Lanzarote Part 2..

Up early for breakfast on the first full day of our holiday found us exploring what the hotel had to offer.  Whilst the hotel, from the front, was two stories high the lift traversed four stories because the hotel is built on the side of a cliff.  Here's some photos of the middle of the hotel taken from various floors.

We did some sunbathing around the pool but it was quite breezy which made it cool to sit out, so, after lunch, we found a comfy chair on the terrace and enjoyed the sun without the cool breeze, whilst enjoying coffee and a brandy and reading.

I was just having a quiet snooze (I think it must have been the brandy) when I heard a whooshing only to look up and see a huge hawk landing on the ballustrade!  Minutes later the hawk's handler arrived.

The hawk and it's handler stayed for about 20 minutes demonstrating the hawk's flying.  We presume it had been brought into the hotel to frighten away the pigeons and other birds, which caused a bit of a nuisance.

After a thoroughly relaxing and entertaining day we returned to our room to watch the sunset from our balcony

before getting ready for dinner, which we enjoyed in the Chinese Restaurant.

After enjoying a few drinks and the entertainment on offer in one of the bars we retired to our suite looking forward to Day 3 of our holiday.   

Join me for a trip into Playa Blanca in Lanzarote Part 3.

Succinctly Yours - A Microfiction Meme #37

Grandma at Grandma's Goulash provides a picture and a word prompt for this Microfiction Meme and the rules are use the photo as inspiration for a story of 140 characters OR 140 words.

Want more challenge? Use the word of the week in your story. This part is optional.

This week's word is DREAM here's the picture and my offering using the picture and word of the week  in 140 characters, including spaces and punctuation.

In her dreams, Ann was a film star, a celebrity, famous.

In reality she was a wife, mother, sister, daughter.

She knew which she’d rather be. 

Friday 55 Flash Fiction #185 Interview....

Everything that could go wrong had gone wrong.

Late for work, missed the bus, laddered tights, heavy rain.

Why today of all days?

She needed this job, she had been lucky to get an interview.

She couldn’t believe it when he said “The job’s yours if you want it!”

Who said Friday 13^th was unlucky?

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

Lanzarote Part 1....

You may remember we had a week away in Lanzarote (Canary Islands for those who may not know) at the beginning of December.   The holiday was All Inclusive in the four star Sandos Papagayo Arena, just outside the southern resort of Playa Blanca.

Lanzarote is situated just 79 miles off the coast of Africa and is the most easterly of the Canary Islands.  The island is 37 miles (60km) long and 12 miles (20 km) wide, making it the fourth largest island in the Canaries. As with the other Canary Islands, Lanzarote is volcanic in origin.  There is no billboard advertising and no high rise buildings in Lanzarote, with the exception the Grand Hotel in Arrecife. Some historians supposed that the legendary continent Atlantis was located in this area.

People think that the Canary Islands get their name from the birds canaries but actually the canary bird received it's name after the people the Canarii.   All breeds of canary birds descend from the canary birds that still exist on the island.  When the Romans came to the Canary Islands they encountered not only fierce natives but also their dogs.  The latin word for dog is "canis" and they actually named one of the islands "canaria" because of these dogs.

We arrived at the hotel in the early afternoon and were really pleased with the room, or should I say suite, we were given the key to.

Our travel agent had let the hotel know that it was our anniversary during our stay so they had left a nice bottle of champagne on ice ready for our arrival, which we opened as soon as we had unpacked and enjoyed sitting in the early evening sunshine on the balcony.  Well we didn't want it warming up and spoiling did we?

We had a lovely view of the sea and another of the Canary Islands, Fuerteventura, from our balcony

and a very interestingly shaped cactus growing in a planter on it too.

We watched the sun setting

before getting ready to go to dinner.

The hotel boasts four restaurants, all buffet style,  International,  Italian, Chinese and  French. There was also a Snack bar where you could get Fast food: hot and cold snacks, ice-cream, water, soft drinks, wine and beer 24 hours a day..We tried them all except the French one, it wasn't open on the night we tried to book it for our anniversary unfortunately.    The food in all the restaurants was superb and you could help yourself to wine (white, rose & red) and beer and soft drinks.    There were numerous bars offering entertainment, a Spa, 3 adult pools and 2 children's pools.  In fact there was everything one could possibly want.

