No Golf at El Golfo

In our bearish and versatile fashion, we're going back to Lanzarote, as we like talking about hot places when it's cold at home.

Upon leaving the Timanfaya Visitors' Centre, we drove to the coast at El Golfo and ate our packed lunch looking at the sea. This resort is still in the National Park  and here huge swathes of lava run into the sea and disappear beneath the waves. The coast path is an exception to the rule that you can't walk on the lava; you are free to do so as long as you keep to the coast path. As we like walking and we wanted to see the lava up close, we were pleased when we found a circular walk in our walking guide, and out we set.

It was slow going, as lava isn't the easiest of materials to walk on. We had to watch where we were putting our paws, and we all wore boots, as the edges of the lava could be quite sharp.

Our return to our hire bearmobile was via a rather off-road, road. A flat surface had been cleared but we were never more than a stride away from the lava rocks. While walkers are welcome on the path, unauthorised vehicles aren't, which is good, we thought, to preserve the fragile environment. We thought using the Timanfaya devil to advise of the traffic restriction was great, even if it was a bit battered.

On our return to our apartment it was still warn enough to use the pool ...

... which was nicely deserted and very inviting. We sat on the side first and chatted about our exciting day, while we anticipated our swim.

After our swim we decided on a game of giant poolside chess ...

... it wasn't the fastest game, as the pieces were so big relative to us, that we couldn't pick them up. We had to push them across the board to the required spot. You'd never have though that playing chess could provide such strenuous exercise. 

Lots of love, George, Yorkie and Pedro xxx

After the Snow, the Sun

Some of us, well Yorkie, Pedro and me (George) have browner fur than usual at the moment. This is not because we haven't washed or because we've been out in the mud, but because we've just returned from yet another adventure.

This time of year there's only one place to go (as we don't really do skiing), and that's to the sun.

Sun, pool, lounger - what more do you need? - apart from a cold beer!

As the chapter on the Canaries in the Friendly Planet Guide was a bit thin, we decided to research some more material, by visiting the island of Lanzarote.

It was a great choice, and our timing was impeccable, as we went when there was more snow and sub zero temperatures at home.

We stayed, along with our minders, and their folks, in 2 apartments at the delightful Holiday Bond Complex of Santa Rosa. We'd come to expect something special from a HPB property and we were not disappointed.

Just look at the amazing towel sculptures that greeted us ...

... how romantic! The flowers were real by the way. 

It wasn't only in the bedroom that we were greeted by towel sculptures; they were also in the bathroom and in the kitchen ... 

We did wonder if we were going to see any birds with this interesting colour scheme on the island. 

Some of our readers may not be as familiar with our Bears Unlimited travelling companion, Pedro, as they are with regulars, Yorkie and myself. Pedro was our secret weapon as he's passionately Spanish - speaks the language perfectly (no surprise) and can use his contacts to get us into all sorts of interesting places, both on and off the tourist trail. 

We'll be back soon to share some of our explorations of the island with you. 

Lots of love

George, Pedro and Yorkie xxx 

All Change!

We think we'll leave Spain on the highlight of the Alhambra, particularly as we now have an exciting new adventure to report on.

We all had a great time in Almeria and hope it won't be too long before we're back. The Holiday Property Bond's El Pueblito complex really is something special and we hope our next picture, shot from just outside our front door, conveys something of its charm.


When you see our first two pictures from our latest adventure, you might be forgiven for thinking that we liked the Alhambra so much that we'd decided to return. The other way of looking at it, is that southern Spain was the warm up for a trip to a close neighbour.

So here we are in the Grand Imilchil hotel, not a million miles from southern Spain.


Does the fine Moorish tiling remind you of the Alhambra as it certainly did us? Has anyone spotted the link? What we'd done was to travel a bit further south and cross the Straits of Gibraltar (albeit in a plane) to reach Morocco. Our starting point was the exotic city of Marrakech and Marrakech's Grand Imilchil hotel certainly has some Moorish influences, just like the Alhambra.

And it wasn't just the Imilchil hotel? Just 10 minutes walk from the hotel was the city's Cyber park and just look what we found there: a mini version of 'General Life'!


