I would like to apologize up front - this is likely going to be a long post. I have included links to my Flickr albums for each day. I didn't remove any images unless they were complete crap since I wanted to share with Ken & Karlene. Some of the highlights are included in this post, but if you want to see them all use the links provided.
Jeannette and I cruised with long-time friends Ken & Karlene on a 10 day Mediterranean cruise from Barcelona, Spain to Rome, Italy, and we also stayed an extra night in Rome for additional sightseeing. It was our first trip to Europe and served as a very exciting and entertaining way to whet our appetite for travel.
We booked this cruise as a package through Costco. I was overall very happy with the entire experience and felt like Costco provided us a very good value with one little hiccup I will describe later.
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| Our cruise itinerary on Celebrity Constellation. |
Day 0 - Arrival and Embark on Constellation
We flew from Seattle to Barcelona in the early evening with a stopover in London. With the 9 hour time change and long flight to London, we arrived around the same time of day one day later, tired and exhausted from all the travel. Our layover in London was uneventful. Heathrow is a gigantic airport. We arrived in terminal 3 and had to move over to terminal 5 for our connection. A first time London traveller, I was more than a little nervous about the process. We had to follow the signs down to a shuttle over to T5, and then once there we had to go through security again. Seems like everything in Europe is a little more chaotic but we made it through with no major problems.
We managed to find a coffee shop and stretch our legs a bit before boarding the flight to Barcelona. The Barcelona airport was less frantic than London and we breezed through immigration and customs with no issues. Our package had a transfer from the airport to the hotel for the night. Jeannette was very excited to see a driver holding her name up! An uneventful drive to the hotel left us with plenty of time to go exploring for dinner. We elected to find a small Spanish cafe and enjoy something local and our hotel was able to point us in the right direction. Tapas and wine and exhaustion - it was a very good day.
We had another transfer booked from the hotel to the cruise terminal the next day at noon, so that left us a few hours to go out exploring. There is a park called Parc de la Ciutadella across the street from our hotel that looked promising so off we went.
The park was awesome with many great examples of old architecture and ponds to explore. It also contains the Barcelona Zoo, but we didn't have time for that adventure. The park also served as a major location for the demonstrations associated with the Catelonian region declaration of autonomy and we saw a media setup and the local authorities were erecting barriers throughout the park. The crowds hadn't arrived when we visited. We did see news reports later that highlighted several locations we had visited.
We also found time to visit a small beach behind the hotel and got our first exposure to the Mediterranean Sea. The weather was spectacular for our entire visit with temperatures in the mid-70's to low 80's all week.
Our transfer to the cruise terminal was the only hiccup associated with the Costco package. As noon approached and passed it became clear our driver wasn't coming. After calling the company and being told they had no record of our transfer we decided to grab a taxi and ride to the terminal. Karlene saved the day by digging deep and recalling enough Spanish to get us safely to our destination. It was all very smooth and we were at the terminal in plenty of time to check in. Once we were on board and had a drink in hand all was good!
Impressions of Barcelona - beautiful city. Clean, safe and wonderful to visit. Lots of graffiti, but it seemed more artistic than anything. Too much to see in a day. We will be back!
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| Our Chariot! |
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| Some interesting architecture in Parc de la Ciutadella. |
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| Artistic downspout on a school near Parc de la Ciutadella. |
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| News media van setup for demonstrations later that day. |
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| An example of Barcelona graffiti. |
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| The travelers at Cascade Monumental. |
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| Cascada Monumental in Parc de la Ciutadella. |
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| Narrow streets on our trek to find dinner in Barcelona. |
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| Goodbye Barcelona - we shall return :) |
Day 1 - Alicante, Spain
Alicante, Spain started at dawn and immediately looked promising. Ken and I noticed what looked like a fort positioned on top of a bluff overlooking the city and hoped we could find a way to visit. We had a shore excursion booked to visit a winery in the Novella region and the scheduled return time left us several hours to explore Alicante before heading back to the ship.
Off we went. Celebrity has a pretty good system for getting people off the ship and headed the right direction to their excursion bus. We all meet in the theatre and are assigned a group number. When our group is called we leave and proceed as a group to the assigned bus. Much less confusing than my previous experiences on other cruise lines.
Our primary destination was the Casa Sicillia winery in the Novelda region west of Alicante. The excursion included a walking tour of the grounds and some wine tasting. It was fun but the group was a bit large and there were multiple groups present. The tasting seemed more like cattle feeding at a trough and I found a less busy area to sit and relax a bit.
We also visited a nearby sanctuary named Santuario de Santa Maria Magdalena. This was a fantastic stop at a church with fascinating architecture. This place is not old by European standards, but it looks very old. I believe it was started in 1906 and finished in 1946, so compared to other places we visited it was just a baby.
Once back in Alicante we started wandering around and stumbled upon an elevator that took people up to the fort - Castell de la Santa Barbara. A couple of Euros and we saved ourselves a very long trek up the road in warm weather. Ken tried to break the ticket machine and we wound up having to walk a bit to find an ATM to get some money, but we made it. The castle was the highlight of the day for me.
