Eschew

We are leaving this weekend for some R&R. After reviewing the itinerary, we may need to get some R & R after the the trip. Originally, we wanted to book the 14 days Royal Princess Grand Med cruise but it was full. Upon further investigation, the first 7 days (Wed Med portion) is available with limited availability and the second 7 days (East Med portion) is wait list only. Since we've cruise West Med a few times, so it would be ports that we have been to so just booking the 7 days East Med is fine with us. The cruise is from Barcelona to Rome with stops in Cartagena, Gibraltar, Marseille, Genoa/Milan, Florence/Pisa. 5 stops, 1 sea day, add in Barcelona and Rome would be 7 ports in 7 days.

We will be staying pre-cruise and post-cruise so it will be land-cruise-land for a total of about 15 days, not counting travel days. We have booked private tours for Montserrat Abbey and Caves, a trip to Girona and Costa Brava, and of course, the Sagrada Familia, Park Guell and La Pedrera for pre-cruise.

Since we have been to Rome a few times, we decided to do something off the beaten path for post- crusie and explore the Roman catacomb and undergrounds, Capuchin Crypt, along with Basilica of San Clemente, which we wanted to visit last time but didn't have a chance. We are also going to stop by the Colosseum for their Underground Chambers small group tour. To say the least, this Rome trip is going to pretty "dark".

Eschew

For the port stops, we probably just wander around on our own. But we will visit the Concepcion Castle and the Punic Wall at Cartagena, take the cable Car at Gibraltar, probably taking in the old Siege tunnels and the museum as well. DW decided to go to Avignon and Pont du Gard while we docked at Marseille.

Genoa proved to be a toss up. We will probably just stroll through Caruggi, the ancient harbor front, St George Palace, Cattedrale di San Lorenzo and that's about it. Time permit, we may make a quick stop at Chiesa del Gesu and Ducal Palace as they are either nearby or along the way.

As to Florence/Pisa, I guess the tourist trap of the leaning tower is a must stop. I promised that I won't take any picture of me pushing it, holding it, kicking it etc ... We also plan to stop by the Dome, the Bell Tower and the Academy of Fine Arts and have lunch at St Croce Square.

All in all, a relatively jammed pack itinerary.

Stay tune ... and as someone had famously said it: I'll be back!

thursdaysd

Did you mean you had done the East Med ports before? That bit is confusing.

I was just in Barcelona last fall, and could suggest several additions to your sightseeing. See:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...omment-9517559

Eschew

Yes! Thursdaysd, You are right. I meant East Med ports.

I looked through your post and some of them are on our list. We are staying at 987 Barcelona Hotel which is centrally located. We are going to hit Gaudi's work all over, and Las Ramblas, Picasso Museum etc.

We are still looking for a dinner theater for a Flamingo dance show in Barcelona. I thought we would just ask at the hotel concierge desk. Do you have any suggestions? I see you caught a show at Madrid.

I wanted to get to Ronda but I think we may run out of time. Avila is also on our list but we won't make it there either so it will be the next trip, hitting Madrid/Avila, and then Malaga/Ronda.

thursdaysd

Looks like your autocorrect has some odd ideas - flamenco, right? I would start by checking to see what's on at the Palace of Catalan Music. Also do a search here for a post by kimhe on flamenco.

I hated the Ramblas this trip (wasn't great in 2004 but much worse now), just tourist central, and the market was too crammed to be worth visiting. Look for one of the other markets if they interest you.

I visited Ronda back in 2004 and enjoyed it, but for me the single best sight in Spain is the Alhambra.

Eschew

That's what I have heard about Ramnlas as well. I was told to get there,walk 2 blocks and call it a day. Nothing there, but at least you can see for yourself.

jacketwatch

Its been since 2002 since we have been in the Ramblas so I can comment about it recently but then it was pretty cool. Lots of restaurants, street performers, etc. We enjoyed it then. It was our first cruise BTW and we spent three days post cruise there.

