September 28 Barcelona, Spain Day 1

At sunrise, the Spanish coast was on the horizon. The temperature was a mild 17°C with a gentle breeze under partly cloudy skies. The ship was travelling at less than 9 knots which was fast enough for the scheduled 11 a.m. arrival in Barcelona – a day earlier than originally scheduled. Yesterday, the Cannes stop was cancelled due to high winds which was not safe for tendering into Cannes. We now have an extra day in Barcelona, which is a great place to explore. The ship docked in Port Nou which is about three kilometres from the sea end of Barcelona’s famous Las Ramblas. It is a large boulevard which runs about 1.2 kilometres from Port Vell (the marina near the cruise port terminal) north to Plaça de Catalunya. The tree lined street is primarily pedestrianized with only two narrow one-way traffic roads which run on either side of the central Ramblas Boulevard.

We were the only passengers in the Grand Bistro for breakfast again today. On the opposite side of the ship at Café al Bacio there were only three people enjoying an early morning cappuccino. When we returned from breakfast, a crew member was escorting a harbour pilot to the Navigation Deck, to assist the ship’ arrival to its berth. At the beginning of the long approach to the Port Nou harbour, the ship was travelling under the commercial jets landing route to Barcelona airport. With our balcony window open, as the planes flew overhead toward the landing strip, the engines sounded like fighter jets. I took a picture of the opening to the harbour after the ship went through it, since the ship leaves after 7 p.m. tomorrow and the light may be fading as the sun sets. The cargo shipping terminal is about two kilometres from the cruise terminal. We passed it and there were a dozen container moving cranes and a large MSC container ship and two smaller ships docked. If you look carefully there is plane going into land above the last quarter of the MSC ship just above the trees. As our ship maneuvered backward into her berth pointing toward the harbour opening, you could see the planes flying above the harbour entrance approaching the airport. The ship was only travelling 2.5 knots (4 km) or less as she passed the only other cruise ship in port, Viking Sea. It looked like Viking Sea, which we last saw in Civitavecchia five days ago, had ended its cruise and would be starting another cruise later today. Our ship was berthed and awaiting Border Security clearance just after 10:45 a.m. We noticed another cruise ship some distance outside the harbour as the Edge started her docking maneuver.

People were leaving the ship shortly after 11 a.m. and we walked off the ship to the terminal and connected to the complimentary Wi-Fi to upload the photos from the past two days. The loading averaged 76 seconds per upload and the access times out at 30 minutes. You just have to get another session. This kind of process is the same as we encountered in Bermuda for the Information Center Wi-Fi this spring. To upload on the ship’s Wi-Fi is painfully slow, from experience. Text is fine. After returning the laptop to the stateroom, we headed out to see Barcelona. We stopped at the Hop On Hop Off information desk to purchase tickets for the route that would take us to Parc Güell and its grounds and the Gaudi designed elements, especially the fountain.

The ship is providing complimentary bus shuttle to central Barcelona dropping guests at the Port Vell parking lot near the Christopher Columbus statue. It is 60 meters high and is at the sea end of Las Ramblas street. It was created for the 1888 Universal Exhibition as a tribute to Christopher Columbus, who returned from his America voyage to Barcelona’s port. There is an elevator within the column that takes visitors to a viewing gallery near its top. From there we walked about two kilometres to the Hop On Hop Off bus Green Route stop #4. We passed under the Port Cable Car which operates high above the streets from Port Vell to Torre de Miramar on Montjuïc mountain taking only 10 minutes.

The Green Route Hop On Hop Off bus stops by the Museum of History stop #4. The route wound its way through Barcelona streets taking us to stop #13 within a 15 minute walk to Parc Güell. The bus passed the sand beach of Barceloneta Beach on the way Port Olímpic, where there is a giant gold coloured stainless steel 52 meter fish shaped canopy created for the 1992 Olympic Games. The streets were lined with lovely old apartment buildings with stores on the street level and apartments above. At one corner we passed the old bull ring. It is a large brick building with blue and white mosaic details. We saw our first glimpse of the Gaudi designed Roman Catholic Sagrada Familia which started being built almost 100 years ago. We visited the church’s interior on our last Barcelona visit in 2016. It has beautiful stained glass windows. Stop #11 was across from Sagrada Familia, so there is a closer view of it. We passed another interesting brick building, Recinte Modernista de Sant Pau which is part of a large hospital complex.

