Sand Sculptures, Playa Canteras

Throwback Thursday: Sundays at Playa Canteras

Now that we’re sitting in Indiantown Marina and it’s obvious that we’re going to be here for quite a long time while we fix up Daze Off to sail, I don’t want to bore you with stories that are only related to boat work (but don’t worry, they’re still coming).   I know that’s what some of you crave, but if you’re like me, you also need a little fun in there.  A little travel and a little adventure.

So for the foreseeable future while we are doing nothing much more than boat work I will be adding a Throwback Thursday post in every week as well.  Cataloging our trip so far, giving you that needed sense of travel and adventure, and for those of you that haven’t started with us from the beginning, catch you up on some of the most important or memorable parts of our travels.

Oh wow, I had forgotten how much I’d completely fallen in love with the island of Gran Canaria.  Part of me wishes we had gotten there much sooner than we did, but our blissful days on Lanzarote were nothing to complain about either. I guess this means the two of us will have to find a year or so in our lives to fully dedicate to this set of islands.

After our arrival to Las Palmas, the capital of the island chain, we had to wait out that nasty weather which hit us just after Thanksgiving.  As soon as the sun came out on our fourth day though, we were out to hit the streets as well as the beach.  Playa Canteras, at the NE tip of the islands, is a great place for strolling, full of shops and bistros, all situated in front of the crashing waves of the beach.  While wandering our first day, we found a chain restaurant called Montanditos, which we fell head over heels for.  Tiny sandwiches served with a chilled wine drink called tinto verano.  We had a new love.

Exploring as much of this large metropolis as we could by foot, we found the opposite direction from the beach held a very nice pedestrian walkway with the chains of clothing and home good stores we could find back in the states, but their Old Town section I had been so looking forward to exploring was completely abandoned and actually kind of boring.  We didn’t  have to find streets and shops to entertain us for long though, because a few days after that we had the change to meet up with an online blogging friend of mine, Kit and her boyfriend Alex.  We picked a Friday night to hit the town, and found ourselves mostly wandering from pub to pub, ordering beer buckets as we all got to know each other and talked of our travels thus far.

So when Sunday rolled around and we knew our new favorite restaurant by the beach was having their weekly specials of sandwiches and drinks, we invited Kit and Alex to spend the day at Playa Canteras with us.

You can find the original post here.

Sunday December 7, 2014

Sand Sculptures, Playa Canteras

Since our friendship with Kit and Alex was cemented right away and all of us not only wanted, but needed some time out of the marina and off our boats to wander around today, we thought we’d bring them out to Playa Canteras.  The trip was of course, for us, an excuse to get back to Montanditos and enjoy their little sandwiches and cheap drinks, but you know, the beach has it’s draw too.

Even though the daily highs have been hovering at or just above 70 degrees, and I don’t think the water temperatures are much better, Alex decided it would be the perfect occasion to take a dip in the Atlantic.  While that crazy Brit dove in and out of waves and surfed them back to shore, us three sane people stayed in the sand and alternated between putting layers on and taking them off and the sun slid in and out of cloud coverings.

Kit did tell me that, compared to summer weather and water temperatures you’ll receive in Great Britain, this was actually quite a treat and why you’ll find so many Brits in the area walking around in thongs while the rest of us are slowly pulling on layer after layer.  I’m glad my blood has become accustomed to a Caribbean feel where anything below 80, in the water or the air, feels a bit on the nippy side now.

Kit & Matt at Playa Canteras

Alex surfing waves at Playa Canteras

Playa Canteras, Las Palmas Gran Canaria

sand sculpture at Playa Canteras

sand sculptures at Playa Canteras

After a little surf and sand, the four of us made our way down the boardwalk where we introduced them to the magic that is Montanditos.  Instead of ordering off the pre-set menu this time Matt and I went crazy and looked through their 100 sandwiches, deciphering ingredients here and there, to put together our own little mix of foods that did not disappoint.  They even have dessert ones which I made sure to try out this time.  Holy crap.  Chocolate bread with a cream and strawberry filling?  Absolutely to die for.  As was the cream cheese, basil, prosciutto, and tomato slider.  Gahhhh…we need to open one of these in the States!!

view in front of 100 Montanditos

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Matt & Alex at Playa Canteras

More random roaming followed our late lunch, and after getting lost on the streets of Las Palmas we eventually found our way back to the marina and to an open table at Sailor’s Bar.  Enjoying a couple of cañas we all dreamed of the Caribbean with it’s warm sunny skies and clear temperate waters.  Anchorages as far as the eye can see and afternoons filled with snorkeling and sunsets in the cockpit.  While we have absolutely loved being in Europe with all of it’s cities and conveniences, we are definitely ready to get back to some tropical island living.

12.7.14 (9)

Montanditos, Las Palmas

Montanditos

Sunday November 30, 2014

Playa las Canteras

I have a new love.  They are called Montanditos.  I’m not sure if I’m in love with the sandwich or the chain…it’s just too hard to separate the two in my mind.  Probably because in my mind there is no separation.  But let me go back to how we got here.

Obviously we had a not so fun few days on the boat during a bit of bad weather, so when we woke up today and the sun was shinning, mission number one was to get out and do some real exploring.  The kind that leads to you more than just a grocery store.