After a superb dinner we decided to sit on the outside terrace of one of the bars as it was a warm evening, enjoying a few drinks before retiring.

Next time I'll show you some photos inside and outside of the hotel.

I hope you'll join me for Lanzarote Part 2.

Succinctly Yours - A Microfiction Meme #36

Grandma at Grandma's Goulash provides a picture and a word prompt for this Microfiction Meme and the rules are use the photo as inspiration for a story of 140 characters OR 140 words.

Want more challenge? Use the word of the week in your story. This part is optional.

This week's word is DRIFT here's the picture and my offering using the picture and word of the week  in 140 characters, including spaces and punctuation.

Whilst taking a quick break from the kitchen restaurant

Tom attempted to demonstrate the height of the snow drift

where he lost his car keys.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction #184 Stuck....

She grabbed the end and tugged.

It's stuck, she thought, she tugged again.

It didn't budge.

If I clear some of this other stuff it may come free.

She tried again.

It was no use.

"Ah that's the reason" she said

as she glared at the woman holding the other end of the sale dress.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

Hops and Vines Part 4......

I know it's been a while but I finally got round to writing about the last day of our Hops and Vines trip in October.

The last day found us leaving the hotel and heading for the Roman City of St Albans, the last place to visit on our weekend away.

Click on photos to bigify.

The city was renamed St. Albans for Alban, a citizen of the Roman city of Verulamium, who became a Christian after having sheltered a visiting Christian priest from persecution.   He was put to death in the 3rd century AD for refusing to renounce his new faith.  Alban was buried on the hillside and is honoured here as the first Christian martyr of Britain.  There is a shrine to St. Alban in the magnificent Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban, which dates back to 1077.

The Cathedral and Abbey Church of St. Alban

The splendid high altar screen was erected by Abbot William of Wallingford in 1484.

The statues in the recesses and the crucifix were restored in the late 19th century.  The altarpiece showing Christ's resurrection is by Sir Alfred Gilbert, who also designed the 'Eros' statue in Piccadilly Circus. 

Tapestry depicting the history of the Cathedral

In the Nave the pilgrims prepared themselves at altars in front of the Norman pillars for their visit to the Shrine, where they prayed for the healing of body and soul.  The paintings on the west side of these pillars can be interpreted as altar pieces.  The paintings were hidden after the Reformation under whitewash and rediscovered in 1862.  Removing the lime-based wash destroyed much of the colour and detail.  If you biggify the photo above you will see the faint outline of some of the paintings on the pillars on the left hand side of the pews.

The stained glass in the Rose Window was designed by Alan Younger and given by Laporte Industries in 1989.  It was unveiled by Diana, Princess of Wales.

Replica of the Wallingford Clock

This is a replica of the 14th century clock which is depicted in the tapestry on the north wall of the Nave.  The original clock was designed and constructed by Richard of Wallingford, who was Abbot here from 1327 until his death in1336. It was amazingly advanced for its time, being one of the very earliest mechanical clocks.  In addition to striking the hour, the clock incorporated an Astronomical section which showed the current position of the stars as well as the Sun and Moon and also the current phase of the Moon.  Not only this, but he clock also predicted Lunar eclipses.  A symbol represented the mythical Dragon, which was supposed to have eaten the Moon whenever an eclipse occurred.

There is so much more to see in this beautiful Cathedral, so if you ever find yourself in St Albans do go and visit it.

Leaving the Cathedral behind we ventured round the quaint streets of the City looking for somewhere to have something to eat and a little retail therapy.

After a nice meal we returned to the coach and completed our journey home.

I hope you enjoyed our Hops & Vines Trip as much as we did.

Succinctly Yours - A Microfiction Meme #35

Grandma at Grandma's Goulash provides a picture and a word prompt for this Microfiction Meme and the rules are use the photo as inspiration for a story of 140 characters OR 140 words.

Want more challenge? Use the word of the week in your story. This part is optional.

This week's word is MEMORIES here's the picture and my offering using the picture and word of the week  in 140 characters, including spaces and punctuation.

Seeing that dinosaur has made me think that

it could bring back so many memories

if only I hadn’t had far too many of those glasses of bubbly!

Happy New Year