Day 21: Hitting the ground running

We are in Paris now and thinking about our first day (5 days ago) in Barcelona seems forever ago.
5/2: Barcelona Spain

We were anxious to get our "travels" started but sad to leave the comfort of the ship. It was nice to come back to it, sit in the jacuzzi, go to the dining rooms, see people we knew, etc.
Sunday morning, we got off the ship, went through customs (first stamp in passport !) and joined a bunch of people confused on how to get to the city. After a lot of waiting and chit chat w fellow cruisers, we got on a portbus and headed to Las Ramblas. We experienced our first encounter with the metro. Interesting. We got off at the sagrada familia and the view knocked our socks off. (no pic on phone). We got completely lostbut eventually found the Padilla Guesthouse. It is a b&b in a pretty good spot just 5 mins from the s. Familia. Our host was pretty much the only person we encountered with good English.



After shrugging off our backpacks (endured them for 2.5 grueling hours) we immediately took the metro to Placa de Catalunya to get tickets for Montserrat. After we had to go to another station to take the train. When we got to the station, I misread the sign and we missed the Once-hourly!!! Train by 1 minute. I was so exhausted and frustrated i might have cried. I admit nothing. Since we had an hour to kill, we went loooking for food. We saw a bunch of people in a hole in the wall so we went in. No English speakers but A lady ahead of us tried to helped us out and we were able to get some food (pointing is very helpful). Had lunch on the train. Best croquetas we've ever had. We were surprised to find the ride (1hr) to be very scenic.


Exhausted.








Had to take a cable car to the top.


Surprisingly I did not get vertigo.


Gorgeous breathtaking cathedral.





Black virgin.


After we walked around Montserrat a bit more, we headed back to Barcelona and tried to meet up with a friend from the cruise. We went to a cool street with lots of bars and restaurants filled with locals.
Cool church in mid of it all.





We couldn't find him so we set out for some dinner. Found sandwich&friends, didn't seem local but packed with locals. Had to try another hamburguesa. Best hamburger of my life with this smokey mustard and cheese sauce.
We got back to our b&b around 12 just when it started to rain...

Day 20: May Day in Cartagena

5/1, cartagena Spain

We docked here around 7am and only had a few hours in port. Since it was may day, kinda like our labor day, we went out around 9 and just wandered. We saw a friend from our cruise walking back to the ship and he told us that he had been late to the ship the night before and it left without him. So crazy, he had to take buses and trains through the night to Cartagena.

In our wandering, we found another roman theater and quiet placas. One building was open so we peeked inside. I think it's their town hall.








We also tried some crazy good chocolate y churros. Bs got the photos.

After, we walked up their beachfront promenade and then it was back on board.








This was our last night on the ship so we went to dinner, said goodbye to friends we made, went to all the farewell shows and parades, played bingo (we did not win the $6000 jackpot!), and played in the casino ( B tried blackjack for the first time!). Barcelona tomorrow!

Day 19: Spain!

4/30, Malaga Spain

This was officially the start of our trek around Europe even though we were still on the ship. As a result, I was too frickin excited and did not sleep one wink. I'm not exaggerating. I saw the minutes tick by. At around 5:39 am, I decided I'd just wait to watch the sun come up. I figured itd be nice for Spain to introduce itself to me that way. At 7, I got up and tried to sneak past B without waking him but I had a fit with the noise and made a ton of noise. We went out but there was a huge (beautiful) hill blocking the sunrise :( oh well, still nice.



Good morning Spain!


We walked the 3/4 mile to town. Saw some interesting things along the way. Boats we wanted to steal. Cats basking on cars. Huge dumptrucks and trains (construction on port).






Dad, what kind of fish are these?



We wandered around the streets again. The city was very busy and There was a ton of very eurochic people walking around. We toured the Picasso museum (Malaga is his birthplace) which was very nice and refreshing to see his earlier work (before it got Picasso-y). It is a very pretty city. Lots of trees and great looking streets.















We saw that one hill had a very commanding fortress so we checked it out. Great views of the city and they were excavating a roman theater - cool.


For lunch, we checked out an extremely busy tapas bar. Again, gastronomically fantastic. We got paella, a patatas omelet with queso, and a hamburgesita. These hamburgesitas arent american burgers. They are just bun and meat and if you want cheese. Someone tell me how they do it. The meat, how they cook it of spice it, so delicious. Washed it down with some fantastic sangria. I'm not usually a fan but it was muy muy bien.


Then went back to the ship. The walk back was brutal and I was really crashing from no sleep so I passed out. Buffeted it for dinner (surprisingly great Greek food that night) and then walked around the ship.