Impressions of Alicante - another beautiful Spanish city. Very clean and felt very safe. Absolutely would visit again. Great stop.
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| Looking at the Castell de la Santa Barbara from our ship at arrival. |
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| Sanctuary in the distance from the Novelda winery. |
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| Detail above sanctuary entrance. |
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| Fascinating architecture at sanctuary. |
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| Best view of the front of the sanctuary. |
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| Spanish flag flying over Castell de la Santa Barbara. |
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| Looking down on Alicante and the bull fighting arena. |
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| Castell de la Santa Barbara at night before departure. |
Day 2 - At Sea
Day 2 was spent at sea with no port calls. It was a nice break and a good day to relax and rest. Jet lag was still playing games with us and we knew we had several days of early morning excursions coming up.
Celebrity is bucking the cruise industry trend of eliminating live music performances. We all really enjoyed the house band, Just in Time, and made an effort to go see them whenever we could. We had a couple opportunities during the at sea day and had a great time. Weather was good for the entire trip and it was always comfortable to be out on deck - different from my previous cruises in Alaska.
After a quiet morning without much going on we grabbed a table on the pool deck and played cards for a couple of hours.
Day 3 - Seville, Spain
After having a day of "rest" at sea we were ready for the next adventure. The cruise terminal was in the coast city of Cadiz, but our excursion was a self-guided tour of Seville, Spain. We were provided transportation to and from Seville from the ship - about an hour each way. After talking to our guide we decided on visits to the Real
Alcazar (a landmark Moorish royal palace with fountain-filled gardens, ornate
arches & 16th-century tiles), and the Seville Cathedral (12th century - a
large Gothic cathedral featuring iconic Moorish bell tower with city views,
plus Columbus' tomb - 3rd largest cathedral in the world). Our guide also
promised a quick stop by the Spain Plaza (1928 - a landmark square with a large
water feature, seats with painted ceramic tiles & an ornate pavilion) on
our way back to the ship.
Here's something that is good to know when traveling in
Europe - they love their holidays! Our trip to Seville (including a stop at the
Cathedral with the purported remains of Christopher Columbus) was made on
Spain's holiday commemorating Columbus' birthday! As you might imagine, it was
a tad busy all over Seville, and in particular at the Cathedral.
Our guide dropped us off after a short walk from the bus to
a spot near the Real and Cathedral. We were to meet back at a set time. We went
out armed with little information about what would be involved in a visit to
the 2 locations and were quickly faced with long lines to enter the Real, and
the Cathedral didn't open for another hour or so. The lines at the Real were
long and confusing. There were really 2 lines - one for people with reservation
(not us) and one for those poor suckers without (that would be us). At the
point where we joined the line it was not obvious that there were 2 separate
lines. We figured it out and made our way inside.
The Real Alcazar was pretty cool. There were 2
distinctly separate areas inside. The structures were impressive but crowded.
The gardens were nice and very uncrowded. We chose to spend some time in the
gardens to try to make a deposit in my "people tolerance" bank before
heading back to the buildings.
The Cathedral was impressive inside and out. Huge - I can't explain how large it was without a few pictures to give a sense of scale. One of the things Ken had mentioned was walking up the tower steps to see a view from the top. Jeannette wasn't interested and so the 3 of us trekked up to the top. Narrow corridors and sloping pathways (instead of steps) made the walk tolerable and the views were impressive. Jeannette had agreed to stick around the area near the entrance but the3 of us made better time than she expected, and so when we came back down she was nowhere to be seen (she was off shopping at the gift store). I seriously thought we had lost her for a few minutes. There were many people in the Cathedral making it hard to pick anyone out of a crowd.
One of the most entertaining things that happened in Seville was Ken's attempts to get a pizza ordered and cooked in something like 12 minutes to allow us to get back to the meeting point on time! I am not sure I could have done it in an English speaking country, much less Spain. Well done, Ken!
Our quick stop at the Plaza was impressive but uneventful. I think the crowds were light because of the unseasonable warmth, or maybe because of the siesta? Either way, I was much happier.
Impressions of Seville - another beautiful, clean and safe Spanish city. Crowds were much larger, but we did visit on a national holiday.
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| Streets of Seville. |
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| Entrance to the Real Alcazar in Seville. |
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| Inside the Real Alcazar. |
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| Gardens inside Real Alcazar. |
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| Looking down the inside of the Real Alcazar. |
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| The seville Cathedral - 3rd largest in the world. |
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| Inside the Cathedral - impressive seems like I am low-balling it. |
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| Columbus' tomb...maybe...who knows. But they claim his remains are there, and that was enough to attract huge crowds on Spain's national holiday to celebrate his birthday. |
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| Looking out on Seville and the Real Alcazar from the tower at the Cathedral. |
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| This is the tower we climbed for the views. Long hike up! |
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| Fountain at Spain Plaza on a beautiful day. |
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| I started taking pictures of the wines I sampled on our vacation. I missed my first - a Pinot Grigio. This one was my first red and it was delicious. I was lucky to be traveling with Karlene, my self-appointed sommelier :) |
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