Magical Spain: Barcelona + Canary Islands (Tenerife Island)
Day 1 Barcelona
We left at night, or rather flew out, so we flew in during the day. And immediately went for a walk around the capital of Catalonia. The Gothic quarter, the triumphal arch, the Church of St. Mary, Berenguer Square, the Cathedral, where they did not want to let me in because of bare shoulders, lunch in a Spanish restaurant, where I first tried a very unusual salad, and of course - the most striking - the Sagrada Familia hands of the famous Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí . This is something!! ! I have never seen such beauty in my life! From other impressions: a huge queue to the Picasso Museum, where, unfortunately, we did not get, and the complete absence of Russian speakers! Yes, English is hard to understand. The metro is modest, but everything is on schedule. From transport: 50% bikes and motorcycles, 20% - taxis, 20% - sightseeing buses and only 10% - own transport. Amazing city.
Day 2 Barcelona
And then we boarded the tour bus! 2 branches. You can get off at any stop, and then get on the next bus! Beautiful beaches of the city and crowds of bare-breasted Europeans. Quarter Apple of Discord, La Pedrera (Gaudi's creation), Park Gü ell (Gaudi's houses reminded me of the fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel"! Like sugar houses! ), Columbus monument, Barç a stadium, Antoni Tapies Foundation building, Forum, Goldfish)) , Montjuic, for the first time - "subway", and views-views-views of the stunning beauty of the city - Bapselona! Mass of impressions and delight!!
Day 3 Barcelona + Tenerife
Taxi by meter - 30 euros. Duty free and finally the shine of Clarins. We got off the plane and I got scared! Coldly! ! But already upon arrival at the hotel it became clear - you won’t have to freeze! 8th floor. Ocean view. The ocean is not fresh milk, but swimming is a pleasure! Noisy city! A bunch of restaurants and cafes, lights, lights! People walk and rest. Gorgeous roads, no garbage, beauty, not a resort. Everything is out and neat. And here it is - minus - the Russians ! ! Here, unlike Barcelona, there are crowds of them ! ! But there are also Europeans, and also bare-breasted))) In the evening, I didn’t even want to go anywhere because of the impressions! Just sit on the balcony and enjoy the view. Moreover, in the store we stocked up as much as 30 euros! )) And they took awesome wine for one and a half euros ))
Day 4 Tenerife
Breakfast. Buffet. Huge selection. It takes a long time to wait for an elevator, but there are no queues for food)) Beach. Sunbeds and umbrella. Black volcanic sand. Windy but sunny. For lunch - salads from the store, fresh, tasty, cheap. Then - by the pool. Plus a gym and sauna. Beauty! ! In the evening - Sangria - delicious Spanish wine with ice and fruits, acquaintance with a couple of Scots. And a hard way to the room))
Day 5 Tenerife
I am writing, and I can’t believe that it’s already the fifth day of rest! And it's not over yet! From my impressions already: a cool morning, but a hot day and evening, lunch in a Chinese restaurant is unusual and tasty, I will say. Acquaintance with a woman from St. Petersburg. And the idea of keeping a diary of impressions)))
Day 6 Tenerife
Laura Park is a beautiful park plus a zoo with unusual animals! For example, penguins, a white tiger, pink flamingos, sharks, "timons", a leopard. . . but the most important thing is the cult of parrots: more than one and a half thousand birds! In addition, all kinds of shows: an incredibly funny fur seal show, a wildly mimic dolphin show, a scary and wet (the first 10 rows were covered in) killer whale show, a naive and rather children's parrot show, and an instructive film about planet Earth and Laura Park itself. A few hours in it - and not a minute to rest! Every moment brings new impressions and new information. Evening by the pool and sangria on the usual partying coast.
