Tuesday April 9^th

Barcelona

I LOVE Barcelona!!!!!!

We were docked at the new cruise terminal. So for the first time on this cruise we were able to disembark on to air bridges on decks 2 and 3, and did not have to exit from the bowels of the ship.

The terminal was very bright and clean, but as we were heading off on a tour we didn’t have time to study it, our guide quickly whisked us off to our awaiting coach.

I hadn’t really wanted to do a Cunard tour, but had wanted to visit 2 Gaudi sights – the Monumental Zone at Park Guell and the Sagrada Famiglia. However in order to provide crowd control, you need to buy timed tickets for both venues, and you need to book them in advance online as they are always sold out on the actual day you want to visit. . Even though we looked for tickets several months in advance we could not find times at both places that would work for us, so in the end we decided to join the crowd, and take a ship’s tour.

It turned out to be a good plan, and we actually had a fantastic day.

First we drove to the Park via two of my favorite Gaudi buildings, the Casa Battlo (currently encased in scaffolding alas) and the Casa Mila apartment building.

I love the concept of the Park Guell. The wealthy Mr Guell and Gaudi originally planned the area as a housing development for the rich in a park like setting on a hill on the outskirts of the city. They built the Monumental Zone which consisted of the Porter’s Lodge, space for a market, and the a large open area where you could socialize, sit on a beautiful undulating bench, and have a great view of the city below you.

What they didn’t realize was that the city was not yet ready for suburban living, and only 2 houses were built – one for Mr Guell and one for his lawyer. After Mr Guell’s death his family sold the land to the city, and it has become a park to be enjoyed by all, only the Monumental Zone requires a ticket.

The best way to visit the Monumental Zone is to start at the upper level, walking along Gaudi’s fanciful viaducts.

We entered from the Portico of the Washer Woman, which brought us to Nature Square. The square, which is more of an oval than a square, is on top of the Hypostyle Room. Here is where you can sit on the wonderful brightly colored bench, and admire the view, or just chat.

Below the square is the Hypostyle Room. This is a colonnaded area, the ceiling of which is formed of many small domes clad with tile shards, and with soffits laid out like a keystone. It was designed to be used as a market place originally, but I don’t think it has ever really been in use.

From the Hypostyle Room you descend the double flight of stairs to the main entrance and porter’s lodge. In the middle of the stairs are sculptures and fountains, my favorite being the salamander.

The main entrance and porter’s lodge are classic, over the top, Gaudi, and are a marvel to see.

You can take a look inside the lodge, but we weren’t able to do so on the tour alas, it was time to climb back on the coach and head to the Sagrada Famiglia Basilica.

We had first visited the basilica in 1998, and at that time all we had seen was an open space surrounded by tall towers – it felt more like the ruins of a cathedral than a building under construction. We returned a few years later, but it still had the feeling of being a ruin, and it was hard to imagine what the finished building would look like.

Not so this time. Although it is only 75% finished, with a planned completion date of 2026, the centenary of Gaudi’s death, you don’t have to imagine what it will look like. It is already spectacular.

We have seen many amazing buildings around the world, but in my opinion, this is the most beautiful structure I have ever seen. From being what I remember as a dark shell of a building, it is now a magnificent soaring light filled space with towering columns and sparkling stained glass windows. It is totally stunning. Brian and I were both transfixed by the splendor of it all.

When I enter St Peter’s in Rome I always burst into tears because I am so overwhelmed by the beauty of the interior. Well, this had an even greater effect on me. It’s hard to describe the sensation of seeing the magnificent interior for the first time. I am so looking forward to seeing the completed structure. It will truly be a wonder.

We had time to explore the interior by ourselves, and visit the very splendid gift shop where we managed to make several purchases.

On the coach on the way back to the ship, our guide pointed out that we were helping with the cost of construction as the profit from ticket sales goes to the building fund.

With the cost of the ticket, and what we spent in the gift shop, I felt proud that we must by now be proud donors of at least one of the bricks in the building.

After our wonderful Gaudi filled day we returned to the ship. Some folks decided to get off the coach to explore Barcelona a bit on foot, and to return to the ship on the shuttle bus.

As it was already 2:45 and the last shuttle bus left at 3:45 we decided to just go straight back to the ship, and have a late lunch on board.

In the morning we had been the only ship in port, but on our return we saw that the Sapphire Princess was docked in front of us.

For a change we weren’t in a huge rush to get on board so we had time to explore the terminal. As we had seen in the morning it was very bright and airy with loads of seating and outlets to power laptops and phones. Not at all like Brooklyn. We noticed that there was wifi there, but it was password protected and no one knew the password, so it was rather frustrating. It would have been nice to check up on emails using shore side wifi rather than struggling with the internet on board ship.

Back on board because it was nice and sunny we decided to have a late lunch at the Boardwalk Café on deck 12. We were out of luck; it was closed, so we had to opt for the Kings Court again.

By that time it was nearly sail away, and we again decided to forgo the sail away party on deck 8 with Solutions and have our own party with our own patriotic music on our balcony. We are now quite used to viewing life between the 2 lifeboats on our balcony, so it really isn’t a problem. Also, because the UK is still officially a member of the EU, I believe that our sail away play list of British patriotic music is totally acceptable even though we are in Spain.

We settled in to play “Jerusalem” and consume Veuve Clicquot and Brian’s single malt, when the inevitable announcement came about missing passengers.

An hour later we finally left the port, with everyone on board. At least we didn’t need to do a medical disembarkation this time. We will, however, need to stock up on the VC in Southampton. These delays increase the consumption.

I checked the Daily Programme to see what our evening’s entertainment was, and to my surprise discovered that tonight’s show was a pre dinner show at 7:00. There was no way to get ready for dinner and get to the show, so we had to give it a miss. I was disappointed as the show was an acrobatic performance, which I would have loved to see. Maybe they will do another show before Southampton.

Just the usual 6 for dinner, and we had a fun time. We discovered that David of David and Mo had been to 2 Beatles concerst when they were the opening act for other groups. I was so impressed. I had chocolate ice cream and fresh strawberries for dessert. Yum!

It was the Big Band night and David and Mo wanted to attend, so we decided to go along with them. I love listening to Big Band music – it’s all very nostalgic. The Queens room was fairly full but we managed to get a good table from where we could watch the dancing, listen to the music, but still engage in conversation.

The gentlemen dance hosts were kept very busy, as was the lady dance host, although interestingly enough she only danced with women. It was good to see that the dance hosts were smartly dressed; on previous cruises they had looked very scruffy.

Finally, they played a slow waltz. David and Mo leapt to their feet, and headed to the dance floor. I grabbed Brian and directed him in the same direction. Alas, what we had learned in our dance class at the beginning of the cruise was useless. We were unable to remember the steps, and ended up doing our usual shuffle. Everyone else was gliding around like they were participating in a dance competition, and constantly bumping in to us. It was not the success I had hoped it would be, and I could see that Brian was a bit irritated.

Then they played another slow waltz. I insisted that for years we had managed with just doing our shuffle around the dance floor, and we should get up and dance. Brian obliged me, but made it known that he was not happy. I said that we should practice our steps before the next ball. He said the cabin is too small for that. I said we could try the balcony. He gave me that look that indicated that I was not being realistic. So alas, that may well be it for waltzing across the dance floor for this cruise.