Greetings from Gran Canaria!
I often have a bit of trouble explaining to people just why I have such a great time here. It was my then-boyfriend Adam who first suggested I go, as he thought I'd rather enjoy the nightlife, and how right he was.
Picture it: an enormous bunker of a shopping centre (by day) turns into a centre full of bars, restaurants and clubs at night - most of them gay, and - get this - run by all different nationalities. Yes, you've got your run-of-the-mill identikit gay bars, but there's so much more besides - and the mix is truly unique.
Still not with me? Well, the thing which is so pleasing is the diversity of it. You can go to one bar and watch old clips of Morecambe and Wise Christmas specials (Angela Rippon dancing to "There may be trouble ahead"), and then walk five metres and you're at the Icelandic restaurant, straining to hear whether those are Danes or Norwegians at the next table, while ex-Eurovision star Gretar Orvarsson's dad tickles the ivories and gives us a tune.
And on and on it goes... there's the British bar and the German bar directly opposite one another - do the tourists mix, the Brits trying the Koelsch bier and the Germans developing a liking for pork scratchings?
If you're interested in Northern Europe, quite enjoy a good old bit of kitsch (in several languages at once) and could do with a bit of winter sun then this place is perfect.
But try as I might to explain my reasons for coming here, sometimes people just don't buy it. Maybe it sounds like I'm protesting too much, and trying to cover up wanting to come on a "straw donkey" style holiday by making up a load of pseudo-intellectual codswallop about Nordic culture-watching.
Well, just for the record, I'm proud to have a deep fondness for the kitscher end of the cultural spectrum, so often derided by some. Vive l'europe... vive l'eurovision... and make mine a double.
Posted by Eurodan at January 27, 2005 2:34 PMEnjoy your stay. I'm glad my suggestion was helpful :-) The interesting mix of mainly Northern European tourists is something that appealed to me to. And the proximity of the bars makes it particularly easy to get yourself "adopted" by a group of people who aren't intent on searching out 24hr English breakfasts and criticising every aspect of the local culture just because it's not the same as at home.
I just hope you don't end up having the same bizarre flight experience that I did on my last visit there. 8-12hr delays in each direction, coach trips all over the island to different hotels for meals while we waited for the return flight (albeit with an impromptu gay disco being set up in one of the coaches by some enterprising guests,) and transport courtesy of a battered old Air Atlanta Tristar, complete with showers of water gushing from the overhead aircon units.
Posted by: Shyboy at January 27, 2005 3:43 PMStraining to hear the difference between Danish and Norwegian? Tsk... :-P
Posted by: Herman at January 27, 2005 5:16 PM