Just before Christmas, we had a holiday. 2 weeks of laying and sitting in the sun, reading books and enjoying the peaceful surroundings of our villa on the island of Tenerife.
This authentic traditional Canarian house was decorated and furnished traditionally. It was set in a beautiful garden with tall palm trees, canaries singing in the tree tops and blackbirds chirping on the lawn each morning.
One stepped through the (very narrow) garden gate, set into a high wall and entered oasis of calm and tranquility. Thank goodness I’d taken a folding wheelchair as this was the only way in!
The thing I love about self-catering (and to myself and my husband, self-catering is what we would choose over any other type of holiday) is the ability to try out the local delicacies. The Canary Islanders grow their own bananas and avocados, and those two fruit are in plentiful supply, cheap and perfectly ripe. They also grow apples, pears, almonds, walnuts… and we enjoyed all of these!
We also enjoyed eating out most evenings. Our breakfast was generally natural yogurt and fruit. Lunch was a salad with cheese or cold meats. We tried different restaurants for our evening meal – you could find almost any kind of meal, from local fish and meat to Indian, Chinese, Italian, Hungarian, Croatian….
We tended to stick with the local cuisine. Of course, being an island, the fish is fresh. We experienced some of the best fillet steak – not just in terms of the quality of the meat, but also cooked to absolute perfection – essential!
Our holiday and Christmas are now distant memories. It’s time to start 2017, and although I am not one for new years resolutions, I had been putting regular exercise on hold in the lead up to Christmas and the busy months before that. The weight loss continues and for now, it’s just about getting my body moving and ridding myself of the aches and pains that have set in. There’s nothing serious, and already from just planning in 30 minutes of stretching and 30 minutes of Pilates exercises, I am feeling the difference.