I will like to know how you are treated by the hotel desk personnel. They seem to have a reputation for being haughty and we have seen this 2 of 2 times, once in Barcelona and again in Madrid. I raised hell and got 10% off our bill in Madrid and and apology and free bottles of Champagne, Muscatel and fresh flowers in Barcelona. The guys in Barcelona had a tour package but wanted to sell it to me first BEFORE letting me know what it included. Bunch of bums.

jacketwatch

Meant to say "can't comment about it recently"

HappyTrvlr

Las Ramblas was crammed, over touristed, vendors, etc when we went there about ten years ago. Walked a few blocks and left it. There is so much beauty in the city that it is a shame to waste your time there.

Eschew

Well, it's over. Time flies. And a lot happened during the last 2 and half weeks while we were gone, Brexit, Istanbul, just to name 2. Weather was awesome, way too hot, 30+ every day, even for the cloudy days. Will start to post TR in a few days.

jacketwatch

And I will follow it!

Welcome home. .

Eschew

Thanks Larry .... it's always nice to be home, to rest up ... . I think I am getting old.

First off, this trip is going to be action packed and go go go almost every day. This is a total opposite to our last "relaxation" cruise to Hawaii with so many sea days. To maximize the time that we are going to be there, we took a late flight to Barcelona so we would arrive early in the morning and "gain" an extra day. This will only work if you can sleep on the plane ride over.

We landed at 10 am and we got on our prearranged shuttle and arrived at the hotel by 11 am. Needless to say, rooms were not ready so we just left our bags at the hotel and ventured out on our own.

Our hotel requirement was simple, be centrally located and walking distance to everywhere. We went to our trusted TA and she did wonders with our hotel pick, other than the price, which was not her fault.

The hotel of choice was called the "987 Barcelona" hotel. We have never heard of this hotel before. The sign at the front was very small, a small plague of maybe foot and and half square and it read "Room Mate Carla".

This is part of a hotel group called "Room Mate", and the one we stayed at happened to be called "Carla". There is also an Emma, and an Anna as well in Barcelona and they are appropriated called Room Mate Emma and Room Mate Anna. So what is the name of the hotel? 987 Barcelona or Room Mate Carla? The answer is well, both. It's confusing, isn't it?

Oh yes, the price. We paid a relatively high price for our hotel. The reason? Timing. Nit de Sant Joan festival Barcelona 2016 just happens to be on June 24, it is also their biggest holiday of the year and the start of the summer holidays. Every hotel in town is booked solid. Live and learn.

Larry, the front desk staff was friendly and helpful. They asked if we wanted to have our rooms upgraded to a suite but we stick to our "standard" room. They also offered us a breakfast package which is cheaper than what the restaurant operator charges.

In the old days, the tradition for their Sant Joan day was on the night before the holiday (June 23), they will have huge bonfire at the street corner, and they would shoot fireworks into all hours of the night. The street corner bonfire were "limited" now due to fire hazard but we still managed to stumble over one. What they did with the bonfire was to burn everything they don't need or want, old clothes, old furniture, old books, anything old; in turn, it makes room for new things. I like that! Didn't get much sleep on the night of June 23, the fireworks were still going at 4 in the morning.

Room Mate Carla (didn't it sound friendly and personal?) is centrally located with many restaurants and shops near by. It is only 2 blocks from Casa Mila, and block and a half to Diagonal. We walked around a 5 block radius and found all kinds of interesting places, including Museu Egipci de Barcelona, which was only 3 blocks away.

After wandering the streets for a couple of hours, we had lunch and returned to the hotel and checked in, freshen up and took a stroll to Catalonia Plaza Catalunya (10 blocks?) and that's where we started our trek towards La Rambla.

We spent most of the afternoon along La Rmabla. It was busy and there were lots of police presence. It was much better than I thought it would be after hearing all the stories. The stroll was pleasant, didn't buy much except for some cheapo souvenir and that's about it. The work displayed by the local artists/vendors were not interesting.

We had dinner and a Flamenco show on our first night in Barcelona. We were surprised at the number of choices available, and after much deliberation, we took the advise of the hotel staff and they book us into a place at La Rambla. Not sure what the average cost is elsewhere but we paid almost 80 Euro per person for the dinner and show. The dinner was great, including all drinks such as wine and beer, along with a welcoming cocktail, pitcher of Sangria, and we were feeling pretty good before the show.

