Last day...and someone gets a Spanish haircut...

So, today is our last day as we’ll be setting off early tomorrow to catch our plane which leaves at 1pm. It’s been a most enjoyable holiday but a very strange experience celebrating Christmas in another country, especially as it’s been so warm. The weather has been considerably better than I expected with (as yet) only one morning where we saw rain. We have been guaranteed sunshine from around 8am to 6pm with the real warmth coming through between about 9am and 4pm. After that it gets a little cooler but it was wonderful to be able to sit out on the terrace at 5pm and still feel the lingering warmth in the sun, especially as it would be pitch dark at home at that time.

It hasn’t felt like Christmas at all, I’ll be honest, and I still get a little jolt of shock when I see Christmas decorations in the restaurants and shops. It feels like it should be June or early July and I really can’t believe we’re in mid-winter. I have a feeling we’ll get a shock when we return home tomorrow and feel the much colder temperatures!

We’ve loved the island very much and it hasn’t changed for the worse at all since we last visited in the 1990s. There’s so much to do here and we haven’t done half the things we wanted to do such as visit Fuerteventura or La Graciosa island, see the beautiful cactus gardens or explore the capital Arrecife. I have a feeling we’ll be back again.

I’m not sure we’ll rent the same villa again, though! It’s been OK, but we’ve had several niggles (with the pool) and the toilet in our en-suite refuses to flush every now and again which Keith has to fix by taking the cistern apart. We did mention it to Villa Plus and we’ll have to leave them a note tomorrow warning them about it for future customers. There’s been a strange smell pervading the house for the two weeks we’ve been here and no matter how many doors and windows I leave open it still persists!

The bathrooms could do with updating and I really wish Spanish villa owners would take a leaf out of American villa owners’ books and provide BIGGER beds! Our bed was a small double which has meant that Keith and I haven’t slept together for two weeks as we found it so uncomfortable being crammed together in a tiny bed! Not romantic, I can assure you, after almost 20 years being married! Perhaps when we were first together but now we’re used to our own space in bed! Beds in the US are normally at least a Queen size (5ft?) and it would really add to the experience, believe me! Perhaps I should start a campaign!

We spent the morning shopping for presents to take home and wandering around the shops, picking up some very good bargains. The Canary Islands are not part of the EU when it comes to duty allowances so we can only bring a certain amount of alcohol, cigarettes and perfume back with us. But the bargains more than make up for it! Keith bought his mate Dave two packs of cigarettes at a very cheap price and it does explain why some people just come here to pick up duty free tobacco.

On the way back to the villa we called in, very suddenly, to a hairdresser's salon that we passed every day for Mikey to get a haircut (how I forgot to mention this originally is beyond me!). He insisted he wanted it done as his hair was rather long and messy. The hairdresser sat him down and asked us how we wanted it, but when she started shaving it she left it really long on top, so he resembled a palm tree!

I started to panic but after she finished shaving his hair she wet it and then expertly cut the top so he had a very neat and short new haircut!

Back at the villa I did as much packing as I could before relaxing with a book and enjoying the last of the winter sunshine. The clouds that had been hanging around all morning cleared away to a beautiful blue sky and Keith and I both savoured the warmth!

Every cloud has a silver lining.

 

 

Pool cover on and everything tidied up outside ready for our departure.

 Our evening was spent at two bars – saying goodbye to the Marina with a last drink there and then another drink at the Galeria bar where it was very busy for a change. In fact, the whole resort was a lot busier than it has been and although we’d booked a table at the Volcan de Timanfaya, the place was packed and we had to wait a few minutes before our table was ready.

The sun sets on the Marina...and on our holiday.

 As always, we had an enjoyable meal with starters of chicken soup for the children, garlic bread for Keith and a gorgeous prawn cocktail for me, which was easily the best I’d ever had, and included pineapple, apples and lettuce with big juicy prawns and a delicious sauce.

Keith re-visited his shoulder of lamb while Mikey had the last pizza of his holiday, Sophie had chicken cordon bleu while I opted for veal escalope, and very good it was too!

Mustafa and Raoul - our waiters at the Volcan de Timanfaya

Not sure of this waiter's name but he was a great laugh too.

We paid a last visit to the ice-cream parlour before going home and turning in early, in readiness for the journey home tomorrow!