Florence explores the world

Last week I went on an adventure to another part of the world. Haha, it's not actually that dramatic, I just had a holiday. We went to Fuerteventura which is one of the Canary Islands, near to the coast of Africa. The holiday was booked with Thomas Cook and we flew with EasyJet, all lovely jubbly.

The hotel we stayed at was the Iberostar Playa Gaviotas Park and it was unbelievable. So perfect in every way. Every single staff member was friendly and lovely, from the receptionists to the kids' entertainers to the waiters and the maids. The building itself was stunning, the pools and restaurants amaaaaazing and I would go back in a heart beat. We went all inclusive, meaning we basically had run of the bars and drinks, food and of course ice creams. The hotel is actually two buildings and because of this we had use of both of them, meaning we had five swimming pools to play in, as well as there being pool and air hockey tables and a bowling alley. The hotel was so amazing and worth every last penny of what we paid, if not more!

The island is quite deserted, with miles and miles of desert with only hotel resorts and a few small villages. There are a few towns around the whole island, but as we were in the south we didn't see all of them. However the one we did walk to was lovely and had a lot of shops, which was surprising considering how deserted everywhere else is.

One of our stops in the town, which I believe was Jandia, was a little market that appeared twice a week, with people having little stalls and selling all sorts of tourist-y gifts like jewellery, bags, tea towels, and of course fake designer brands; Chanel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and instead of RayBans, they had RayBeris! It was a bizarre experience, if you hung around one stall for too long the owner would come up to you and say "Nice price, nice price! Where are you from? How much do you want to pay?" Insane! It was all good fun though, haggling with the owners to see what prices you could pay for things. I ended up buying a few bracelets, a necklace, keyrings, a wooden frog that makes a frog-like noise with you roll a stick down it, and a little bread bowl for my mum shaped like an elephant. 

One of the best things about where we stayed was the beach. The hotel was literally on the beach front and it took less than a minute to walk there, just down a little pathway. The sand was so soft and so white, the sea was so blue and so clear that I could go in up to my waist and still see my feet! It was idyllic and so picturesque that no photograph will show how amazing it really was.

The beach stretched for miles and miles and it was really nice to walk along it and take in the view. One part of the beach was occupied by a few naked people (naughty) so we quick walked through that bit! The sea was surprisingly warm and the waves were nice and big on some days making it all the more fun.

I can honestly not fault the hotel or the location at all, the weather amazing every day, the area was clean, and even though it was near to the road you could not hear it at all, your forgot it was there unless you were looking at it. The Thomas Cook rep was very helpful and lovely, too.

Loved it.

*****