excellent views along the coast towards Galdar and Tenerife in. the distance.
Looking back to the main beachfront.
Time for lunch. Hard choice among the many restaurants on the seafront, but we picked a superb little Tapas bar with friendly staff for our final lunch of the holiday. Clinking glasses with a teapot is not something I’ve done before!
After lunch we took a wander along the sandy beachfront, stopping off to look at the sand sculptures of the Nativity.
They were really rather good.
Its a huge beach and the only golden sand stretch in this part of the island.
Time to sit for a while and have a swim. The beach is protected from the bouncy waves by a natural reef just offshore so the water is calm and clear and perfect for an easy swim. Lots of fish as well.
While the family sunbathed I took a wander along the sands.
Even though its quite a modern seafront, I really love the place.
Happy family atmosphere and still some fine views.
All that swimming and walking is thirsty work so it was time for another sit down and an afternoon beer or two.
We bagged a spot by the Volleyball courts and enjoyed watching these guys play – they were seriously good.
On the adjacent court was a family enjoying their epiphany day – they were seriously bad!
Such was the quality of our little spot we stayed for a couple of hours and by the time we moved on the sun was starting to go down.
We strolled back up to the rockier part of the promenade to watch the people surfing and fishing.
It was too cloudy for a truly awesome sunset but the views were still pretty decent across the coast.
And across to the main promenade with the sun lighting up beachfront buildings.
Reluctantly we tore ourselves away to catch the bus back to apartment with packing to be done ready for our flight home in the morning. A brilliant last day to end another superb winter holiday.
The weather for the flight home was superb so we had some great views of the island as we departed.
La Garita and La Bufadero are in the bottom part of this photo.
Las Palmas city
Tenerife looming large on the horizon above Las Palmas.
The crescent shaped bay on the far side of the peninsula is Las Canteras beach.
Mountains of northern Portugal (I think)
And the sun sets over the UK (and our holiday) as we approach Luton Airport.
surfnslide 
In the Army, they used to make us play rounders in the soft sand – it totally ruined your legs/tendons!
Are those sand sculptures permanent or just done for the holidays? And are they sand or sandstone? If they’re sand, I don’t see how it all holds together?
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I like playing volleyball but it is painful on the wrists, hands and knees, not sure my knees (or general fitness!) are up to it these days.
it was a Nativity scene so guess the sculptures were just there for the holidays. They are made out of beach sand so I guess they must wet them to make them into art, although honestly I have no idea how they do it!
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they were very good!
I like volleyball – it was about the only game I was any good at at school! Haven’t played it since though…
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Lovely spot for a lazy day on the beach, like those sand sculptures, I saw something similar at Weymouth, although those were covered over to protect them from the British summer!!
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Yeah, Sand Sculptures in the UK must have a very short shelf life! I love a nice seafront walk in a town and this is one of the best. The beaches in the south of the island are very hard to get anywhere near as they are backed by huge swathes of hotels and apartments. Las Canteras is a bit more “real”
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A stunning day to conclude an amazing break away from the cold and wet of your long winter. The temperature looks perfect for all your activities. I don’t think I would be visiting in summer.
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The Canaries are pretty hot in summer, not my kind of thing. At New Year its still warm enough to laze on the sand and swim in the sea – perfect!
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I’m trying to get a picture of how large those sculptures are? They look huge, but it’s hard to judge. We went to the Canaries in February and in the afternoon the sandy beach nearby was way too hot to walk on with bare feet. Never experienced that anywhere else.
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Those sand sculptures were maybe 2-3 feet high, possibly a bit more. Its never hot enough at this time of year for hot sand. Its pretty much always like that in the Med in summer, hence we never really went to the beach much on our south of France trips
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