We arrived at stop #13 and were told to walk a few more streets and turn right then go straight up the hill. We found the main exit first and walked another 200 meters to one of six entrances at different locations. The 12 hectare Parc Güell was designed by Antoni Gaudi over 100 years ago. It is located within the city tucked into the foothills of the Serra de Collserola mountains. Access is limited to 1,400 visitors per hour and there was staff counting people as they left the park. We could see lines at some the entrances. There are wide paved paths and less manicured dirt paths to explore in the pleasant 23°C weather. There are columns, like a viaduct, which have a trunk theme is several places. Parrots are flying and calling, reminding us of San Francisco’s Telegraph Hill. There were buskers and the man near the entrance we used was playing an instrument like a harp which looked more like an Irish harp. In another area a man was played his guitar. By the Tués de les Tres Creus (Hill of the Three Crosses), which is the highest point of the park, a man was playing a guitar while he fed parrots seeds when they landed on the neck of the guitar. There were views of greater Barcelona as the paths wound to the hilltop. We could see Montserrat from the Hill of the Three Crosses and in another the direction, our ship and the Viking Sea in Port Nou. Sagrada Familia was clearly visible in another direction. After wandering for 90 minutes, we came across a large plaza the size of at least two hockey rinks which overlooked the main exit with its whimsical Gaudi buildings. The edge was surrounded by built-in concrete benches with a variety of mosaic tile designs. Beneath the plaza were 86 Doric style columns supporting it. This is called Hypostyle Hall. From the lower level, the sides of the plaza could be seen which also boasted mosaic tile designs. The roof of the supporting columns was imaginatively tiled in white tiles and colourful tile crests. We had found the exit that we had passed on the street earlier. It featured tiled buildings and a three fountain cascade of healing magnesium mineral water. The series of fountains are known as Sarva fountain. Eusebi Güell was a man concerned about public health who sold the water from his magnesium spring to people under the brand name Sarva. The highest fountain of the series is a salamander, known as el drac, (dragon) covered in colourful ceramic tiles symbolizing luck and happiness. There are two less ornate ponds to guide the water toward the two Gaudi houses by the official entrance. The second fountain is like a rocky mini waterfall. The lowest section has a small pond, but you notice the greenery around it rather than seeing any water. The dragon’s staircase is lined with ceramic white tiles and patterned square tiles. We had spent almost two hours wandering the Parc Güell paths.

We started back to the Hop On Hop Off stop #13 stopping for gelatos on the way down the hill. There were over a dozen people waiting for the next Green route bus. Ten minutes later there were over three dozen. There were two buses within a few minutes, we were able to get seats on the open second level of the second bus. More pictures were taken including La Tagliatea restaurant in Plaça JFK, early 20^th century Gaudi designed apartment buildings - Le Pedrera also known as Casa Milà and Casa Batlló, built in 1877. We got off the bus at Plaça de Catalunya. Here the old town and Art Nouveau and Modernist architecture converge. It is the northern end of La Rambla. The square had two fountain and hundreds of pigeons being fed by people. The centre pedestrian area of La Rambla is called Passeig de Gràcia. We passed the Christopher Columbus statue on our way to the shuttle stop to take us back to the ship. There were already two thirds of the seats filled and after five minutes the bus was on its way for the eight minute drive to the ship. But - - the bus was behind a very slow moving truck with a 25 meter steel beam as its load for delivery to the cargo port. The entrance was after a round about, just before the bridge to the cruise ship docks. There was a police escort of several vehicles. The truck’s turn was 270° and the end of the beam had its own five axles independently maneuvered by a worker who walked along with hand carried controls. Traffic was backed up for about ten minutes while the truck waited for the port gates to open and the load could navigate the roundabout. We had a good view.

Once we cleared security and got back on the ship, we changed for dinner. When we returned from dinner in the Cosmopolitan restaurant, there was a plate of chocolates on the desk compliments of our stateroom attendant, Toni. Each afternoon when we return to the room after 3 p.m., there is a small plate of canapés to share, which is part of the Concierge category benefits. We chose photos from the day and Larry went back to the terminal to post them. I started to write up the day’s visit to Barcelona.

Total steps 22,041 which equals about 15 km.