Italy and Med Cruise Day 7-Barcelona (1)
We had a bit of a later docking time this morning in Barcelona (where we would spend the night.). It was nice to have a slightly more relaxing morning, ate breakfast in the buffet and get ready for another busy day.
We took a shuttle bus from the port area (which was quite industrial) to the edge of the city. It dropped us off a few blocks from the Christopher Columbus monument. Fitting since today was Columbus Day aka Spain's National Day. It was a tricky time since the people of Barcelona (the Catalans) want to succeed from Spain so from watching the news before we left home we knew we might encounter some protests.
We walked to the monument and could already see folks walking with flags, but in the morning it wasn't too bad. There was a VERY large police presence around the entire city today.
After our shuttle in (5 euro for the day) we walked past the monument and to the Metro where we took the train to a station near Parc Guell. Designed by Gaudi it was a pretty and busy place. We had pre purchased tickets that were time sensitive and I was glad we did because by the time we arrived about 11am, the next entry times available to buy were for between 2:30and 3pm. We strolled the park and looked at the art, sculpture and people ;). Things were starting to get a little crazier in town by now with some larger protesting groups (including lots of people on the Metro with flags headed to protest.). We decided it would be best to get back onto the ship for the day. We passed hundreds and hundreds of police trying to keep things in check.
After that we walked back to the Metro and then the shuttle back to the ship to get ready for a special event. The ship offered a free excursion to Elite Members (all 450 of them) to visit the country's oldest winery. We grabbed a quick lunch onboard, showered, changed and went to the theater where they gave everyone numbers to line up for I think it was 13 large busses for the 45 min ride to the winery Codorniu Celler. They welcomed us with champagne and we walked around the grounds a littler before heading in to round tables of 10 covered in tapas, with red and white wine set out for everyone (as well as free bottled water lol). We ended up with a total of 14 different small dishes between the ones on the table and things they brought around. They were small bites but very tasty (I'm pretty adventurous and enjoyed almost everything-my parents not so much.). We watched a nice Flamico dance presentation and had a couple of officers and ship's staff at each table. We ate with some members of the inventory group (which I found fascinating.).
At the end of the evening around 7:15 they loaded us back on the buses and we headed back to the ship. Our normal dinner was at 8:30 and since mom and dad didn't have as many tapas as I did we walked to the dining room. Turns out they were doing open seating in groups of 8 and we were just a little too tired for that so we hit the buffet for some dinner/snacks (more wine ha ha.). Another crazy busy and full day but we were safe in Barcelona for the night.
Next up-Barcelona Day 2!
