My year started off in January with an unexpected invite from family friends to join them on a Mediterranean cruise (which had always been top on my dream vacation list) and I did not think twice about shouting a resounding YES!
The itinerary was exciting to me except for the port where the cruise began and ended – Barcelona, Spain. Having had the great fortune of previously visiting many swoon-worthy places in Spain 3 decades ago, Barcelona was not a city that enchanted me in 1988. However, I was optimistic that my memory of it would possibly change seeing it 35 years later in a new perspective. At the time (and currently), I really did not think anything was all that special about Barcelona. I did not understand all the buzz about it, especialy remembering how magnificent the Andalusia region in southern Spain is, as well as Madrid. So, I’m going to be honest that for me (and our group) that not-so-enchanted feeling still holds true at 52.
Part of it stems from getting off on the wrong foot with the transportation from the airport to our hotel right after a long day and night of traveling overseas. We had pre-bought our tickets with Auerobus (https://aerobusbarcelona.es) that advertises a bus shuttle from the airport to your hotel. Needless to say, this was not the straightforward scenario we anticipated and expected (and I wholeheartedly do not recommend this service/company).
The bus workers at the airport refused to look at my ticket and the address of our hotel and hurriedly ushered us onto the bus assuring us they will get us there. I wrongly assumed they would ask everyone for their hotel destination once seated. When that did not happen, I talked to the driver and he said for me to come back up after the first stop and he would show me which bus to switch to for our hotel. This was frustrating (being tired from jetlag) but it didn’t seem terrible until we realized he was dropping us off on a busy street and told us to cross it to catch a public transportation bus (not a bus with the company for which we had our tickets)!
I could write paragraphs about how nutty it was navigating this debacle with 5 people, a lot of luggage, only one person (me) with limited Spanish trying to talk to the public bus driver about where we needed to go, etc. A kind Spanish woman could see my distress and devised a plan to alert me when my stop would be nearest to our hotel Without her, we would have been riding the bus indefinitely. We still had to walk at least a half mile to our hotel from the bus drop off point.
Once at the hotel, Porta Fira, https://www.hotelbarcelonaportafira.com, things did not go any smoother with trying to check in. Hours went by before they gave us rooms despite others being checked in (They said they were trying to get all of our rooms next to each other which we did not request – we just wanted rooms as they became available). The staff was overall not very hospitable no matter when we interacted with them.
At this point, we are very tired, hungry, and a bit frustrated. Sidenote: The hotel is a one of a kind – architecturally speaking. It is a deep red color and shaped somewhat like a cyclinder (the website says it is lotus shaped which I’m not really sure about that…).
You should check out the link above just to see how uniquely modern it is. Their breakfast was outstanding – we could not get over the high quality, quantity, and exceptional taste of everything they offered. As Jerry’s father remarked, “It was first rate and world class!”
We decided that while waiting for our rooms to be ready, 4 of wanted to do the Hop Off and Hop Off bus tour. We had to take a taxi to La Rambla area since that was a starting point for the bus tour. Another sidenote: the taxi driver purposely turned off the meter so he could charge us more – our exact route home via taxi was substantially less expensive and he left the meter on. These things happen on occasion while traveling but it just added to a feeling of the city not being very friendly to foreign tourists.
We wandered around La Ramba which is very inviting with the different shops and eateries. We spent the bulk of our time in the massive market taking in the sights and sampling some food.
While this was very interesting, it was incredibly packed and a bit chaotic. This is also where pickpockets thrive. Barcelona, we were warned, has a terrible problem with pickpockets (even at our hotel, the concierge told us to watch a certain guy that was loitering where we were resting saying he was a con man).
We were grateful for the warm weather and sunny skies on our bus tour which took about an hour to see a fair amount of Barcelona. Even though it was hard to hear the tour through our earbuds, we could easily relax and take in the scenery.
By the time our wandering around and bus tour were over, we headed back to the hotel to get in our rooms and crash early knowing we wanted to be well-rested for the next day. Everyone seemed to adjust pretty quickly to the time change after the first day.
Our hotel was situated near both the airport and seaport so our taxi ride was pretty quick. We had 2 taxis due to having 5 in our group and luggage – cars are smaller in Europe!
While cars may be smaller in Europe, we were getting on the second largest cruise ship in the world, Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas. It was nothing short of spectacular! If you ever get a chance to sail on this ship, take it! (www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/symphony-of-the-seas). I could have spent a week on this ship and never gotten off – there was so much to explore and to do.
Once on board (boarding was actually swift and easy), all of us were ready to enjoy the ship’s many amenities which included hanging out on the Boardwalk taking in the ambiance and riding the carousel. Jerry had purchased the Key program which allowed us to check in early, have 2 fabulous meals at Chops Grille, and gave us access to other perks and venues during our weeklong cruise.
We capped off our first day on the ship with a Broadway worthy production of Hairspray. It was truly a great day and it set the tone for a fun and amazing week on the ship and seeing Palma de Mallorca, Provence in France, Pisa, Rome and Naples region in Italy. Suffice it to say, I did NOT want to come home!
I’ll provide more information on each day of the cruise and the excursions we chose at each port of call in forthcoming installments. Hasta luega!
on a beautiful cruise ship!
Thoughtful Travels 