Gran Canaria: a German retirement community

This past weekend, my friends and I went to Gran Canaria, part of the Canary Islands, off the northwest coast of Africa. The island and the beaches were beautiful, but you had to look past the extreme touristy-ness of it all first. In our whole time there, I did not see one building, store, or restaurant that wasn't created purely for foreigners. It's a very strange place but it was a good time.

We stayed in the Puerto Rico area, which, unbeknownst to us, is the vacation spot of choice for Germans, Swedes and Norwegians aged 55+. Our group stuck out a bit in that crowd, but we still had a lot of fun.

We stayed at the Aparthotel Riosol. Our rooms were really nice, but it is by far the most confusing and poorly laid out property I have ever been to. All of the hotels are plastered on the sides of these rocky cliffs, so it is somewhat difficult to walk around.

We spent most of our 4 days there on the beach, either at Playa Puerto Rico, or the next beach, Playa Amadores. The weather was perfect for the beach and very hot so we spent a lot of time in the ocean.

On our last day, Casey, Catie and I decided to go on a dolphin and whale watching cruise. It proved to not be our best idea of the trip. We didn't see a single dolphin or whale, and about 95% of the people on board were nauseous and/or sea sick the entire time. It wasn't the best end to the trip but the rest of it went a lot better!