La Sagrada Familia, Park Guell and La Ramblas

We pre booked a "Skip the Line Guided tour of Park Guell and La Sagrada Familia" as we are going in the height of tourist season. After a quick stop at the corner La Pan we get fresh squeezed orange juice, some cafe latte's and croissants for a quick brreakfast and grab a taxi to Park Guell to start our tour. Because it was a hot day we thought we would be smart and buy some waters ( for about 3 € each) at the little store before you enter the park. But little did we know that all over the park are people selling water for only 1€ each after you enter. Who knew it would be cheaper inside. It's a beautiful park with great history and wonderful photo ops everywhere you turn. We were there for about a couple hours and then hopped on their tour bus to La Sagrada Familia where we turned in our vouchers for tickets and our tour guide took us all around the block to describe the outside before we entered the inside. If you don't pre buy your tickets you will face long lines. I'm not sure if they sell out or not but I thought I heard someone say that. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. 

When you walk in it will take your breath away. Even though you can take amazing pictures pictures it can't capture what you actually see in person all around you. It is enormous, wondrous, captivating and I can't even think of all the adjectives to describe it. We also went to the evolution of creating it underneath. After 4/12 hrs. we were worn out. We decided to be brave and take the Metro back to the hotel as we were spending a little too much money on taxis and it was an easy 3 stops. The teens decided to sleep and we decided to go to a pub for tapas and beers. My DH always wanted to try anchovies and here was his chance, soaked in olive oil and all. The salmon tapas were great and that gave us a much needed break to continue our souvinier shopping. Since I forgot magnets for the cabins walls ( I can't use them on my stainless steel refrigerator at home) I bought a few Barcelona themed magnets to hang up the Princess patters and notes.

Park Guell

Antonio Gaudi is the famous artist, architect and genius who created Park Guell.   

K

The great thing is no lines when you book a tour or pre-buy your tickets online. This is an amazing, beautiful park with unbelievable designs. He intention was to design this with nature and you will see as you stroll through the park. We had a great guide who explained to us things I would of never known had I wandered around by myself.

La Sagrada Familia

Next stop of the day is the famous La Sagrada Familia. We had about 20 or 30 minutes before our tour so we stopped by a little café on the street and had drinks and snacks. We had the best almonds which were in a clear plastic bag and tasted different than any almonds I've ever had here for about a couple euros. On to the church where our guide walked us around the outside explaining everything and then a short line in.
I saw someone asking a few people to take their hats off in the church and being that  it was a hot day,  quite a few people had caps and hats on. When you walked into this church it took your breath away. It is so amazing and everywhere you look you are taking pictures but you just can't capture what you are seeing. We didn't take the stairs to the top so maybe if I ever go back I might have to conquer that.  A tour down below to see the timelines of this creation and it is pretty amazing to see how he designed it with weights. After we were done we took the Metro which was right by the church to get back to our hotel . Here are some photos of the church.

Dinner in Barcelona

Back to get the teens for dinner and we discovered Placa Reial "the square" lined with restaurants all the way around. We picked Ocana's and had Mexican/Spanish styled food. Guacamole w/pomegranate and chips for appetizers and Cheese quesadillas with cheese and some sort of mushroom I can't prounouce but was actually really good. Of course because it's half indoors and half outdoors people will try to come by and sell you roses, flashing sunglasses and toys that fly in the air. Note to self....do not pick the outside table facing the square.

Another night of a short quick rainfall/thundershowers and we headed back for some much needed rest.

Me with the infamous hostess.

Electric Bike Tour, Picasso Musuem and La Boqueria Market

I had pre-booked an electric bike riding tour for 2 1/2 hours, and luck would have it, the meeting place was less than 5 minutes away. I thought I could cover a lot of ground, and not get tired pedaling if I had a little help. 

Since we just did the "La Familia" and "Park Guell" we skipped those 2 places and rode through neighborhoods, the park, the beach , the landmarks, Gaudi's other houses and plenty of stops for some history about Barcelona. You have to be a little adventurous and aggressive getting through a few tight places and traffic, but overall was a great way to see the city. We covered such a large area and I really didn't use the motor too much because it was mostly level, all though it was fun to get that extra fast power every now and then. 

The park was beautiful off the beaten path and the huge landmark fountain was amazing. The beach was scenic and easy and I would definitely do that again. Taking the teens back to let them rest as usual we impromptu decided to check out the Picasso museum. Luck would have it this was also only about 15 minute walk from our hotel. We didn't get there till about 4:00 but they said they were sold out for that time, but we could buy our tickets and come back at 4:45 . So we browsed a few stores, came back to pick up our "audio guides" and laughed about the old school way we would have to use them. It looked like an old big land line phone that you hold up to your ear to listen to. It was a little awkward as it looked like you were talking on the phone, but actually you were listening to it. So instead of ear buds or head sets, you had to hold up to your ear the whole time.  Not only that but it wasn't always in order. There were 1-53 numbers and you would go from room to room. Sometimes they were missing some because they would be somewhere else and sometimes it would be 5-10 in one room but you couldn't find #8 only to find out it would be in the next room of 11-15. We were constantly asking the people there, where was this or that? They could really use some improvement on that. Otherwise it was very interesting to learn about the history of this famous painter and actually see his original paintings.

