One week in Playa del Ingles, south of Gran Canaria. 11/11, Maspalomas Winterpride and a visit of Puerto de Mogan.

Although the covid pandemic was still active, I went a week to Gran Canaria to enjoy some sunshine. I stayed in an all inclusive hotel, where we still had to wear a face mask. And also in supermarkets a face mask was mandatory. The festivities for Winterpride 2021 were reduced to limited access by the need for tickets for the concerts. However the Yumbo centre was still packed. And (mainly) Germans started off the carnaval season (11/11) on the beach.

Autumn in Europe equals low temperatures, grey skies and rainy days. But not at the Spanish Canary Islands! So I escaped the cold and the rain to enjoy a week in the sun in Gran Canaria. During this week the Maspalomas Winterpride took place as well. During the days I spend most of my time on the beaches of Playa del Ingles and Maspalomas (next to the famous Maspalomas dunes). On saturday I joined the Pride Walk. And in the evenings I partied at the Yumbo centre, where every night performances were done by o.a. 2Unlimited, Tara McDonald, Berget Lewis and several DJ's. 

This year again a week in Playa d'Ingles on Gran Canaria to celebrate the end of the European winter.

The week on Gran Canaria last year still in mind, I was longing for another week on the sunny  beach at the end of European winter.

Having survived the Dutch winter, my body was in need of sunshine. So I decided to spend a week on the sun-guaranteed  island of Gran Canaria. This Spanish island is situated in the Atlantic Ocean, close to the North-Western part of the African continent. That Gran Canaria isn’t a cultural backpacking scenery was proven at the airport of Las Palmas, where my backpack was the only one between the many suitcases in the baggage claim area.

I booked a hotel in Playa del Ingles, a sea resort town on the south of the island. Since years the bay is packed with hotels and the German language is more spoken then the Spanish. However, the large sandy beach gets less crowded when getting closer to the Maspalomas Dunes, a nature reserve between Playa del Ingles and the Maspalomas lighthouse.

I qualified the Atlantic Ocean as too cold for scuba diving and the available day-trips as not interesting enough for participation. So for six days my daily itinerary consisted of a walk through the dunes to the beach to spend hours on the sunbed before heading back to the hotel for diner. In the evenings I drunk wine in the hotel bar, followed by beers and gin-tonics in the bars at the Yumbo center.