Dinner started at 7:30 pm and it is early by Spain's standard, so it was the "early" seating. The dance show started at 9:30 pm and they moved us from the dining room to a separate performance room. We had front row seats, and glasses of champagne was offered. The show lasted about an hour, no photo or video allowed as it distracts the performers; except for the last 5 minutes, where they encouraged you to take pictures.

With our front row seats, my ears were ringing after the show. It was loud: the stomping, dancing, singing, shouting, they were all loud. And when they dance, they were on top of us. Many times, the skirt narrowly missed us and I can feel their sweat flung towards us, not exactly sanitary but I guess that's all part of the experience.

After the show, we wandered around some more along La Rambla and took a cab back to Room Mate Carla.

As an aside, La Rambla (or Las Ramblas), came from an old Arabic word 'ramla' meaning sandy creek.

jacketwatch

I'm with you on the older part. Getting bombarded with Medicare supplement plans these days. .

Glad your hotel people were nice. Sort of restores my faith. Maybe their economic downturn has something to do with improved CS.

I know what U mean about the noise. Had that in Delhi during Diwali. Glad I had ear plugs. . There was so many fireworks that there was a smoke screen over the city in the morning. Bad for resp. Patients but helps keep mosquitos down.


Wow that is cool about the Flamenco show. When in Madrid we saw a price of $200.00 pp! Skipped it! Probably should have asked the concierge for other options.

thursdaysd

I hope the food was worth 50 euro.

See: http://www.palaumusica.cat/en/arte-flamenco_360509

I would absolutely not want front row seats for any kind of dance performance.

Eschew

Larry, I guess the 80 Euro pp is cheaper than your $200 pp but it is a far cry from thursdaysd's reference above re Palau Musica performance from 30 to 48 euros for a 90 minutes performance. I would imagine the performance at the Palau Musica would be much better. The dates for the Paula Musica doesn't work for us anyway.

Based on the 80 euros pp we paid, In my mind, fair market value, I would say 20 for the food, 20 for the drinks, 30 for the show and 10 for tax and gratuities. Overall, we enjoyed the food, the drinks and the show so I guess that's all good.

Eschew

With quite a few days in Barcelona prior to embark, we have the luxury to day trip to nearby areas. Many people visit the Montserrat Abbey which is not all that far away, some may visit the "Holy Cave" (Santa Cova) which sort of is part of the Abbey area but it is a bit off the beaten path and not too many people will venture out there on the trail. To walk from the Abbey to the Cave will take about an hour and a half one way but if you have the time, it is well worth it. It is picturesque and if you are religious (Catholics) you will enjoy the "path of the Rosary", and the path of the Rosary included work from Gaudi.

If you do not feel like walking the whole way down to the trail head while the path of the Rosary starts, you can take the cable car, and you have the option of one way ticket or return ticket. If you take the cable car down, you might as well take it back up. Most will walk down and take the cable car up.

Our guide timed it so that we are in the Basilica when the choir was signing. It was awesome but be warned that the Basilica will be jammed packed during that time.

A little bit of an unknown and a little bit even more out of the way is the Coves del Salnitre (Saltpetre Caves) in the heart of Mount Montserrat by Collbato. When we booked the tour and asked for the guide to take us to the Abbey and the Caves, we were referenceing the Abbey and the Holy cave, we did not even know this Saltpetre Cave existed. So it was a complete surprise (and a very pleasant one) that we ended up in Collbato.

We showed up at the bottom of the hill, our guide called on her cell phone and the local guide drove down from the top of the mount and unlock the gate to let our car through. We drove for about 5 minutes through a tight twisty and stop at a dead end with a small area where you can park only a handful of cars (definitely no buses as there is no place for a bus to turn around). We climbed probably a couple hundred steps to get to the entrance of the cave where the local guide unlocked the steel door and let us in.

This place is open to the public on limited hours on weekends and holidays only, and you must be accompanied by a local guide. Self guided visits are not permitted. Since we showed up on a weekday, it was by reservations and special arrangement only. We were the only people (the 4 of us) to visit the cave for the day.