 On the way back we went to the famous food market and bought fresh fruit and juices, but just gagged at the stinky, disgusting animal parts everywhere. It's almost like you know it's going to be gross and you want to be shocked, so I will skip the part where I tell you what I actually saw. I picked out a few fudge pieces (asking for the ones underneath that the flies did not land on) and have to tell you it's not like the American fudge that melts in your mouth. But I will tell you the fresh fruit that is only 1.5 € is so ripe and sweet I could eat it all day. 

  

Our 2 week Cruise through the Mediterrean starts now!

Today is the day we arrive at  the ship for our 2 week Greek Mediterranean Adventure! We have our usual cafe latte, fresh squeezed orange juice and fluffy croissants. The shops close early Friday night and do not open up till Saturday at 10:00 a.m. Also the prices are cheaper at the stores off the Main Street. So we grabbed some last minute souvies....magnets for the cabin, t-shirts and Barcelona themed items.  The one thing that is pretty funny we noticed is that on La Rambla there were a group of Nigerians selling knock offs on these white sheets. The first time we saw them they all of a sudden pulled a rope that gathered all the stuff up like a Santa Claus bag and sling it over the shoulder and take off because the police spot them and chase them away.  It's like a cat and mouse game and was pretty funny to watch this all night long. My daughter managed to get a Michael Kors knock off before they packed up. 

Back at the hotel we have a taxi come to pick us up and take us to the pier to be on our way. Check in is seamless and Princess really has this all done to a science. We find our room, unpack our bags, buy our coffe cards, soda and more cards , check into the teen club and hit the buffett. One thing I learned is don't eat so much at the buffett otherwise you won't want to eat dinner. We hit the sail away party , walk around the ship , have a couple drinks and before you know it, it's dinner time. The wait was only about 10 minutes and we have the "always available" salmon, asparagus , creamed artichoke soup and the famous "Love Boat Dream " dessert. This ship does not have the promenade deck so we opt for the walking track which is not as long as the promenade so have to do extra laps to work off what we ate. We listen to music have a drink and head up to bed because tomorrow is Cartagena and we have an excursion booked.

Cartagena

Our excursion is Murcia and Shire of Fuensanta. The description sounded way better than what actually happened. It was described as going to the Fuensanta Monastery in the Old City where we can browse the shops and explore on our own .  We would glide along the graceful sun-drenched coastline and arrive back in Caratagena. So my imagination led me to believe something quiet idyllic and different from what I saw. Yes the highlight for me was the Fuensanta Monastery which was closed from 1:00 to 4:00 on Sunday (when we would be there) and all the stores were also closed. Our guide had a such a thick accent it was really difficult to understand what she was saying and I think I'm pretty good at understanding most accents. So as she spent only a short time in front of this beautiful monastery we let them go ahead of us so we could  enjoy this amazing photo oppurtunity with no one around and take pictures. This was our favorite part of the whole tour and we got some beautiful photos with no people in the background. I think it would of been a shame to travel this far and only spend a quick 5 - 10 minutes there to see and explore when  something like that deserves more time to admire and photgraph. We weren't sure where they went to next and she was going to let us explore on our own so we went down the narrow streets of closed up shops and passed a few pan handlers along the way making our way back to the bus.

The next stop was the  Salzillo Museum which I swear was 1 block  away. When she told us to get off the bus no one did because we weren't sure this was really it. She had to come back on the bus to tell everyone  to get off. The Museum is very small with some miniature figures in glass cases but we couldn't hear her because she didn't get everyone to move down into one area. We didn't mind because it was too hard to understand her so we just read the descriptions on our own to better understand what we were looking at. Then onto the church area where his statues are of biblical scenes. We all sat in the pews instead of going to each area to see the statues, so if some were blocked views I just got up on my own to get a close view but made sure to be behind the columns so as not to block the view of anyone else. Between the echoes and her accent again I found it better to read the inscriptions. Then off to one last stop to see the church on the hill with a great view of the city. We let everyone go into the church and we separated to go to the front and take photos and as they came out we went into the church to take photos and that seemed to work better for us as it was less crowded and my teens were having the same problem as we were and getting a little frustrated. The drive was not as scenic as we had expected but looked a little like flat desert drive to Bakersfield instead of a long winding seaside drive I envisioned. Maybe our expectations were high but we were a little dissappointed things were closed and not as we thought but at the end of the day  just kind of laughed everything off trying to make the best of it with our good humor and talked  about the fun time  basically having the place to ourselves in front of the monastery to take as many photos as we could as if we were in our own little  world. I bet that never happens to anyone. We thought we might have an hour to explore Cartagena but only had about 30 minutes left and didn't want to run 10 minutes into the city to see it and rush back so we just headed back to the ship. We decided on Alfredos ( freshly made pizza)  which is a great alternative to the dining room. If you order a Sangria it comes in al little cute pottery vase looking thing. I'm sure there is a name for it but I will call it a mini pitcher. Headed over to the theatre for the Soul Sounds to hear 60's and motown with the dancers who really have a tough job. They really put on a great show and I admire all the costumes and dancing. A few laps of walking around the track and time for bed. Tomorrow is "Gibraltor".