Friday, October 21 and Saturday, October 22, 2016
Barcelona, Spain
8:00 am Friday to 4:00 pm on Saturday
Weather forecast is for a high of 68 degrees and a low of 57.
Sunrise for Friday was at 8:10 am; Sunset occurred at 7:01 pm
It is 185 nautical miles from the Port of Sète, France to the Port of Barcelona, Spain.
749 cruise ships called at the Port of Barcelona in 2015, carrying a total of 2,540,302 cruise ship passengers.
On Friday morning the Oosterdam docked in Barcelona, Europe’s largest cruise port, with approximately 2.5 million cruisers passing through the port each year. Three other ships were in port during the day making a port load of 9,702 not counting crew who had time on shore. The Carnival Vista (3936 passengers) sails at 5 pm. AIDAaura (1300 passengers) is scheduled to be in port from 12 noon to 8 pm. MSC Poesia (2550 passengers) is scheduled to be in port from 2 pm to 9 pm. Of the nine terminals, seven are cruise ship terminals. Terminals A, B, C and D are based at the Adossat Quay and are furthest away from the city center. The Oosterdam docked at Terminal C.
On Friday morning, we booked a 4-hour Barcelona Highlights Tour from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm from Holland America since the port load indicated that we might have difficulty in getting on a HOHO.
Our tour took us first to the 13th-century Cathedral of Santa Eulàlia located in the Gothic Quarter. The City was preparing for a festival and tents were being set up in front of the cathedral.
We left the bus to admire the interior. The cathedral was built between 1298 and 1450, and is certainly one of the most beautiful Gothic buildings in Barcelona. It stands at the Pla de la Seu, almost in the center of the Barri Gòtic (Gothic Quarter). A young girl of only 13, Eulalia was a Roman Christian who refused to recant her religion. The Roman emperor Diocletian (244–311) ordered all Christian churches destroyed and all Christians executed. Eulalia was brutally tortured and killed. Her remains are in the crypt of the cathedral. Eulalia is a co-patron saint of Barcelona along with our Lady of the Mercy (La Mercè).
Interesting Fact: La Mercè’s festival is Barcelona’s biggest festival of the year, an annual 4-day end-of-summer extravaganza held this year from September 22 to 25, 2016 (http://lameva.barcelona.cat/merce/en/).
An inside elevator goes to the roof of the cathedral where you can walk around to photograph different sections of city. The Cathedral of Barcelona is a 600-year-old building that boasts three naves, stained glass windows and an exquisite choir screen. Our visit required modest attire with knees, shoulders and midriffs covered; shorts are not allowed. The Cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Barcelona, Spain. The roof is notable for its gargoyles featuring both domestic animals and mythical animals. The cathedral has a secluded Gothic cloister where 13 white geese are kept, the number explained by the assertion that Eulalia was only 13 when she was martyred.
We had some free time before meeting our tour guide and bus, so we decided to have a chocolate croissant and coffee at Farggi Café. Delicious!
After visiting the Cathedral of Santa Eulàlia , we re-boarded the bus to drive along the Passeig de Gracia.
This street showcases many of the city’s Modernist buildings—some designed by architect Antoni Gaudí, including Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia Church. Our bus stopped about 15 minutes away from the Sagrada Familia Church where we were able to view the outside.
After re-boarding the bus, we continued on our panoramic drive to the Plaza España, one of Barcelona’s most important squares. This site was built for the 1929 International Exhibition held at the foot of Montjuïc, site of the 1992 Olympic Games.
We drove through Plaza Catalunya, the main hub of downtown at the top of La Rambla.
We viewed the beautifully restored bull ring which is now a shopping mall but retains its classic look on the outside. All in all, the tour gave us a good overview of some of the highlights of Barcelona.
After lunch, we decided to see more of Barcelona from one of the HOHO buses. We purchased tickets for the shuttle bus in the terminal for 5€ each. The buses provided round trip transportation from Terminal C to outside the port near the Columbus monument and La Rambla. We bought one-day tickets for the Barcelona Bus Turistic as seniors for 24€ each. The bus was crowded, but we were able to find seats on top. It was good to see and listen to a similar tour again. It was cold and damp on the bus. It never actually rained. It just sprinkled now and then. A group behind us squealed and giggled as the bus whizzed down Barcelona’s streets. We hunkered down in our seats and shared an extra jacket. It was nice to take a hot shower when we came back on board the ship around 5:30 pm.
There was no show tonight, so we decided to get a good night’s sleep. A movie, Star Trek Beyond, was scheduled at 9 pm in the theater, but we didn’t finish dinner until 9:30 pm.
We had booked a HAL tour for Saturday morning from 9:15 am to 12:15 pm, Barcelona Sights & Flamenco Show. HAL cancelled the tour because not enough people signed up for it on Saturday. We were offered the opportunity to reschedule for Friday, but had a conflict with a previously booked HAL tour on Friday. The Barcelona Sights & Flamenco Show shore excursion offered the opportunity to visit El Poble Espanyol built in 1929 for the Barcelona International Exhibition as the pavilion dedicated to art. Its design concept was to build a real “village” in the heart of a city, consisting of 117 full-scale buildings and squares representing a variety of popular Spanish architecture. Today, there are 40 crafts workshops, restaurants, and boutiques. While the tour included a Flamenco show, Spanish wine, and tapas, we will have another opportunity to see Flamenco dancers on our second visit to Malaga, Spain.
We thought about taking the shuttle and going out in Barcelona on our own, but Saturday morning, the weather was rainy with wind and cooler temperatures. We decided to stay on board ship and have a relaxing day. We had a nice breakfast in the Vista dining room with two other couples who were staying on board for the next twelve days – Barcelona to Rome. Many people disembarked the ship this morning and many more joined the ship. Some will disembark in Rome and some will combine the Barcelona to Rome itinerary with the repositioning itinerary from Rome to Tampa.
The Vista dining room was open for the Mariner’s Society Lunch from 12 noon to 1:30 pm. We were treated to a glass of champagne and a lovely lunch.
Treats were delivered to our stateroom in the afternoon with a note wishing us a pleasant continuation of our voyage.
We watched the new HAL ship, the Koningsdam sail out of Barcelona before our ship sailed. The two ships used their horns to “talk” with one another and we enjoyed watching the Koningsdam sail out to sea. It was still overcast, but the rain stopped for Sail Away.
We had a nice dinner with Connie and Rolfe who live in Holland. After dinner we went to the theatre at 9:30 pm to see the Welcome Aboard Show featuring some of the entertainment that will be onboard for this next segment. Cocorico and Ferdinand found a towel animal.
Tomorrow is a day at sea and a Gala Evening.
Granbytravels 