I am lost for words to describe it as words cannot do it any justice. Too bad I cannot share any pictures here. (However, you can google Collbato Coves del salnitre and look at the images if you are interested). We spent about 2+ hours inside the cave, our guide act as an interpreter to the local guide who is explaining to us what we are looking at. He is very detailed in his explanation and he appears to be more of a naturalist/historian/geologist than a tour guide. The cave is part of the Montserrat natural Park, maybe he is a Park Ranger?

The tour took us deep into the caves. Although there are "paths" (if you can call it that), there are sections that we literally have to crawl to get through. If you are a XX size person, you will have challenges going through some of the "shortcuts" and may have to go the "long way". This adventure is not for the physically challenged. We thoroughly enjoyed it and I highly recommend it.

Needless to say, on the remaining days, we spent time visiting Sagrada Familia, La Pedrera, Park Guell etc. I am not going to go into any details of these areas as I am quite sure the information is all over the European forum. The only thing that I will say is that I am impressed with the outside of Sagrada Familia, and I am underwhelmed by the inside.

We also spent a day out at Costa Brava and Girona. It was a long day trip as we left at 8 am in the morning and did not get back until 7 pm. It was a long 2 hours ride out and 2 hours ride back. The beaches are beautiful, the people friendly at the villages, and the old town at Girona interesting.

The taxi ride to the dock was inexpensive, and the terminal at Barcelona is probably one of the best laid out I have come across. It was very comfortable with nice couches and free wi-fi! Since we have priority boarding, we were led to the VIP lounge where there were refreshment ready.

jacketwatch

Sounds like you saw quite a bit pre embarkation. Definitely worth it to make that effort and climb all these stairs to see such natural beauty. I did google it. Amazing stuff indeed. I can see why a guide is must. One could easily get lost in there I would think.

Eschew

The local guide (historian/geologist) at Collbato Caves is amazing. He explained the history of the cave, the geological formation and how it is connected to the Abbey. Apparently the monks found the caves (and there are many, this is the only one that is "setup" and open to the public), mined the Saltpetre and sell it for cash as Saltpetre is a key ingredient for gunpowder. The wealth from the Saltpetre financed the construction of the Basilica and other facilities in the early years. There are also "holy objects" inside the caves (geological formations that looks like holy objects). And it was also said that Gaudi was inspired by what he saw within the caves and from that inspiration form the exterior design of Sagrada Familia.

Knowing what we know now, we probably would not have spent the day at Costa Brava and Girona. Don't get me wrong, it is worth a visit, and it was a great day and we had a great time. The local seafood is amazing (especially the grilled Octopus and fresh fish), and the history of Girona interesting; but I think there are better places to visit, especially with limited time pre-cruise.

jacketwatch

Interesting about this inspiring Gaudi for his SF. I can see that.

Also interesting how the monks used the resources to make money and used that to build their basilica.

Did you have any paella while you were there?

We stayed in Barcelona after our cruise. One days after we were out all morning and into the afternoon in the hot August sun we stopped for lunch. Well on or MT stomachs and already bit dehydrated we ordered a pitcher of Sangria with silly me thinking its just fruit juice a little wine. Well it has a LOT of brandy too. We drank it down like it was lemonade and before our food came we were kinda lightheaded. .

Eschew

Larry, we only had paella once, at the Flamenco dance dinner. We love fresh seafood and just too good to pass on grilled whole fish and Octopus. I know, it's not everyone's cup of tea. I think we had grilled Octopus at least 4 times.

We had more than our fair share of Sangria too, with temperature reaching 90 plus daily. We had it during lunch and dinner and all hours of the day ... some are stronger than others but we hardly notice the difference. That's the usual order as soon as we sat down. Normally, DW hardly touches any alcohol but she was downing a fair bit of Sangria with us and not feeling any pain (or heat).

We drank a lot more fluid than usual to keep hydrated. We also drank a fair bit of Fanta Lemon (or orange). They are far more popular over there than here.

Needless to say, between the Sangria and Fanta, way too much sugar.