Struth - would you believe!
   With David Ellis

In his continuing search for the more weird, wacky and wondrous, David Ellis says you’ve a need to be adventurous and have a love of the sea to stay at the tiny Hotel Punta Grande in the Canary Islands.
   Because it’s on the furthest-most-tip into the Atlantic Ocean of the most south-western of those Islands, has just four double rooms, a breakfast room and a lounge within its stone walls, and is regularly battered by Atlantic storms that drench the place in salt water.
   The now-hotel originally opened on El Hierro Island in 1800 as a Customs Office, but when ships from America started going to other ports as first point of entry into Europe, the Customs Office fell into disuse.
   Those who bought it converted offices to bedrooms, a dining room and a lounge, but there’s no phone, TV, nor even a bar – guests walk the several hundred metres across the stone causeway for such indulgences in the nearby town (and in which the Hotel Punta Grande’s owner also has some rental apartments.)
   The hotel’s decor includes much of the original, together with a collection of ship’s portholes, compasses, lanterns, charts and a diver’s suit that are the results of numerous shipwrecks over the years; guests have access to two outdoor terraces that offer spectacular views of the ocean, surrounding islets and El Hierro’s granite coastline that was formed millions of years ago when a massive volcanic uprising created the Canary Islands.
   Just don’t decide to sit out on those terraces the day you’ve also decided to do your hair.
   And if you’re keen enough to give yourself a night or two at the Punta Grande, remember to allow plenty of time to get there.
Hotel Punta Grande, Canary Islands
Hotel Punta Grande, Canary Islands.

To find out more about David Ellis click here.
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