We hope we've seamlessly moved you from Spain to Morocco and whetted your appetite for more news of our latest travels.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

Has El Pueblito Ever Hosted the Olympics?

After a leisurely breakfast on our sunny balcony, our first full day got properly underway with a welcome meeting in the bar. Thierry, the charming Parisian site manager, thoroughly entertained us with his great brand of humour, while we all enjoyed a delicious cup of coffee, apparently the nearest thing you can get to French coffee in Spain.

Meeting over, we decided to check out the outdoor facilities while we mulled over all the information we had been given about the site and surrounding area.

The facilities are fantastic. We were very keen to have a go at Padel tennis as this is now the number 2 sport in Spain, second only to football. Having a go made us feel less like tourists and more like locals.

Padel most closely resembles tennis, but is played on a smaller court and everywhere is in play - you can't hit the ball out of court. There is a link with squash in that you are allowed to take the ball off the back wall and the sides. You play with a chunky plastic paddle (no strings) and, great for us, you serve underhand, as Wimbledon type serves are not realistic for small bears.

We gave it our best and had fun. Even though our rallies weren't very long and we spent as much time outside the court retrieving wildly hit balls as in it, we thought we'd done well for a first attempt. That was, until we heard on the radio the other day, that Padel is easy to pick up and anyone can play it! We beg to differ.

We also enjoyed being Continental on the petanque court and had some very competitive games. The table tennis table and crazy golf course also beckoned and we had lots more fun. After dipping a paw in the outdoor pool which was extremely bracing, we were relieved to find the indoor pool which was extremely warm.

The sun loungers were oh so comfortable, and behind us there were a sauna, steam room and jacuzzi. We could tell we we would be spending a lot of time here. We could already see that it could be very easy never to leave the site as there was so much here to entertain us.  But, we reminded ourselves, we had come to see Spain, and that was exactly what we were going to do .... but lunch came first!  

Our afternoon continues shortly.

Lots of love George, Yorkie, Pedro and Gio xxx

Our Iberian Itinery

Hemos ido a Espana! It's us, George and Yorkie, back from our latest adventure that took us to Spain, and we're more than ready to take up the reins of the blog from Eddie, who has done such a great job and no doubt whetted your appetite for a sailing holiday in Greece.

So what took us to Spain, apart from the need to do more research for the Friendly Planet Guide? There were a couple of reasons. For the last 3 years or so, our first holiday of the year has been taken in Britain and, while we always have a good time, we would have liked some better weather. The sunshine of Spain and some Spanish Rioja seemed very appealing. Second, as you may recall, we spent several weeks in the north of Spain, 18 months ago, when we were walking the Pilgrimage route to Santiago. Having seen the north of the country and enjoyed practising our Spanish, we thought it would be good to see the opposite end of the country and practise our Spanish a bit more.

And so we came by plane and our hire car, Trig, to the Holiday Property Bond's newest development, El Pueblito del Alfaix. We're quite unusual in Bond circles as there aren't too many Bondholders who are bears, but we're always given an enthusiastic welcome. 

Our studio apartment is the very one that you can see in our first picture. It was right at the end of the the first row of apartments. We didn't have the upper floor, that was another apartment, but the big patio windows opening onto a balcony were ours. We just thought we'd point out that we are sitting on the wall, as you may not have spotted us.

Our apartment was everything we could have wished for. It was well laid out, well equipped and still very new. 

While inside was great, we tended to spend a lot of time out on our balcony. Sadly the clouds had descended for our picture, and they are hiding some gentle mountain slopes, but you can still see all the citrus trees in the foreground.

As you may have noticed, there are 4 of us, not 2. We invited Gio along as he was with us in Spain on pilgrimage and loves the country, and the 4th member of the gang is Pedro, wearing the red t-shirt. Pedro has kept a low profile in the blog so far, while he's been learning English. He is in fact a true Spaniard and moved to England from Spain to join Bears Unlimited. There was no way that we were going to leave Pedro behind when heading for Spain, and, anyway, he is great company, as you will discover in the posts to come.

Join us again soon.

Lots of love, George, Yorkie, Pedro and Gio xxx