Well, it’s been a good few weeks since I added a blog and this is mostly due to our annual family summer holiday. In keeping with the tradition of the last four years, we headed back to Tenerife for our two week sunshine fix! As ever, it didn’t disappoint – far from it. This year, the “we” consisted of myself, hubby, 2 daughters, son and baby granddaughter. It has been a while since hubby and I travelled with a baby but, she was as well behaved and perfect as ever! Our flights were all on time and lasted four hours each way. I am sure that Monarch’s leg room gets smaller and smaller each year but other than that, all was good. Due to all of us going, and the need for separate accommodations, we stayed in what would be classed as budget accommodation. I was slightly concerned about this in advance, as I am known for liking my little luxuries. However, the reviews were good, we had had a little nose around the complex on a previous visit, and the price was very, very good so we took the chance. We booked two separate accommodations at The Barranco Bungalows in central Playa De Las Americas. My daughters and granddaughter would share one unit, with myself, hubby and son sharing another. We had E-mailed prior to our arrival requesting one unit with a pool view and the other as a single level apartment. We did this knowing that a lot of the units on this complex were of the duplex variety with a steep spiral staircase leading to an upstairs balcony. We thought that a single level apartment would be easier for my daughter with the baby. On arrival we were allocated our rooms. The girls had a lovely single level apartment with a fabulous view. Our duplex couldn’t have been closer to the pool!! We were all very pleased. The apartments were immaculately clean and we were very comfortable for our two week stay. For the price that we paid we really had our expectations exceeded.
Unusually for us, we were really quite lazy this time! The proximity of our duplex to the pool made for many lazy pool days, it was just so lovely to spend the day between sunshine and shade, grab a cold drink, take a long buffet lunch and relax. It made it easy with the baby and for siesta’s! It was probably the most relaxing holiday to date and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The view from our front door and our balcony is as shown!!
We did visit Siam Park – the amazing water park and had a lovely day thrashing around the various chutes and floating on lazy rivers. Added to the huge and awesome wave pool it’s always a great day out! The half day Jet Ski Safari was a big hit with my daughters! We took the baby to The Monkey Park just outside of PDLA and had a lovely half day interacting with the various monkeys and lemurs. The Monkey Park has been expanded quite a bit since our last visit. We had a couple of beach days. The first with the baby which was lovely but – babies and sand are not really a good combination so, the second trip was minus the baby! Hubby, son and I went to Puerto Colon Beach where they have a great selection of inflatables just off of the beach which were great fun!!
Hubby and I took a long walk one evening all the way along the coast to Del Duque. It’s a beautiful stroll along the coast through Puerto Colon, the marina, Fanabe and on to Del Duque. The views are beautiful. I have to admit to getting a cab back though – it’s definitely a one way walk! We had a lovely stroll around The Safari Shopping Centre one evening and watched the dancing fountains.
Del Duque Walk:
We ate out on all but one evening and had some fabulous meals. Some in places that we have eaten in many times that are firm favourites and some that were new to us. The Royal Gardens behind Veronicas Strip on the seafront has long been a favourite of ours. We ate there several times again this trip and I celebrated my Birthday there. The food was delicious as ever and I had a decorated table complete with a litre of my favourite Kir Royale drink – yes, a litre! That was closely followed with a bottle of champagne!! Such an effort had been made by the friendly staff there to make it special for me. I was genuinely touched. The singer came over to sing Happy Birthday followed by applause – it was really lovely.
We found a new and fabulous little eatery close to where we stayed. Las Rosa’s is small but the food and value were brilliant. The staff were friendly and once they got to know our faces surprised us with lots of little treats. On one evening a jug of champagne sangria appeared at our table – very welcome! We took our dear friend out for dinner one night and were treated to delicious and complimentary deserts. We were made very welcome and will definitely be going back there! For those who know PDLA it is more or less opposite The Parque Cristobal complex and well worth a visit.
I duly did my three evenings of “guest slot karaoke compering” at the ever friendly Destiny’s Bar courtesy of John and Linda! On the nights that we visited when the resident compare “Caz” was there we had a good giggle – Caz really does keep us amused and, boy can that girl sing!! If you are looking for some holiday karaoke, I can’t recommend Destiny’s enough.
We had a walk down to Los Cristianos one lunch time to meet with friends that were made via the Trip Advisor Forums. We hadn’t all met before and enjoyed a lovely lunch and chat together. It is always so nice to meet and make new friends and so good to put faces and real names to forum aliases!! We were invited to join the same friends in Los Cristianos one evening to watch a Johnny Cash tribute show at Restaurant Margaritas. Aside from the company, venue and show being brilliant, it was new area of LC that we hadn’t been to before and we really liked it. We had a wander both before and after our evening and definitely want to spend more time in that particular area. We really enjoyed being in the company of The Red Queen and her lovely hubby – aside from Red Queens excellent blog – www.redqueenmusings.wordpress.com – their knowledge of Tenerife is extensive. It was a lovely evening.
All too soon it was time to be heading home. I always feel sad when the tip of Teide disappears from view out of the aircraft window. Family holidays are so precious and this one was no different. Just spending time together having fun, relaxing and well away from the stresses and demands of day to day life is to be cherished. So, until next time ………… 🙂
inkellysworld 
Queenie and OH really enjoyed meeting you and your lovely family and look forward to doing it again when you are next here. xx