A day at rest....

Seems to be a strange title considering we are on holiday, but every day so far there has been something to do, so it is with some relief that we have little to do today but relax. After a reasonable lay in this morning, we headed off to go and have a nice couples massage.

I am a complete newbie to the world of professional massages, and I have to say it was all very nice indeed. Even when they were unknotting my shoulders with some fairly serious pressure, I couldn't help laughing (it is my ticklish spot!!). I was also enjoying the panpipes rendition of the Bryan Adams classic, Everything I Do (I do it for you). We came out of the spa feeling supple and relaxed, and decided to sit by the spa pool which was practically empty (this entire section of the hotel is practically deserted, so you we could have an entire gym and pool to ourselves virtually!!

This is the gym, which is always empty (I wonder why?!)

I have been in the gym and done a token amount of exercise (about 30 seconds), but will endeavour to do more before the holiday is over. 

As it is a day of rest I suppose I should give you all a guided tour of the hotel. Judging by our visit to the other hotels in the area to pick up gets for the Roots trip, I would say we are in the best hotel, it is in a secluded part of The Gambia away from the "strip" which seems to be a build up of hotels and restaurants/nightclubs which are a Mecca for TOWIE types. Being secluded does have its downsides, like if we wanted to go out for a meal we would need to get a taxi ride, but thankfully the food in house is good and the taxis are insanely cheap, but we have not felt any burning desire to leave the grounds. I am sure we will visit a market at some point, to get some novelty fridge magnets,  which are surprisingly hard to find here - they just haven't cottoned on to fact that tourist like buying cheap tut as a memento!!

Anyway the following are some snaps of the hotel, it is a fairly big complex but I don't think there are many rooms here which means it never has a busy feel to it. There are always loungers by the pool and the pool itself is practically empty all of the time.

 

The bar: home of Julbrew.....

 

The mazelike quality of the hotel is great fun for an explorer like me!

The path to our room, lots of crickets and geckos have been spotted and a large cane rat!

These are the apartments. All of them have a sea view as far as I know, and it is lovely to wake up of a morning to that sort of view. The vista we have allows us to watch the sun setting over the ocean, but it seems to go from daylight to night here so suddenly we have missed it so far this week!!

 

The rooms all face the sea, so you wake up to the sight and sound of the ocean

The hotel grounds are lovely.

A plus side of where we are is that we are within walking distance of forests and nature reserves which house a wonderful array of bird life. The Gambia is well renowned for its massive avian diversity, but I will talk a bit more about this tomorrow after I have done my "wake up with the birds" trip.

Anyway this is the main reception it is bright and airy and gives a real feel for the hotel as you can see straight out into the ocean from it. 

Main reception looking out to the road. The Sea is behind me

Where we breakfast every morning....it is a hard life ;)

This is the outside restaurant. When the weather is good this is where we eat. Sometimes, being on the coast, the wind picks up in the evening and so they make a decision (like tonight) to hold the dining experience inside.

The outside restaurant (on less windy days)

This is the bar, where I have heard all my musical delights - tonight we were treated to a bit of Phil Collins bit their rendition of Tom Jones' Delilah was a real highlight. No Boney M tonight though, which was a disappointment as I am holding out hope for Rasputin......everyone better clear the dance floor when that comes on!!

One thing worth a mention is the hotels Eco friendly pest control system. Instead of traps and poisons all over the place they have a small army of cats which patrol the hotel they have complete access to all areas and often they like to curl up next to Sarah and snooze. There is clearly one top cat, that I have decided to call The General who is always on guard and does the rounds checking on the other cats, if he catches them slacking off, all hell breaks loose and he chases them around the grounds to much caterwauling. It is safe to say I like The General. 

This is the pest control

That is all for today the burgers and the beer is calling, so I will head off. It is a bit cooler today, about 33 degrees, so a climate similar to what you are probably experiencing in the UK ;)