Gran Canaria culinary – craters, dunes & Rioja

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Not so long ago I was convinced that Italy had the best food and the best wine. In the meantime I have come to the conclusion that Spanish cuisine can hold a candle to Italian cuisine. I am particularly fond of the tapas. I'm not alone in this passion, because Mr. Wallygusto is also a big fan of the little appetizers.

And so it happens that even in Gran Canaria we feed mainly on tapas. Although this may sound boring, we always have enough variety on the plates. On the one hand, because there is also a large selection for vegetarians, and on the other hand, each chef has his own recipes anyway. For example, the filling of the croquetas varies in each pub.

Our love for tapas goes so far that we regularly prepare some at home. Of course, preferably for guests, because there we can really go into the full and try out many recipes.

Gran Canaria culinary - craters, dunes & Rioja | Foodie Guide on www.wallygusto.de

Food

While writing these lines I noticed that I always have the same positive things to report about the restaurants we visited. Everywhere we were spoilt for choice between a variety of vegetarian dishes, all of which were convincing in taste. Also, we were not served bad wine anywhere, quite the contrary! There was also nothing on the service or. hardly anything to complain about. So I will only list the places where we were guests here.

Milagros Bar & Tapas Cerveceria | C. Thomas Alva Edison, 8, 35007 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (best red wine of the vacation)
El Monje de Santa Ana | Plaza Sta. Ana, 2, 35001 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria https://elmonjelpa.es/ (1a view of the cathedral Santa Ana)
Rockabilly Burger Bar Las Canteras | C. Tomas Miller, 78, 35007 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (atmosphere similar to Hard Rock Cafe)
Bochinche El Chato | Calle Dr. Grau Bassas, 12, 35007 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Our favorite!)
La Despensa | C. Diderot, 8, 35007 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (cozy bar garden)
Tasca Q'damos Aqui | C. Rafael Almeida, 7, 35007 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (especially cordial service)
La Sabina de La Garita | C. Palmera, 11, 35212 Telde (great sun terrace with sea view)

Gran Canaria culinary - craters, dunes & Rioja | Foodie Guide on www.wallygusto.de

Gran Canaria culinary - Craters, Dunes & Rioja | Foodie Guide on www.wallygusto.de

Drinking

On Gran Canaria Mr. Wallygusto and I make the acquaintance of Carmela Gin. We like this Canarian gin because of its fruity aroma of tropical fruit extracts. We order it in every bar we visit during our stay.

Craft beer, on the other hand, seems to be in short supply in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. But maybe we have been foolish. But at least we open a "watering hole" with local (craft) beers and BrewDog near our accommodation.

CervecerIa Edison | C. Thomas Alva Edison, 1, 35007 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
McGregor Cocktail&Co. | C. JoaquIn Costa, 1, 35007 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Volga | C. Fernando Guanarteme, 16, local 2, 35007 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
CervecerIa The Situation | C. Jose Franchy Roca, 22

Gran Canaria culinary - craters, dunes & Rioja | Foodie Guide on www.wallygusto.de

Sweet

Churreria Astrid | C. Fernando Guanarteme, 33, 35007 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
At least 1x during a vacation in Spain Mr. Wallygusto and I have to eat churros. At Churreria Astrid, the lard pastry is particularly sumptuous, especially if you dip it extensively in the thick chocolate.

HeladerIa Artesanal Neptuno | C. Luis Morote, 29, Bajo 1, 35214 Playa de Melenara, Las Palmas
Before we go to the airport and back to Germany, we treat ourselves to an ice cream at Playa de Melenara. There the HeladerIa Artesanal Neptuno has opened only recently. The ice cream is made from natural ingredients and without preservatives. In view of the large selection, we can hardly decide.