Day 7 Tenerife
A cloudy morning that has become habitual. Everything here is coconut, and for the first time in a week, I ditched coconut yogurt for breakfast in favor of banana yogurt. Tomorrow I will return to the coconut)) All day at the beach, and oh eureka: we got burned! By the way, I noticed only today that there are almost no beautifully tanned people among vacationers and locals: everyone is either red, or white, or Afro-Spaniards selling Armani glasses and Dolce caps, and, well, watches - naturally Swiss))). By the way, the prices here are almost the same as in Kyiv. Many things are even cheaper, for example, the umbrella that we bought the day before yesterday cost 8 euros, and sangria (liter) - 5. But McDonald's is more expensive here, but there is free (unlike our hotel) Wi-Fi. We dined today for as much as 30 euros. I haven’t overeat so much for a long time: incredibly delicious national seafood soup and salmon salad (I didn’t master it), and Kirill’s salad instead of grilled salmon - yummy)) And, what impressed me more, they brought us a cent of change))) Very funny)))
Day 8 Tenerife
A truly seal rest))) The main impression of the day: it turned out that today is not the 10th, but the 9th, which means plus one more day of vacation ahead))) And we also bought magnets)) 3 for 5 euros. We took 20 pieces, received one as a gift, moreover, we bought all sorts last night for 2.5 euros each))) And I also realized that the Russians are annoying me on vacation. Such a number of show-offs and rudeness as one Russian in the sum of hundreds of Europeans cannot be collected! Europeans are very cultured and educated, polite and delicate. They smile, let them go forward, say hello, say goodbye, do not step on their feet, do not push on the road... beauty, in a word) respect to the Europeans! We should learn from them
Day 9 Tenerife
Firstly, today we found out that if you walk along the path right above the beach, then there are no touts here, as on the embankment - near every little cafe “want a drink? Come in! " By the way, they also shout and offer along the beach: glasses, watches, bracelets, massage, and the most common: “melun, water melun, coconut, pineapple”, where the first two are melon and watermelon)).
We also found a great place with high-speed wi-fi - “papagayo”. We took pictures along the embankment and wandered to the shopping center. Here you have "Dior" and "Chanel" and "breshka". And of course - a seal rest))) And also the Mirkadon store, where we again got delicious Spanish wine. And ready-made salads in hermetic packaging - yum-yum.
Day 10 Tenerife
After today, I will spit in the face of anyone who says that modeling is easy. After a photo shoot on the beach, everything hurts me (((We also remembered that if you have Wi-Fi, you can communicate with Ukraine via Skype. Useful discovery))) Especially at the end of the vacation))). And we also changed the beach towel - for 1 euro.
Day 11 Tenerife
Today the weather is clearer than ever. Therefore, in the morning - the beach, and in the afternoon - an excursion to the Teide volcano. In addition to this volcano, there are many others, including the one from where the lava poured out not from the crater, but from the walls. Learned a lot of new things. For example, about bananas: how they were brought here, how they grow (they ripen for a year, a flower for a year, a fruit for a year, and that's it - the end of the grass), and about the origin of the island. It turns out that Tenerife is the third largest island of volcanic origin. Only Iceland and Sicily are ahead of it. And it also became clear that the weather is changeable depending on the movement: there are two climates on the island - in the north, subtropics, in the south (WHERE, ACTUALLY, OUR Las Americas) - tropics. At the same time, there are as many as 17 microclimates in Tenerife !! ! And it rains only 10 days a year - only in the north of the island.
Day 12 Tenerife
Siam Park Day! This is an amazing water park! It feels like you are in heaven!! ! Nature… mmmm… lovely sight… it’s worth coming here not so much because of the extreme, but for the beauty of nature!! ! And, of course, attractions! From walking with the flow, to falling down a hill into a nine-story building! Impressions are just for life. The spirit is captivating. In the afternoon we went shopping street! They did not dare to buy perfumes - they postponed it until duty free - they were very embarrassed by the too low prices, but they got things))) And we also squeezed a restaurant where you can eat lobster. Not found. We returned to the already beloved "Papagayo" and ordered a fish for ourselves) Yum-yum. And drank delicious white wine. There. Last night. Was sad.
