Fuerteventura back in the day

[harlequin]

Hi all,

Having just registered here, and had a quick look around the site: I decided to make my first post. So we have been coming to Fuerteventura mostly for the last 25 years (and twice a year when poss), we originally stayed in Corralejo hotels and apartments; and have tried various ones. Over the years we have chatted to folk on beaches and restaurants and bars, and been given advice and recommendations on various resorts and suchlike; one of those was El Cotillo. We initially used to make a few day trips to Cotillo, as part of our 2 week stay whilst based in Corralejo; and we would often state we should book for there and 'give it a go'. Four years ago we took the plunge and loved it, yes it's quieter and not as bustling; but that's the type of holiday we want. So I have voted for the north of the island.

In fairness had one holiday in Caleta De Fuste years ago, and was very undeveloped at the time; seem to remember a small shopping complex next to the apartments...with a Bar called the 'Drunken Monkey' if my memory serves me correctly. The beach wasn't the best, so we didn't return. As for the south of the isand went on a coach trip late 90s for the day, and was told by rep on the coach...make sure you have the right Money when buying things and always check for a price label on items, as this part of the island was predominantly German in population; and English folk were less popular. We only went to try the beach not the shopping, and thought it was fine, yes it seemed every stone circle had some manner of German national flag erected; so what....good luck to them. I have never found any europeans to be overly rude or impolite, tends to be the complete opposite as long as you try to communicate; and even more so among naturists.

Hope I haven't bored anyone to death with this post, and hope to post more and comment on other threads too; thanks for the contact Sam.

[Johnrgby]

Here you go Sam you can start with this.

When we came here first, we stayed at one of the hotels on The Dunes, The Olivia Beach, it was a Novotel back then, and not all-inclusive, I think if I recollect rightly only Sandals did AI back then it was throwing it down with rain, and according to the Rep it was the first significant rain they had had for four years, { deep joy } we arrived around 17:30 and there was a huge pool of water just outside the exit from the hotel to the beach [ even deeper joy } but by the morning it had disappeared and we had three weeks of uninterrupted sunshine, and that was in February.

Funniest parts of the holiday, walking into the bar on the first night and bumping into a guy with a Tshirt that had emblazoned on the front " Speak to me I am  British " he had been there ten days and there were allegedly 520 guests 6 Brits and 514 Germans, we added four to the tally of Brits, secondly watching a German woman in her late fifties walking into the sea stark naked but wearing a bathing cap and when a German started ranting at us because we were supposedly in his shelter in the sand, when I stood  up he realised how big I was, his face was a picture, and I was forty years younger then and not big into taking prisoners . there were a lot of others, but they were the most memorable.

The only bad moment was returning to the hotel one night to find the place full of armed soldiers, back in the day The Spanish Foreign Legion was stationed here, and we had been warned not to even look at them if we came across them anywhere, apparently one of them had deserted and stopped a German tourist and killed him and stolen his passport etc. and they were searching the hotel for him, not a pleasant experience. 

unfortunately, the very many photos we took disappeared with hundreds of others were lost during one of our many house moves.

[Johnrgby]

Thanks John, I'll split the thread to keep the stories separate.

Can imagine how you felt the first night. Do you mean at one of the two hotels in the Dunes? They are pretty popular with German tourists even nowadays.

Looking forward to read more stories from the "Back in the day". ...sounds like a great name for the new thread. Will do the split now.

Yes I did I have edited it now,

[Captain Sensible]

I first came to the island in holiday in January 1993.  We stayed in the Coco Sol apartments in Nuevo Horizonte and had a brilliant family holiday with 3 children.  We used to catch the courtesy bus into Caleta and go to the beach.

We returned the following year and stayed in Caleta Gardens in Caleta de Fuste.  They were building the Los Arcos Center opposite at the time. It was before the Barcelo Hotel and the El Castillo Shopping area was built, so you had to walk across waste ground down to the beach. The only bars and shops I can remember were at the Happy Center.

We returned every year to the island for our annual 2 week holiday - staying either in Caleta or Costa Calma.  I used to hire a car for 3 days and do a tour of the island. One of my best memories was hiring a 4x4 and driving, as near as possible, around the whole coast.

It was New Year, 2003 that we decided to move here.  We eventually moved in September 2003.

[Johnrgby]

After Management read my post here she commented that she was surprised I had not mentioned the music, so here is an addendum.

Bearing in mind this hotel was 98.5% German occupied looking back it seems funnier

The hotel organised a variety of things to do that you could join in with, these are not necessarily in the correct order, with the exception of 08:00.

08:00 Keep fit on the beach 

10:00 Water Polo in the main pool

12:00 Soccer on the beach

14;00 Volleyball on the beach

16:00 Tennis lessons

18:00 Aerobics in the main pool { I do not think it was called aerobics back then, but lots of elderly women waving their arms about in the pool }

Of course, you were free to ignore these Events as most people did, but 5 mins before they kicked off they played The Shadows record Wonderfull Land very loudly over the complex tannoy system, reminded me of when we had been in Muslim countries and the local Muezzin called the faithful to prayer, now like most of my generation I was/am a big Shadows fam, bit after three weeks of this six times a day I could have cheerfully strangled them.

[GSDGirl]

We first came to Fuerteventura in 1987 staying at Estrella Del Mar, Corralejo. The road into town was just a track after Tres Vistas up to the two hotels. The town it’s self was quite small. The old town and the music square were really all there was. I remember the building that is Corralejo Market and Surf Lift being a grocery shop and there wasn’t much after that. We flew to Lanzarote and came over to Fuerteventura on the ferry, which was a far cry from the current ones. It was an old tub. I was sick on the way over due to the vile oily smell of the smoke coming out of the funnel. We just loved the unspoiled and laid back ways of the Island and have been coming back, once or twice most years ever since and, god willing, always will. Thanks for the opportunity to reminisce.

[harlequin]

Can't remember the exact year we first visited, and to be honest we just stuck a pin in a map,,,and hit Fuerteventura; we both thought 'isn't that the place where the windsurfers go'.  So prompted by our unusual method of picking a holiday destination, we decided to give it a go; and we were not disappointed. In fact we came twice I seem to remember within twelve months, initially staying at a place called Corralejo Gardens (which has gone now); and then at a family run complex with about 6 apartments (which they eventually sold to a Surf School).

I remember the first time we passed the RUI hotels, the dunes beforehand were that high near the road; that you could not see the beach until you got closer to the RUI Olivia. The town was nowhere near as spread out as it is now, and the first apartment drop off by the coach was always at San Valentin apartments (which are residential properties now I think).

The other thing I remember was on one occasion it was some kind of Festival weekend, and the music and noise literally went on all night; the 'Fair / Stalls etc' were predominantly set up on a plot of spare land (as was then). This area is now a car park for the Fitness centre opposite the Pronto Pizza, if my memory serves me correctly; slept with a pillow over my head that weekend!

Still, it has never put us off returning; though nowadays we prefer El Cotillo....a lot quieter...... .