Gran Canaria culinary - craters, dunes & Rioja | Foodie Guide on www.wallygusto.de

Shopping

Granier | various branches in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
The BAKERY COFFEE- chain Granier also has several branches in Las Palmas. At the Plaza de Espana we regularly stock up on sweet provisions. The apple pie is nice and juicy and the muesli croissant at least looks like it once saw a full grain.

Autoservicio Orba | Santa Catalina, Calle Dr. Grau Bassas, 42, 35007 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Looking for Carmela Gin, we quickly discover that none of the major supermarket chains carries it in their assortment. Fortunately there is the Autoservicio Orba around the corner from our accommodation. Already at the 1. Looking through the barred shop window we realize that we would find what we are looking for here. And after we have a little more space in our luggage, not one but 2 bottles go into the shopping basket. Who knows when we will come next time to the Canary Islands?

La Mariquita Carmen | Frente al parque Municipal, C. Francisco Gourie, 7, 35400 Arucas
During our stroll through Arucas, Mr. Wallygusto and I discover La Mariquita Carmen. The mixture of health food store and delicatessen immediately appealed to us. We go straight to the small store to buy a jar of local honey.

Sleep

Like on Tenerife, the tourists prefer the southern part of the island. So we decide to stay in Las Palmas in the north. This complains us partly somewhat longer journey to our planned activities and many sights outside of Las Palmas. But for more flexibility in dinner and nightlife, we are happy to accept this.

Our modern apartment at Chez Abel is air-conditioned and has a flat-screen TV, a living room with a sofa, and a well-equipped kitchen with dishwasher, microwave, refrigerator, kettle and coffee maker. But as in (almost) every vacation we use except the fridge only dining table, bathroom and bedroom. And of course the balcony with sea view, which is a little bit restricted. Since the glass balustrade had to be freshly glued, a rather ugly screw clamp prevents the free view of the beach Playa de las Canteras.

Gran Canaria culinary - craters, dunes & Rioja | Foodie Guide on www.wallygusto.de

Breakfast A la carte is served in the chic restaurant La Solana, located on the first floor of the building complex. The portions are small and not a suitable basis for long walks. Also the fact that breakfast is only possible from 8:30 onwards does not help our daily planning. And self-catering is not an option despite having its own kitchen, after all, breakfast is included in the price of accommodation. The taste of the toasts with avocado & poached egg or Nutella and yoghurt with nut puree is very convincing. Nevertheless, Mr. Wallygusto misses the typical Canarian breakfast with Gofio, the fine flour from roasted grain.

The absolute plus of Chez Abel is the location, as we never have far to go for dinner. The old town of Las Palmas can also be easily reached on foot with a little bit of time. There are several supermarkets in the vicinity, where we stocked up on mineral water, alcohol-free beer, low-calorie soft drinks and knick-knacks.

We felt very comfortable during our stay. Next time, though, we'd look for a different, less expensive place to stay with a more flexible breakfast menu.

The email evolution: hands off open rates

Email marketing is still the most important channel for your ROI, but the current changes don't make it easy for marketers to stay on the ball. Still, in the long run, e-commerce marketing teams need to keep up with the changes – at least if they want to continue to compete.

The evolution of email marketing

Email marketing today is hardly comparable to what we understood it to be a few years ago. Gone are the days of monthly e-newsletters sent to all subscribers that focused on open and click-through rates.

Email marketing is now responsible for more web traffic than paid and social media combined, delivers the highest ROI of all existing marketing channels, and is widely considered the most popular communication channel among consumers when it comes to pre-purchase, post-purchase and transactional messaging.

The more content is sent, the closer the rhythm and frequency of the emails sent, and the more precisely the needs and interests of each individual recipient can be addressed, the more the email channel evolves. Inbox filtering and security protocol has also changed as a result of increasingly sophisticated threats in increasingly complex ways.

While the digital marketing industry today is more complex than ever, the basic methods for tracking, reporting and segmentation have changed little. What this means in concrete terms? Marketing has changed, but metrics lag behind.

