Canary island hopping

Just back from a 12-day cruise aboard the Queen Elizabeth.

Launched in 2008, the QE is currently the youngest of Cunard’s three ships, the others being Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria, although a new ship, the Queen Anne, is due to be launched next year.

QM2 is the largest of the existing Cunard fleet but they are all dwarfed by some of the more modern cruise ships that can accommodate up to 6,000 passengers compared to the QM2 (2,695) and the smaller Cunard ships (approximately 2,000).

We set sail from Southampton on April 3 and spent three and a half days at sea before arriving at Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands, approximately 60 miles off the coast of Africa.

From there we travelled to Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote (above) before returning to Southampton via Lisbon.

Tenerife and Gran Canaria may be worth a longer visit, especially in spring or autumn when the temperature rarely drops below 20 degrees (Celsius).

While we were there it was a pleasant 21 degrees (70 Fahrenheit) with a light breeze and bright blue sky. Year-round it never gets too hot or too cold, apparently, hence the attraction for holidaymakers.

The highlight of our day on Gran Canaria was lunch, booked in advance, at a lovely restaurant in the picturesque, older part of Las Palmas, the capital city.

We ate outside in a small inner courtyard with 15 or 20 local people who were celebrating someone’s 50th birthday.

The staff were friendly and attentive and the food was delicious.

The recommended starter was a bowl of papas antiguas (‘antique potatoes’) that are said to be the direct descendants of those imported from the Andes in the 16th century.

Small and wizened with sweet yellow flesh beneath the brown skin, they were served with two dipping sauces.

Remarkably each potato seemed to have a personality of its own including eyes, nose and mouth. If you look at the photo above, one even looked like the head of a seal pup!

The squid and octopus were good too so if you ever visit Gran Canaria I warmly recommend Restaurant Casa Montesdeoca.

Lisbon, which I was looking forward to revisiting following a short break a few years ago, was a little disappointing.

Weather aside - sunny intervals interrupted by heavy showers - the centre of the city was heaving with thousands of visitors, many of them shepherded around in large groups by tourist guides.

If you need evidence that the pandemic is over I rest my case but the economic impact of Covid was clearly visible with many shops permanently closed and empty.

We were warned about pick-pockets and there were one or two areas where we didn’t feel entirely comfortable.

That said, we enjoyed our previous visit so I’m pretty sure we’ll go back again but this wasn’t quite the experience I anticipated.

Talking of Covid, the Spanish and Portuguese authorities still expect people to wear face masks in enclosed public places including public transport but it wasn’t overbearing.

On board the Queen Elizabeth restrictions were minimal and despite the relatively high average age passengers were split with, at a guess, 60:40 choosing not to wear masks inside even in confined spaces like lifts where numbers were limited to four people at a time.

The only place where masks were mandatory, and strictly enforced, was the main theatre so I only went there once. Again, my choice.

Given that cruise ships are potential breeding grounds for any type of virus - as we saw at the very start of the pandemic - Cunard (and other cruise lines) deserve enormous credit for adapting and getting the show back on the road as quickly as they have.

Normally neither this cruise nor our no-stop ‘sun voyage’ to the Bay of Biscay last summer would be on the Cunard calendar.

They were organised to replace long-standing scheduled cruises that had to be cancelled when various countries refused to let the ships stop and disembark.

The good news is that, in Europe at least, things seem to be returning to normal.

PS. By coincidence my Dublin-based school friend Bill will be in Tenerife next month climbing Mount Teide, at 3,718 metres the highest peak on the island.

We caught a glimpse of it when we were on a coach driving from one side of the island to the other. The top was covered in snow so I’ll advise him to wear something warm.

Either way I’m sure he’ll send a photo and when he does I’ll post it here.

PS. For further thoughts on cruising, including the pros and cons, see ‘Bon voyage‘ (March 2021) which I wrote in response to a tweet by broadcaster Iain Dale.

Below: Old Town, Gran Canaria