Barcelona, Spain

Aloha Everyone,

My Mother’s Birthday. My sister and I both reminisced our Mother’s amazing lifelong love to give to charities and selfless service to teach others music, both singing & instruments. 

I also share her passion for world travel and her curiosity about new adventures.

First Sunday in August. Expecting most stores to be closed, some museums would have a limited hours of operations, we decided to use HOP-ON-HOP-OFF. Decided to try Green line where they gave discounts for being seniors.

Our plans were try to get glimpses of Gaudi’s masterpiece, La Sagrada de la Familia and his other works. I endured the noontime heat and humidity and waited. Yes, I was able to capture a couple of photos of his iconic works but as to La Sagrada de La Familia, the best I could see was far in the distance with a hazy skyline. 

According to an official online information, Park Guell and Sagrada Familia entrance are £95.18 per person. You are expected to walk especially to Sagrada for about 30 minutes plus stand in line to access. Once you are admitted, they give you 15 minutes to view, take photos and out you go.

Perhaps we came and saw Gaudi’s Sagrada at a better time.

Happy all went smoothly without any mishaps. Barcelona for us has both great and bad memories where J.J. had to be taken to ER by ambulance.

Aloha -- Cathi

Palma de Mallorca

Aloha Everyone,

One of the must visit and revisit places in Spain. Founded in 124 BC, it’s difficult to take bad souvenir photos. All you have to do is to point your camera and shoot. Well, I guess that can still be a challenge for some people.

Due to another very hot day and too many visitors, J.J. and I limited our outdoor activities and returned to our ship early.

Aloha -- Cathi

Puerto de Alicante, Spain

Aloha Everyone,

Alicante is our first visit. Easily accessible on foot into the city center. All we had to do was to keep our eyes on an imposing medieval fortress located on the bare rocky mound as if to maintain visual protection from invaders. Iberian and Roman remains weren’t inviting for visitors from cruise ships. 

Golden colored sandy beaches were packed with local families and cruisers, all marking their spaces with colorful beach towels.

The 16th Century Moorish Castle town & former Muslim settlement is built in the surrounding rock. Temperature at 87 degrees Fahrenheit was too hot and JJ.. and I end this particular adventure early.

Aloha -- Cathi

Malaga, Spain

Aloha Everyone,

Founded by the Phoenicians in 8th Century BC, ancient hilltop citadels, Alcazaba and Gibraefaro give historical context on Roman, Arab and Christian periods.

Too hot. When temperature rose above 90 degrees Fahrenheit, horse drawn carriages weren’t even attractive to visitors.

We were able to find a city pharmacy and purchased more bandages and heat pads for J.J.

Returned to the ship after spending less than 2 hours on shore. The shuttle bus charge 10 euros each for us was well worth the cost. AC was working well, and the seats were comfortable. What more could we ask for?

For dinner, we were joined by Craig and Dawn from West of London. They have not travelled MSC, and we compared notes on our observations. We agreed that MSC has one of the newest cruise ships, but they are poorly managed including over selling their services and grossly underperforming.

We couldn’t agree more.

Aloha -- Cathi