Cadiz, Spain - October 31, 2012

This city was a very pleasant surprise as we did not know much about this city or port in our itinerary. We have learned that Cadiz was founded by the Phoenicians in around 1100 BC making it the oldest continuously inhabited city in the Western world, Cadiz was the first Guadalquivir fortification. The city lies on a narrow stretch of land surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and based on this geographical location on the Gulf of Cadiz near Gibraltar it is easy to see how this city became a major hub for all trade in Europe and the East. The 16th century saw the renaissance of this city, as its port became the main commercial port for the recently discovered new world. It should also be noted here that Christopher Columbus sailed out of this port in his first Atlantic crossing in 1492. The weather was fine today for our visit, a bit of low cloud this morning with the sun breaking through at times, the real good news is no rain. With map in hand we were off and walking. The tourist map and the city layout are great here, the maps contain four walking routes all colour coded but the best part is that the sidewalks have the corresponding coloured lines drawn on them, all you need to do is follow along and all the viewpoints are noted and in many cases the history of the landmark is included on the map. Awesome and very reassuring that you really are not going to get lost. We knew this city was geared up to welcome tourists as not did they have these maps available for us but they also brought on two city representatives to help and answer any questions that we might have had. So a great day, here are some pictures - on thing on our pictures, we stopped in a local place for lunch and Jan thought it would be a good idea to order a dish called the fish of Cadiz, well as you saw from the pictures in the local market we got some pretty interesting fish served to us and for those of you that watch the amazing race, I wanted to ask for my next clue when we finished our lunch...

Sea Day - October 30, 2012

Now this is bit more like it a nice relaxing sea day with no obligations (Mariner Society events). Two thirds of the ship are new people so we now feel we have some seniority, fun people watching as they are familiarizing themselves with the ship. Well this is not entirely true as we have noticed some clumps of people reacquainting themselves with each other, looks like we have a number that do this crossing rather than flying. Some head over to Europe in April for the summer and then come back now in the fall - interesting lifestyle. Did our laps around the Promenade Deck today for the first time this entire cruise, wonderful as pretty much the entire time we could see the East coast of Spain. We had dinner in the optional Pinnacle Grill restaurant tonight, excellent as usual. We are supposed to go through the Strait of Gibraltar tonight sometime between 11:30pm and 2:00am - not getting a firm time, will try to see this if we are able. Some pictures of our time in the Pinnacle tonight which happened to be a formal night. Cadiz Spain tomorrow...

Barcelona, Spain - October 29, 2012

Ah beautiful Barcelona, whimsical, romantic with a vibrant atmosphere makes Barcelona an inviting place for both visitors and residents alike. The city’s architecture is uniquely iconic. The city has two distinctive personalities. The 3 million residents collectively represent the very soul of the Catalunyan region. Catalan people feel a strong sense of cultural unity. Their history, civilization, language and character have been distinctive for almost 2,000 years. Barcelona is not only the political center and heartbeat of the Catalunyan life, it is also one of the most important cities in the Mediterranean in terms of commerce and culture. The society is the spawn of its long-thriving intellectual and artist community. Most striking is the diversity of architecture in which Gothic structures share the skyline with the surreal spectacles created by one Antoni Gaudi. Gaudi’s architecture puts a signature to the Barcelona skyline and although we have visited this amazing city before we had yet to visit the Park Guell where one of the Catalan patriarchs, Eusebi Guell befriended Gaudi and was a major benefactor to him and his work. Park Guell is filled with colour, curved lines and nature inspired statues and is where we began our day right off the ship and into the subway taking the line L3 to the park. Barcelona has an excellent criss crossed subway system that easy to navigate and is a very cost effective way to get around the city. After the visit to the park we strolled back to La Rambla passing most of the major Gaudi sites (buildings) along the way. Unfortunately, Dustin (our son) was not in town but we did visit his office and received a very warm greeting from his work colleagues. from there to the La Boqueria market and then to a Tapas Bar for some lunch, Bilbao Berria - great spot. Strolled back to ship for the sail away and another spectacular sunset. A great day, here are some of our memories...