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".

Gibraltar

We had booked a tour of the Lower St. Michaels cave and had cleared the waitlist 2 nights before, but the night before we received a message via phone that the tour was cancelled due to operational reasons. Our backup plan (and original) was DIY to the cable car up the mountain to explore and say "We have climbed the "Rock Of Gibraltor"  and walk down into town to go shopping. We did a short walk through town to get to the cable car and had no idea how long the wait would be but it ended up being about 2 hours. My best advice for anyone going up (which I didn't realize till I got to the front) is you can pre-buy your tickets online and save a lot of time. There is one cable car going up and one going down that holds about 15-20 people.

 Once we got to the top we had a lot of fun taking pics of the Barbary apes and holding onto all our belongings with our dear lives. There were a lot babies and these monkeys are known to grab your glasses, hats , purses and anything else. As we started out we saw a monkey with someone's wallet and a wad of money and sunglasses. I have no idea where the owner was. After we had our fill of taking pics we headed towards the upper cave and did a quick tour of it. Because we had a long wait for the cable car we thought we shouldn't go too slow through the whole walk. These are the upper caves and are about 10 pounds to get in. When we came out we headed down the hill and skipped the apes den since we saw so many all ready and went towards the seige tunnel. There are signs but it does get a little confusing. So we kind of accidentally missed it but found the exit where someone stopped us and said you could only do a guided tour. Oh well, down the hill we went  past the Moorish castle and back into town. I think if I was to do it ever again I would either do the taxi/local tour that drives you to the top and to each stop or if I was going to do the cable car pre buy my tickets so I wouldn't feel so rushed. All in all we had a great day and lots of laughs and screams. 

Caught by surprise!!

Pictures that make me laugh from Gibraltor

Sea Day

The great part about traveling by cruise ship is you get to see a lot of places in a short time. We are on a 7 day B2B for 2 weeks. So there are 2 sea days for 14 days. It's really a catch up day so we do laundry, get drinks, look for a place in the shade by the pool and watch the ocean go by. It's so relaxing and a great way to escape completely as they say. We have dinner in the restaurant and watch the comedian/musician in the theatre. Sometimes you forget you are actually on a ship if you don't go  outside. It's nice to not have to unpack and wake up the next day in a new destination. Tomorrow France.

Marseille

Up early to do an excursion of Lourmarin and Aix-en Provence on our own.

It's a really cute village where every few steps is a photo oppurtunity. Nice boutiques and art galleries where we bought wine, lavender soaps, perfumes and souveniers. There is a Castle that is at the beginning but we only had 2 hours there. The charge was 6.90 for adults and students 4.00. I was afraid that if I went in there I wouldn't have much time for the village so we opted out and that was a good decision because we spent the full 2 hours roaming around. On the way back we stopped off for gelato and (you guessed it) free wifi. I felt it was appropriate to try the lavendar gelato which was actually pretty good.

 On to Aix -en Provence where we were dropped off by the Apple store which was  our landmark, then on to explore for 2 and 1/2 hours. We found a cafe down a narrow alleyway to have lunch which was pizza all though I really wanted to try crepes someplace. Sometimes when you're hungry you just quit looking and settle for what ever is close by.  It was a cute place with good food and we sat outside as par for France. There are little alleyways and lots of little stores to see.  We were just about to buy some olive oils and thought about luggage. We can't put it in our carry on and were afraid to check it even though we have hard side suitcases so opted out. I really wish I would of bought some in hindsight, but next time I should prepare myself and bring some ziplock freezer bags and then wrap them in clothes. Afterwards I came around the corner and there it was. A restaurant with every crepe imaginable, but now I wasn't hungry. 

 All in all it was a nice day and the little village was just as I had imagined a little French village to be. Every store with natural stone walls,  colorful shops with flowers hanging outside and art gallery's sprinkled thoughout. Goodbye France. 

 Tomorrow is Italy. 

Genoa/ Cinque de Terre

Genoa seems like a pretty city but I heard about Cinque De Terre from a Rick Steve's video. 

So I booked a Princess excursion for an all day excursion that would visit 2 of the 5 villages. Even driving out to Cinque Terre it is beautiful with villages and steeples sprinkled through out the hills and mountains. The best tip I can give you is to sit on the right hand side going there. That has the best views.  We were running behind schedule because the ship came in late so we arrived at Manarola and walked down the hill snapping pictures along the way. This is the town with all the houses stacked upon each other in varying pastel colors that you see photos of all the time. When we got to the bottom we were shuffled on to the ferry to take us to the next village which was Montersosso. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to spend any time there as I thought we were going to be there an hour, but I'm guessing since we arrived late plans had changed. Too bad because that was a photographers dream. 

At the top of the mountain by bus.

Walking to the ferry.

Monterosso, Cinque De Terre

It was a bumpy, wavy ferry ride over to Monterosso which took about 20 minutes or so. Monterosso is also a beautiful place where we spent a few hours. We went over to a little cafe for wine tasting with the tour and  after that were on our way to be on our own. Beautiful village with crystal blue water where you can actually see the bottom. We had lunch in a little cafe and souvenir shopped till it was time to go back. My husband bought a ring from a craftsman on the side of the pathway who custom fit it to his finger and now he wishes he would of bought one more because

of all the compliments he gets on it. A train will take you back to the bus as no cars are allowed in the villages. You have to take the train from village to village or if you have more time you can hike from village to village with great views as it is now considered a National Park. But that would be good if you were there for a few days. A very serene beautiful place that you see in all the photos. I'd like to spend more time there and see all the villages. 

 

Bus Ride down the mountain