Day 13 Airports
I did NOT think, to be honest, that this day would be full of impressions! But as it turned out… The morning for us began at 6 am. The street was still walking spree, staggering Spaniards and not only, and we hurried to the bus stop (a taxi to one of the 3 airports from our hotel costs 90 euros, so we decided to take a bus for 18 + 5 for two). The weather was different here! That's what 17 microclimates mean. . . fog. . . cold. . . damp. . . we checked in, and then it turned out that the weather was not flying, and we were taken to another airport. It is hard to imagine how worried we were and did not understand what was happening when in a foreign country, without a single Russian speaker nearby, they suddenly began to return our luggage... In general, they brought us to another airport - where I brought food at the border, but we were not allowed to take Beach umbrella. We threw it out right there (( Upon arrival in Barcelona, we had several hours for duty free. We then expected to walk around this incredible city, but it turned out that we were in transit and they would not let us out. It was sad. But we decided to spend time even at the Barcelona airport, an unusual, as for me, smoking room - on the street - no smoke for you!
At 12 at night we got on the plane - to keep the way to Kyiv.
Summary and main points:
From the unsaid, so to speak. Spain! I love you! Amazing vacation. Fly away, I cry. I will definitely come back here!!!
Barcelona: incredible city, architecture, beauty, well-groomed! ! Except the prices are high. But in comparison with Kiev, they are almost the same, for example, gasoline in Spain is sometimes cheaper than in Ukraine.
Spaniards: noisy, but polite, smiling, friendly, probably like most Europeans people. Ready to help, never overtake, do not swear. I am delighted!
Ours on vacation (mostly Russians) are very rude, they believe that everyone owes them everything. The Scots told us that they don't like the Russians, because they push each other all the time, unfortunately, this is true. Our vacations are very different. And not from the best side (((Unfortunately (((But fortunately, not all! ))
Tenerife: Cold in the north and hot in the south, beautiful and well maintained. The road is even on a volcano - it is over 30 years old, but it is 100 times better than ours - built last year.
Las Americas: probably the best place on the island. . .
Ocean: calm before lunch, after - waves that are nice to flounder (but not strong). The water is clean and warm. NOT fresh milk, but warm. Beach: black volcanic sand, but when the tide is out, you can lie on white.
Hotel: Sol Tenerife. The reception says that you need to pay 15 euros per person every day for an ocean view. We were given this number just like that. We didn't ask for anything. They just gave it to us. We took only breakfasts - we dined and dined in restaurants - it’s more convenient - it’s not tied to time, you can choose to your taste. The breakfasts are good: pancakes with different fillings and something like our potato pancakes were especially fond of) . There are a lot of fruits, there were never queues for dishes. The ocean can be seen from the window, as already mentioned, it is immediately after leaving the hotel. But there is a stone beach, so we walked along the promenade 150 meters to the sandy beach. Umbrella + 2 sun loungers = 10 euros. But the beaches themselves are free. Beach towels - from the hotel - for a deposit of 10 euros each. Safe in the room - 1.5 euros per day. Cleaning - every day. Change of linen - every two or three days. Balcony, table, chairs, everything was enough for us, although the room is small. We liked the hotel. Although the gym is one name - 3 antediluvian simulators. But there is a sauna. 3 pools - 1 for children.
Shops and Restaurants: I recommend Papagaya. Basically, all sorts of eateries and fast foods along the embankment, but there are also restaurants. The food is very tasty. Everywhere we've been. You need to buy water - about one and a half liters of euro. Prices are normal.
Airlines: Veuling. I will say this, I never want to fly on them again. Firstly, the service is lame, and secondly, you even need to buy water on the plane. What can we say about lunch, there is none. The organization is somehow bad, there are even bags for nausea behind the seats "not everyone has it.
But this is the only minus of the rest))) And so, I repeat: I love Spain! !
