Did you guys catch my post last week about the first part of my trip in Tenerife, Spain? After spending four nights in Tenerife, we headed on over to Gran Canaria, Spain, which is another one of the Canary Islands. Since we rented a car in Tenerife, we realized the cheapest/best/easiest way to get to Gran Canaria was by taking an 80 minute ferry ride where we could drive our rental car on the boat. No airports, no loading and unloading bags, no problem, right? Sounded simple enough.
We arrived an hour before our ferry boat left Tenerife and parked in the line of cars waiting to drive on the boat. And then we waited and waited and waited some more. Three hours later, we finally drove on board the ferry. As it turns out, the boat was delayed two hours due to crazy winds which brought on some insane waves. The boat had to go slower, hence the delay. We parked our rental car in the parking garage area under the boat (semi trucks were parked on there too, no clue why I was amazed by this) and headed up to the passenger level. We were SO excited to find a kids play area on the ferry, along with a bar which sold Spanish wines. All was great until about 10 minutes in when we started experiencing the rockiest boat ride of my life. I get a little sea sick and had to find a spot near a window to avoid losing my lunch. Shortly after, my kids started saying they were dizzy too. Ferry boat disaster. People kept running into the bathroom and everyone was fanning themselves to keep cool despite the AC. I even saw boat attendants reloading the stash of barf bags in seats due to the conditions. Thankfully, our kids both fell asleep on our laps and we all felt better when our boat arrived back to shore. I really shouldn’t complain, we didn’t have any other major travel issues on our other than one horribly rocky boat ride. So there’s that.
We drove to our hotel and found the island had white buildings constructed along the mountainsides. The picture above shows the view off our balcony if we looked to the left. I absolutely loved the architecture in Gran Canaria. It felt slightly older and more established than Tenerife. If we looked straight ahead on our balcony, we saw this:
Not too shabby, right?!
Our hotel on Gran Canaria was an all-inclusive, so we didn’t do too much the first evening. We admired the sunset, ate some dinner and grabbed a drink on the patio before heading to bed. We were all ready for a good night’s rest after that boat ride!
I spent my first day in Gran Canaria wearing a pair of jean shorts, a white tank and a pom pom kimono I snagged from Target last year. It is sold out, but this one is pretty similar. I also wore the prettiest gold dipped shell necklace from Golden Anchor Art (C/O). The necklace has two chains to give it that perfect layered look. I don’t think I could have picked a better necklace for my beach vacation.
We woke up the next morning and decided to hit the beach. There are only a couple small beaches on the island of Gran Canaria, but one of the nicest ones was only a 10 minute walk from our hotel. We were surprised to see a giant pirate ship loading up tourists as soon as we arrived. While we skipped the actual pirate boat ride (too soon), my kids got a huge kick out of seeing that fun ship.
I wore one of my Amita Niathani cover-ups while on the beach in Gran Canaria. Check out last week’s post on cover-ups to get the scoop.
I was SO happy I packed a pair of jeans for my trip. While the days were warm in Gran Canaria, it got so chilly after the sun went down. This pair is my absolute new favorite pair from Hawk & Holly (C/O). They have the perfect amount of stretch to them, fit true to size, cute distressing and they only cost $42. If you need a new pair of jeans, get these. You won’t be upset.
My tassel tank is from last year, but I like this one and this one if you are looking for something similar. Mymom got me this colorful tassel BaubleBar necklace for Christmas and it has since sold out, but this one, this one and this one are all super cute and similar. Check out this blog post for the scoop on my wedges.
The last day, we hit up the beach and rented THE COOLEST peddle boat with a slide on top. My daughter was too terrified to go down the slide, but she happily sat in the back while my hubby and I got a spin workout on the water. My little guy still talks about this silly little peddle boat. Best 20 euro we could have spent that day.
I absolutely loved wearing this comfy floral maxi from StyleWe (C/O) on my trip. It was perfectly flowy and meant to be worn on a beach. My exact dress is sold out, but I’m a big fan of this one and this one.
That evening, we took a trip into the nearby town, which was called Puerto Rico. There was this giant multi-story plaza filled with souvenir shops and restaurants. My kids had a ton of fun picking out a little something to take home while my husband and I really just enjoyed taking it all on. I wore this fun white tassel dress, which you guys already saw in this post from two weeks back.
We woke up the next morning and headed off to Morocco. I hope to have the last part of my vacation recap up on Friday. To be continued…