The problem with open rates

At Internet World Conference 2013, I first talked about the problems with tracking open rates – they can't by any stretch of the imagination keep up with the changes within the industry.

Working in technology and data in the larger "email" space, I generally have a good view of the overall situation. And I realized back in 2013 that there is a huge disconnect between what marketers want to achieve and how the resulting results are evaluated. One consequence of this discrepancy often presented itself in strategy failure and deliverability issues.

6 years later, I believe little has changed in this situation. We still track open rates the same way, we still report on open rates the same way, we still create industry benchmarks based on open rates, and we still use open rates for segmentation, targeting, and personalization.

The problem here? While the metrics within the industry haven't changed, resp. have evolved, open rates still work. Or at least in some ways. Open rates are usually high when things are going well, low when things are not going well, and change according to improvement or deterioration. And don't forget, they make up the biggest number in the overall conversion chain – after all, it sounds a lot better to talk about a 42% open rate, rather than a 7% click-through rate.

My specialty is deliverability. This means: I work with companies whose marketing programs don't work or. Do not provide the desired results. This also means that if you and I are on the phone, you are probably just having a bad week. And these moments, or these cases (when things don't go well) make it more than clear that you can't identify active email recipients with "Open Data", but absolutely need accurate data to evaluate situations, target contacts properly, and build a good reputation.

Email issues you should know & understand

Before we delve deeper into open rates and look at when and where they come into play, let's familiarize ourselves with some current deliverability issues.

Image Prefetching

In an email, images are often pre-loaded – meaning they are downloaded without any form of human interaction.

Let me briefly explain why this is so. There are three main reasons why images in emails are preloaded:

► User Experience. Mobile devices are sometimes in an area with a cellular signal, and sometimes not. Many consumers read their emails on different devices, resulting in endpoints being queried and rendered differently. Pre-fetching provides a better user experience.

► Anti abusive use. Images are often checked as part of the inbox filtering process, protecting inboxes from spam, viruses and malware. Some inboxes are also controlled by machines, resp. Are there to monitor email senders and activities.

► Forward emails and mailbox consolidation. When POP/IMAP is used to forward and collect email into a mailbox, this can result in images being preloaded (to ensure they are delivered correctly and intact).

But there are also some human influences associated with pre-fetching, among others:

When an inbox is active or inactive
If emails from a particular sender are commonly opened, or not – this somewhat imprecise metric is only available in very technically advanced inboxes
If a recipient has marked the sender "always download" – where this is simply a "request, not a command"
With certain user settings

Please also note that pre-fetching can vary depending on the email provider (the domain), email client (the app used to read the email), the device (desktop, tablet, mobile), and operating system (iOS, Android).

What this looks like in concrete terms can be observed excellently in the Litmus Market Share report. Among other things, the report shows that 3x more emails are opened in Gmail than in Microsoft domains, and that more than 10x more email opens occur in Apple than in Android systems.

Sun, beach, lots of relaxation and hospitality – the island of Corfu has all this to offer its guests. Located in the northwest of Greece, it can be reached from Germany by plane in about two to three hours. In the summer season from May to September there are then also numerous flights from various German airports directly to Corfu. We briefly introduce the island – and give the best Corfu tips at a glance.

Corfu town – small but nice

Not far from the airport is Corfu Town, the largest town on the island. The small town houses most of the inhabitants, the entire administration as well as a ferry port and a marina. By ferry you can get from Corfu to Igoumenitsa on the Greek mainland and occasionally to Italy, for example to Bari. In the harbor north of the city center, cruise ships also dock regularly.

The city center is located between the ferry port and the marina. Picturesque places and some good hotels can be found there as well as typical Greek taverns and the Casino Corfu, directly above the marina. Especially the architecture of the building always attracts tourists. You can pass the casino by walking or driving around the marina and heading towards the old Venetian fortress, which can still be visited today.