The morning started out beautifully with a cup of coffee enjoyed out in the sunlight and surrounded by local kids practicing their sailing.  Masses of them engulfed our boat as orders were barked out in Spanish, and as Serendipity split them down the middle, they continued out into rising sun and the chaos of the harbor.

sailing dinghies in harbor

sailing dinghies in Las Palmas harbor

Slipping on a sundress and flats since we’re still in metropolitan civilization and these items always feel slightly out of place on the dusty dirt trodden paths of the Caribbean, we brought the dinghy into the marina to hit the town.  It turns out that even though the marina here has a ridiculously low price tag of 7€/night, we can enjoy being at anchor in the harbor for only 2€/night.  And since the marina is stern-tie only with no finger docks, it was a no brainer for us.

Strolling the sidewalk next to the harbor we came across a group of people slacklining on the beach between a few palm trees.  We’d also seen this happen on the beautiful Playa Norte in Isla Mujeres, but these people were serious about it.  Jumping onto the line without any assistance of hands and then bouncing over 5 feet in the air, we had to wonder if they earned their keep on whatever random island they happened to be inhabiting at the moment by either putting on shows or asking for tips.  I wouldn’t have been surprised if they did well for themselves by either of those means.

slacklining Las Palmas

 As we wandered the blocks and blocks of this large city, we realized that even in a big city, everything in Europe still shuts down on Sundays.  Except the Burger King.  That was still open and calling my name although it was nowhere near time to eat yet.  I memorized it’s location for our walk back.  Surely I wouldn’t be forced to eat sandwiches on the ‘Dip just because we’d finally found the Hiper Dino chain that was basically staring us in the face during our grocery store hunt on Thursday yet we somehow still missed it.

Following the helpful street signs around town we honed in on the way to Playa Canteras, my main destination for the day and one of Gran Canaria’s most famous beaches.  The sun kept deciding to play hide and seek with us and every few minutes I’d go back and forth between shivering and sweating.

As we finally came upon the beach the sky was still embedded with clouds, not normally the grand unveiling one hopes for…but this beach was so amazing that even an overcast sky could not hide all of it’s beauty and possibility.  Cruising the boardwalk for less than five minutes, both of us were throwing out what could now probably be considered to be our catchphrase of “I wanna live here”.  The beach had large crashing waves and yet was protected by a reef that sat a few hundred feet out.  Dark rolling hills surrounded each side and lounge chairs and umbrellas dotted the sand while colorful buildings provided an eye catching backdrop.

Instantly smitten, we took off our shoes to traipse in the sand and see what else this coastline had to offer.  Apparently one major thing that was coming up there was a grandiose sandcastle building competition.  Maybe not so much a competition as an event?  And maybe not so much sandcastles as just things built from sand?  I’m still working on my Spanish, but the banner in front of one large sand-item under construction gave the dates of December 5th – January 4th or something, so we should be here to see it in it’s full glory.  We’re allowing ourselves at least 10 days in Grand Canaria before we jump on the first weather window across the Atlantic.

boardwalk to Playa Canteras, Las Palmas

Playa las Canteras, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

sandcastles on Playa las Canteras

Just when the sun seemed to be poking it’s way out from behind the clouds and my stomach was going into full grumble mode, just before it gets to I’m going to pass out unless you feed me now!, we started searching the strip for a place to eat a late lunch.

I’m not sure what caught my vision first, the golden rays reflecting off the draft beers of the patrons outside, or the golden rays shinning off the poster showing the 0,50€ coin, but my attention had been grabbed.  Matt loves a good deal and I love a good beer, so this place was definitely worth checking out.  As we wandered closer and looked at the banners with more detail, we could see that Domingos, todos montanditos solo 0,50€.  Well, it was Sunday and we were sure we could eat montanditos, whatever they happened to be, for only 50 cents.

Trying to make sense of the menu was still like trying to read Greek to us, we had no idea the protocol on how to order a group off the offering of 100 different options, but luckily the chain was there to save us once again.  They had put together four different categories of five sandwiches, leaving me only to have to go to the register and point at each one.  I had been able to decipher enough of what each sandwich included to know that I wasn’t getting something I didn’t want to put in my mouth.  Like that time I went for sushi with a few of my girlfriends and almost ended up with a nori roll including eel because I liked the name but never bothered to check the ingredients.

After sitting at a table with our tall drinks and waiting to hear “Yessica, por favor” over the loudspeaker, I went to pick up what would come to be my new obsession.  I’m still trying to figure out and even remember what came in each of these little treasures, but let me tell you…they were all delicious!  If the five of them hadn’t stuffed me to the point of almost having to be rolled out of the restaurant, I would have gone back for more and more.  Both of us were in love with the food and and I even had to agree with Matt that the price was unbeatable.  For 8€ we had gotten 10 montanditos and 2 tall drinks.  But more than that, it was soooo gooood.

Montanditos, Las Palmas

Add in some more beach strolling to work off all the food we’d taken in and finding the pedestrian mall on the way back to the marina, and we’re pretty certain that we could actually live here.  Maybe we’ll just put Serendipity for sale in Gran Canaria and wait around here for her to sell instead of sailing her back to Florida to do it?  I think that plan is sounding better every day.

Las Canteras boardwalk

Matt riding toy sailboatJessica on toy sailboat

kid's sailboat ride