Just got back yesterday after a brilliant week at The Levante Club Apartments. Pick up by David Gutteridge was spot on as usual.

Booked in to the apartments and as I've mentioned on another post, we were treated like VIP's. Got a free upgrade for the sky TV which normally costs 3.50 a day. We were allocated apartment 7D in the main block and we were pleasantly surprised that it was newly refurbished to a good standard and faced the pool. There were 2 bedrooms, each with singles beds, a full sized bathroom, an open kitchen which had a microwave, toaster, kettle and full size oven and hob. The lounge was of a good size too and had a sofa bed and a good size LCD telly which was wall mounted. There was a double balcony which you could access from the room and the bedroom.

We unpacked and then went down to check the restaurant out. It's in the basement which kinda means it lacks a bit of atmosphere, the walls are all bright orange and so are the plastic chairs. It reminded me of a university refectory but never the less, it was spotlessly clean and best of all they had wine, beer and soft drinks all on tap and it was HELP YOURSELF!! As it was mid afternoon, there were only snacks on at that time but they were suffice for what we wanted.

The food throughout our stay was generally very good with a varied choice. Breakfast was the usual full English as well as the cold meats cereals e.t.c that finished around 10.30 and then they took the toaster away but left most of the breakfast stuff out as snacks until 12 when lunch was available. Lunch consisted of soup, salads, fish, meat and veggie dish as well as pasta. Then there were lots of desserts and fruit to choose from as well as individual ice creams. One thing I really liked was that unlike most other hotels I've stayed in, tea and coffee were available all day long in the dining room. At 3pm the snacks were available right until 6.30pm when dinner was served. The afternoon snacks were things like burgers, calamari rings, little pasty things, sometimes sausages , chips, cheese croquettes e.t.c.. There was also always fresh fruit available too. Dinner was similar to lunch, they varied the dishes, we had steak one night and it was lovely. I think dinner finished about 10pm but not too sure and then snacks were available again until 11.30pm. I only went down once and had a lovely cheese and ham croissant.

They have a notice in reception saying you can pay for breakfast if you are self catering, it was 5 euros, then about 12 for half board, 15 for full board and I think from memory the all inclusive upgrade was 17.95 a day.

Now the main bar.. There was a bit of confusion at first to what was included on the A/I so things might change again but you could have Old English cider, local lager and spirits, glasses of wine (although we used to bring one up from the dining room as it was much nicer than the one in the bar) Best to ask for a plastic glass though as they don't like you removing the glasses from the restaurant.

Soft drinks, tea, coffee, hot chocolate, e.t.c. you couldn't get bottles of water, only a glass out of a big bottle or out of the coffee machine which might be a drawback in the hotter months.

We found all the staff to be really polite, friendly and very hard working. At times there was only someone on reception who had to double up on the bar but as week went on and it got busier, they seemed to be better staffed.

I liked the fact that they have an open kitchen which looked exceptionally clean. The chefs were always friendly and took the time to say Hola each time you passed by.

There were a number of Stag and Hen parties which to be honest was my main worry and although they were a little loud at times, it wasn't at all hours of the night. They were just out to have fun and I must say, some of the costumes were terrific and it was entertaining to watch them all. There were also quite a lot of families staying at the apartments so it was a relief that they weren't too OTT.

Went to see the fabulous DebnHer at the Tropical and met up with Aldente and her daughter, we must have had a good night as we didn't get in till 4am!! We also saw Carlos there too.. I've seen him advertised on the boards but this is the first time I've seen him and thought he was fab!!

The Cabatou brothers were on top form as usual, we saw them at the Jail Rock where they perform nightly at 10pm except Wednesday (I think???)

We were hoping to see Ricky Stevens at the Town but he wasn't on the night we went so ended up in Sandra Bar and saw Gary George (think that's his name) he was ok . We also saw Mike Dennett and Chico, he's a ventriloquist and was performing at the U.K cabaret bar. I've seen him before in Benidorm and in Leeds too. He's very good and worth a visit if you haven't seen him before. On Thursday, we went to The Bodrahn Bar where they have an Irish singer on 7 nights a week called Brendan.. He's really good and so versatile.. He knows hundreds of songs and takes requests. It's very informal and really friendly.

We also went to Uncle Peds on Sunday for the get together, met Speedy, Pebbles, Lisa and Norman.. we had a great night and ended up at the Carousel.. Lisa is there most Sundays and has an amazing voice, anyone passing should call in to see her sing.. that girls wasted.. I'm gonna get her name down for the X factor!!

We had a few nice meals out including The China Garden and Hof Van Holland as well as a few breakfasts at The Drop Inn and The Little Belfast Bar which BTW is a lovely place facing the Flamingo Oasis

David was on time as usual for our transfer back to the airport. Check in was trouble free and the new airport is very impressive, they have lots more shops that the old one and the time seemed to pass by very quickly. Not sure if they have a secret smoke den or not.. I didn't spot one anyway.

Well better go now and put another load of washing in.. at least the weathers good so I should get it all dried and put away before I go back to work tomorrow.

Hope I haven't bored you all as this post is much longer than I intended it to be..

Sue