That there is a casino in Corfu is not a surprise. Finally, the entertainment possibilities in the areas usually also decide whether tourists pay a visit to the places or not. Especially casinos are becoming more and more popular here. This is not least due to the success of casinos on the Internet. These are very happy to offer bonuses to convince potential guests of their merits. Often there is a multiple of a deposit to get out with bonuses, as this article focusing on all types of 400% bonuses shows. However, it is also always important to check all the conditions associated with the bonus. Often includes minimum and maximum deposit amounts.

Green and picturesque: the east coast of Corfu

Corfu is considered one of the greenest islands in Greece. Especially the east coast of the island has many beautiful small bays and not less pretty sights. Already in the approach from the south to the airport, which is located in a lagoon, you can recognize the "mouse island" Pontikonisi. Next to it, also built out into the water, is the monastery island of Vlacherna. In the past it has also been the setting for the filming of movies, for example "The Isle of the Dead" by Val Lewton.

The west coast also has many beautiful bays to offer. But probably no bay is as beautiful as that of Paleokastritsa, where there is also a monastery. From a vantage point high above the sea there is a wonderful view over that area. Up there is the mountain village of Lakones, which is often called the balcony of the Ionian Sea. As the settlements are distributed in the landscape, you can also find olive groves and various fruit trees on Corfu.

Corfu Tips: Long beaches in the south

While in the north, west and east the coast often slopes rather steeply, there are longer beaches especially in the south. There you can really enjoy life on vacation. Of course, this is also due to the temperatures, which usually reach more than 30 degrees Celsius during the day in Corfu in summer. From June to August, Corfu has an average of eleven hours of sunshine per day. You can leave your umbrella at home in summer – but in winter it tends to get quite humid all over the island.

Corfu tips

Corfu Tips: The Must-Do's

If you're traveling by rental car, there's plenty to discover on Corfu.

Here's a bucket list:

Take a stroll through the market in Kerkyra (Corfu Town). Here you can find everything a tourist's heart desires. Fresh olive oil, fresh fish, fruits and vegetables. Is always open, except Sundays.
Visiting the fortress in Kerkyra and enjoying a panorama over the whole town (not far from the market) can be combined wonderfully
Bathing in the Korission lake – a freshwater lagoon, which lies directly at the sea, in the southern part of Corfu.
Rent a boat and sail to the island of Paxos, south of Corfu. Here are wonderful beaches and usually much less tourist:inside.
Have a drink in the tavern Dionysos in Afionas. Here you have a wonderful view over the bay of Agios Georgios. Attention: First you have to take a small hike uphill.
Let yourself drift and discover the mountain villages of Corfu. Because there are so many of them, nestled between olive groves and gentle countryside. Especially in spring the small villages offer a wonderful sight when the lemon trees bloom in the gardens.
Water skiing at Glyfada Beach. After all, this is one of the most beautiful beaches on Corfu. Therefore a beach day here is a must in any case!

Corfu Tips: Good to know

Arrival

Corfu has an international airport and is therefore easy to reach by plane. For example from Berlin by direct flight. It will take you about two and a half hours. The landing on Corfu is usually an experience. This is because runways project into the sea and are surrounded by water, like tongues of land. If you don't want to fly, you can take the ferry from the mainland to Corfu.

On the road in Corfu

There is some kind of infrastructure on Corfu, for example there are a few regular buses. It is advisable, however, who would like to discover the island, to set on a rented car. Because otherwise you are quite strongly bound to the respective hotel and resort and the movement radius is relatively small.

Pay

In Greece you pay with Euro. German tourists usually do not have to pay attention to anything else, only to this rule: The more touristy the region on Corfu, the more expensive the prices. Haptspeisen can cost quite times 30.00 EUR. Reasonable tip is usually 5-10%. But watch out: Sometimes tip is already included. So always take a look at the bill.

Food

Drinking

Sweet

Shopping

Sleep

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