Lisbon Airport, August 2025
One flight all night long (a turnaround split duty) on our most beautiful aircraft with the retrojet livery.
Holidays in Maspalomas, Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria, June 2025
After spending a few days in Sal Island, Gran Canaria was my choice for this year's second period of holidays. As I posted before, I visited las Palmas for a weekend in 2019 and missed the south part of the island where you can find the holiday resorts and la movida. Of course this time, not only the south of the island was explored but also other locations. I stayed in a RIU resort at Playa del Inglés, all inclusive concept, with good food, drinks (including Aperol Spritz!) and lots of sun. Just what I needed!
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Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
One of the days of our stay we went to explore Las Palmas again, using a regular public transport bus to go all the way to the north.
This the urban beach - Playa de Las Canteras:
And again, I went to the old town of Las Palmas - Vegueta neighborhood. Here is a photo of the majestic Cathedral of Santa Ana:
We also went to check Casa de Colón (Cristóbal Colón or Cristóvão Colombo, in Portuguese).
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Dunas de Maspalomas
Back to the place we were staying, something you can't really miss are the Maspalomas Dunes. We went on foot from our resort to the Mirador de las Dunas (viewpoint).
Despite many warnings that the dunes are a protected area, people chose to neglect it. I stayed, as usual, a law abiding citizen and enjoyed the dunes with my eyes only.
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Agüimes
Another day we rented a car and went to explore some other points of the island with the main goal - something I really wanted to do - of going all the way up to Pico de las Nieves. First stop of the day was Agüimes, a small town in the eastern part of the island. The old town (Casco Histórico is cute and dominated by its Church of San Sebastián at Plaza del Rosario.
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Caldera de los Marteles
Close to reaching the highest point of the island, we stopped at Caldera de los Marteles, an old volcano crater to check the views. I'm a volcano enthusiast so I started getting excited.
Also the views from the top of the island were also breathtaking:
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Pico de las Nieves
And finally we reached Pico de las Nieves, the highest point of the whole Gran Canaria. In fact, if we want to be precise, the highest tip is Morro de la Agujereada, which can be seen right in front of us in the next couple of photos:
Next photo shows the end of the road after a very windy road all the way to the top of the mountain.
Amazing view of the island... and first sighting of Roque Nublo...
...Morro de la Agujereada again...
...another view with clear skies...
...Roque Nublo is a very peculiar volcanic rock on top of a hill, the second highest point of Gran Canaria after Pico de las Nieves.
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Puerto de Mógan
The final stop of our journey was Puerto de Mógan, also know as the Little Venice of Gran Canaria. It's a really, really cute fishing village where we had a nice lunch at El Malecón de Mogán restaurant. But there plenty of other options for a meal in the area.
Some views of Playa de Mogán:
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Return Flight
I really enjoyed this holiday in Gran Canaria. I got well rested, sun kissed and in good mood to get back to work. We returned on an Airbus A321neo, tail number CS-TJM, named "Raul Solnado" - one my usual workplaces.
One photo of the winglet while in cruise and the tail after we landed at Lisbon Airport.
And I finally reached my GOLD status in RIU's loyalty program :-)
Frankfurt, nothing new but always nice
Frankfurt, July 2025
From a tourist's point of view, Frankfurt is not the most appealing city to explore. I did a very similar stroll to this one in 2010 and back then I took much more detailed photos than those I'm showing today. I'll share those 2010 photos later, I promise!
I've also been to Frankfurt September. That layover we just went to the Römerberg to have lunch ending the day at Orange Beach, a beer garden, to watch the sunset by the river.
But let's finally dive into what I saw on this July's layover! The weather was cloudy, muggy but hot! Tt didn't rain although you could bet it would at any time.
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My Zeil
My Zeil
This shopping mall always get my attention because of the glass "tornado" that continues towards of the inside of the mall.
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Römerberg
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Domturm
Many years ago I visited the associated museum Dommuseum and I remember seeing a photo of the Dome still standing (although severely damaged) after the WWII bombardments.
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River Main
I ended my visit walking alongside the river Main.
Sal, Cabo Verde: tour around the island
Sal Island, November 2022
This was my first time visiting Sal Island despite having flown there many times before, while on duty. It was also my first time spending holidays in an all inclusive resort. And I must confess, I got addicted to that concept! Sal is a perfect match for me because I don't have to cross the whole Atlantic ocean and there's only one time zone difference. For several years I used to have holidays in "discoverer mode" and I truly enjoyed it. But as years progress, I tend to feel more tired with work and in need of "true holidays" to get rested and not even more tired! And for those like me flying on staff tickets, there are daily flights to Sal out of Lisbon.
While waiting for our boarding time I spotted this Hi Fly A330 flying for TAAG Angola Airlines.
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Santa Maria
We stayed in Oasis Belorizonte, in Santa Maria. This first year staying in Sal, I was happy with the resort conditions and with the food. But in 2023 it was another story: the service declined and food variety was not satisfactory. From 2023 onwards we opted for Riu Funana and we are still happy with it.
During the first half of November the air and water temperatures were just perfect for me. And I am very difficult to please particularly in water temperature.
We reserved one of the days of our stay for a tour around the island. Sal has not much to see since it is an arid volcanic island. But there are a few things worth to explore.
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Baía dos Tubarões
The shark bay experience is where you can walk in shallow water and interact with lots of baby sharks (lemon sharks) around. Don't be afraid - they don't bite!
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Salinas de
Pedra de Lume
The next stop was Salinas de Pedra de Lume - a crater of an old volcano, where you can float in muddy waters with a high concentration of salt. You pay a small fee to get inside. Don't forget to bring the swim shorts or swimsuits you like the least!
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Buracona
Buracona is a small bay in the northwest of the island, featuring a natural swimming pool. It is also known for an opening on the top of a cave where the light enters and creates a magical reflection on the water, called the "Blue Eye". The "Blue Eye" effect is not always visible. It depends pretty much if you have a cloudy or a clear sky.
And... we were lucky!...
Close to the natural pool you can see a map of the Cabo Verde archipelago shaped on the soil. I took a photo of the representation of Sal Island:
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Porto da Palmeira
Our last stop of the tour was Palmeira, a small fishing village where we had lunch in a proper restaurant.
