Gran Canaria - Much needed R&R
If you have been following us, you’ve probably gathered that this has been an aggressive trek for a couple of septuagenarians. We’ve tried to pack as much as we can in the time we have. Maybe too much. And our typical plan of packing what we need should have been replaced by packing what we need the first week. If we don’t have it and really need it, buy it along the way. But only if it is mandatory to have it. Each of our suitcases has grown to about 45 lbs. and the cobblestones have not gotten any smoother.
Our thoughts are that this is probably our last trip where we’ll be able to do this amount of walking and relocations every 3 days or so. We’ll still take long trips but we’ll do what we did in Budapest a few years back. We'll rent an apartment for the two months or so, and then do simple, 3 or 4-day trips out of a base with no relocating and hauling only overnight luggage.
But, with all that said, we knew that the day was coming where we would be totally exhausted. We just didn’t know which day it would be. We allowed for that by packing in stops that were true rest and relaxation. Well friends, the word of the day is R&R, and we’re finally at R&R #1!
We had nothing planned in Gran Canaria. We had a hotel close enough to the Atlantic to hear the waves gently rolling in. We had a balcony and we left the door open all night to cool the place. We had air conditioning, but we reserved that for nights that were too warm to sleep comfortably with the open door. And sleep well we did.
The second word for this stop is beach combing! And that we did.
For those of you that know Malcolm, you know that sitting on the beach, in a beach chair, under an umbrella, and reading a book is not his cup of tea. Susanne, on the other hand, thrives on this. But this trip found them both, sitting on the beach, in a beach chair, under an umbrella sans book, just liming.
Along this walk we encountered an area demarcated by signs on both ends of the area reading as follows.
Ah! Another life-time first, we had encountered a nudist colony. Topless beaches here are pretty common. And, we walked on by, as if nothing was happening and as if they weren't standing right next to us. No, we will not comment on whether we joined. But sorry, we have no pictures from this stretch of the beach.
We were surprised by the large number of German speakers. So, we dug into why! What we discovered is Spain’s unique history in modern times led it to where it is today. In Iberia, Michener was writing about the transformation that was happening on the Mediterranean coast in the 1960s, where foreign investors, mainly French, German and English, were buying up properties and building large condominiums. During the Franco dictatorship, they implemented policies aimed at promoting homeownership through rent controls and affordable housing construction. After Franco’s death, the country opted for market liberalization, meaning let the market rule. They repealed Franco’s rent controls for new contracts and reduced the state investment in affordable housing. Looking back, I suspect that coming out of the dictatorship, the country was poor and prices were cheap by other developed country standards. Since they allowed foreign investments, they were a ripe target for foreign investments. Also, as the market grew, so did tourism. With more capital from other countries, the shift to non-owner-occupied housing grew. At the same time, the rise of online platforms shifted the surge in tourism rentals, taking more housing off the market for locals. I know we’re part of that short-term rental tourism, which makes us part of the problem. This has resulted in rising rental prices and challenges in affordability for domestic residents. There have been numerous protests and demands for housing controls on the Canary Islands in recent years. This seems to be a universal problem around the world as the population grows, and the concentration of wealth continues. The locals were always gracious to us as the tourism market is a double-edged sword.
We heard the news that Barcelona and Spain were both trying to crack down on unlicensed and corporate owned short-term rental units. Barcelona has stated that it intends to reduce the short-term rental unit market by 10,000 units by 2028 and Spain has announced a crackdown on 65,000 unlicensed and corporate owned units still promoted on Airbnb. There are 321,000 licensed holiday units in Spain and an untold number of unlicensed units. So there are some movements underway to address the problem country-wide.
The island of Gran Canaria, and particularly, Maspalomas, is heavily concentrated with German tourism We were as likely to hear German spoken as Spanish. In our hotel, there was a small crew filming a segment of a German TV show “Goodbye Deutschland!” One of their stars even served as a translator for Malcolm as he ordered a drink. We don't know whether the show is popular or not, but it appeared to be a fairly low-budget production with a producer, a cameraman, a boom operator and one gaffer.
As we were leaving, we discovered an entire new area above where we had been staying. We'd only been looking at the beach and the pool, but an entire area of restaurants and entertainment existed within steps. We saw this non-denominational church on the Sunday morning we left.
Must have a little RnR when on an adventure! Sounds like an amazing trip so far!
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