Pink and glowing in the heat, well that was the bodies on Playa El Camison, but a few yards away the Hotel Sir Anthony was glowing with pride as the bright young things of Tenerife, the President Ricardo Melchior, leading dignitaries, and a party of well scrubbed journalists sampled the new improved five star hotel.
The Mare Nostrum Resort is a beacon of luxury in Playa de Las Americas and the sun was glinting off the high glass front as I arrived with John Beckley from Sorted Sites, just in time to catch the speeches among the dazzling array of frocks and high heels. The team of guides swept us into the super cooled lobby and up the spiral staircase to inspect some of the 70 rooms on offer. The refurbishment was completed last year but this was the official inauguration, current guests were invited to join the party downstairs but a few were relaxing on their sea facing balconies, thankfully they all refrained from cutting their toenails as the lead party passed through.
The rooms are compact and stylish, the drinks bar and television hidden within the storage cabinets, and of course those balcony views waft the sea breeze in as close as you could hope. Looking down I could see the party guests mingling in the leafy shade around the pool as a jazz group serenaded them so after a quick trip to the roof to see a jacuzzi terrace, I made my way past the large airy Windsor Restaurant to the gardens.
Trying my best not to trip and fall in the pool, I circulated and snapped a few photos, not only of leggy young ladies, and nibbled some of the scrummy food being offered round with some cool drinks. For the second part of the evening we were led to the Mare Nostrum auditorium, taking the beach promenade, looking like a very elegant crocodile. It was my first time in the auditorium, home to the big showpiece musicals like Alma, and I was impressed by the scale and decor of the place. After some publicity films and speeches, the main show began, a musical romp, Rock History, featuring the in house band and 60 of the resort staff.
They really pulled out all the stops as they whisked us through a full range of rock based music from The Rolling Stones, to AC DC, The Beatles, Queen and all stops between. It wasn’t just the stage being used, dancers appeared at each side of the balcony and then took a firemans poll down to the stage, and clever use of minimal stage props meant the set was constantly changing. After 90 minutes they were done and as some of the company danced in the aisles, children clung to their star shaped red ballons recently gifted to them.
We poured out onto the communal plaza for the resorts hotels and were greeted by every variety of food and drink imaginable interspersed with stilt walking clown ladies, bucking bulls and a live band, the core of the stage show. There was even a cream pie stall where you could gunge your friends or enemies, phew I got away with that one. The holiday makers in the plaza, many of them with children, were spoilt for choice and hopefully will return to Tenerife again and again.