Thu, 4/17/25    Barcelona

Day 102 - Thursday, April 17th, 2025 – Barcelona, Spain

We woke up and were ready to go out the door by 9:00. It was the first day we woke up to sun in a couple of days. That was a positive thing. The cold and rain gets old even after two days. We went to seven for breakfast. It wasn't quite the meat locker, but it was close. We got off the ship on seven. And made our way back and forth until we got down to ground level. We walked towards the excursion van area. Walking towards us was a guy. We later learned his name was Albert. He comes up to us and asks if I can walk up a couple of stairs. Warning bells flashed in my head. This is not a good sign. The van that they brought did not have a lift or ramp. The sun was out so it was warm but there was some wind. I'm wondering how long we have to wait in the wind to figure this out. It was about 11:00. I told Mary they have 45 minutes to figure it out. The van and van driver drove away. That left Albert to figure it out. It took about 20 minutes but a van taxi with a ramp pulled up. This was a good sign.

We drove to the Barcelona Cathedral or Cathedral of the Holy Cross. It started in 1298. Had we left on time we would have gone inside but instead we just took some pictures outside. It was a pretty church. This area is called the Old Catalonia. After we left the church, we walked down through the streets of this Old Town. Albert pointed out several of the buildings on our way. I'll let the pictures do the talking. Eventually, we rounded the corner and there was a new taxi for us. This taxi would be the one we would use for the rest of the day.   Sergio was the new driver's name. We loaded up into his van.

We then drove a little further and pulled up to one of the spots I was looking forward to. I don't know why I thought it was in a different port, but the Sagrada Familia is in Barcelona. It is a church that was started back in 1872, and it is unfinished. The church already has a lot of history. That history and the fact that it is like a church I've never seen before is why I wanted to go see it. You can tell from the pictures that it is in an enormous structure. Being up close to it only magnifies this fact.

Thankfully, we bought tickets with our tour because you needed to get them 10 days in advance. We talked to several people after visiting the church that did not get in because they did not buy their tickets. We were lucky in that fact. So, we took several pictures outside of the church before going in. The outside was cool, but the inside was that much better. There were several huge columns that held up the skyscraper like roof. The columns represented the 12 apostles. The stained glass windows inside were amazing. The colors were so bright. It’s one of those places where no matter where you looked, it had a story behind it. I could have spent all day there just soaking in the different stories. Again, the pictures tell the story. We spent about an hour in there just looking at everything. Go to www.sagradafamilia.org to get a ton more info.

We got back in the van and drove towards the marina. All along the way, Albert was giving us stories about different buildings and areas we were passing. We ended up in the area where the Olympics in 1992 were held. Several of the buildings with the Olympics are still there. It is a very popular tourist place. We went to lunch here.  I had an olive appetizer. Mary had a Caesar salad with chicken. Albert had something similar to what Mary had. I had tuna tartar salad. Nothing like raw tuna. I'll eat it wherever I can get it. Mary loved her salad. I ended up with a local beer. It was very good. Overall, it was a very nice lunch and a very nice place. Before getting back into the van, we take more pictures of the area.

We get in the van and drive to a lookup point at the top of the city. Where you can see forever. Of course we take more pictures here. You can see them below. We spent about 1/2 hour here. From there, we drive back into town. We pull up to a market area. I decided to stay in the van. I was comfortable and had done enough chasing for the day for the most part. Mary and Albert got out. They walked away. They were on the hunt for T-shirts, refrigerator magnets, postcards and stamps. Along the way they also stopped at the first church we saw earlier. They walked around more of old Catalonia. Along the way they ran into the oldest store in the city which happened to be a candle maker. Casa Fundda was started in 1761. Mary purchased a candle there.  From there they continued to walk until they got to the Town Center. This is where the van driver and I picked them up. They were gone more than an hour. I used the time to catch up on my beauty rest. I did watch some people but I slept more than that. The van driver poked his head in every so often to make sure I was still alive.

On the way back to the ship we got more information on the history of Columbus and other fun facts of Barcelona. It was an educational ride back. Finally, we ended up at the cruise terminal. We took the pictures and said goodbye. We made it onto the ship with about an hour to spare.

Because I wanted to capture the ship leaving port, we set up the GoPro at about 7:15. From there we went to dinner. We had to wait till we got back to see what it captured. You can see it below. I think it is pretty cool.

We made it to dinner. I had the red Silverado wine. It's a Cabernet that they had at the beginning of the cruise, but they ran out. I just happened to ask for it and they happened to have it. This made me happy. For my appetizer I had a grilled pineapple. It was OK. I wanted to try something different. I had the manager's pasta. The waiter described it as having capers and artichokes. What I received had neither of them. I felt deceived. For my main meal I had San Francisco Stew. This had fish of some sort, scallops, shrimp, etcetera. It was very good.  Mary had salad of course. Continuing her love for cold soups, Mary had a melon and berry cold soup. She loved it. For her entree she had rotisserie chicken. She liked this a great deal too. Because it was near 9:00 we decided to skip dessert. Mary wanted to get to the jewelry store where she could do her raffle thing. I waited outside. Afterwards, she went to the casino and bought our lottery tickets. Maybe we will win one of these days.

Back in the cabin we went to sleep pretty quickly. It had been another long but successful day. Definitely looking forward to an At Sea day though.