Three days in a row here since there isn't too much to report...
After leaving Malta we had a day at sea to get across the Mediterranean to Barcelona. We did the normal sea day things... ate a lot, spent a few hours in the thermal spa, drank too much, etc,
We then arrived in Barcelona to pouring down sideways rain and gale force winds. I could tell our ship was fighting the wind to get docked. We had a tour booked for Sagrada Familia, so we got off the ship and took a taxi there. It is probably the forth or fifth time I have been there and it is always so unique and beautiful to me. It is really more like an art museum to me. It was originally master planned by Gaudi, but after his death there were so many different artists that added their flair. The stained glass is stunning. Hopefully it is all finished in my lifetime so I can see it in its complete form, (if there is such a thing.)
After our tour and spending time in the museum we went back outside to the continuing terrible weather. We decided it just wasn't our day to see Barcelona and cabbed it back to the ship. We relaxed in the afternoon and then went out and about for cocktails, the main theater Broadway show (which was terrible... seriously, but at least it was only a half hour,) and dinner which is always a highlight.
Today we were in Marseille, France. Originally we had booked an all day tour to go through the city and then out to see the countryside in Provence. We decided yesterday that we were overloading too many early activities and it looked like the weather wasn't going to be great again... so we decided to cancel the tour and wing it when we arrived.
We ended up getting a cab from the ship to the "Old Port" historical area of Marseille. We took the hop on hop off bus tour on its hour long loop (but didn't get off anywhere). There were some beautiful churches, like just about everywhere in Europe, but other than that, it didn't look like anything to interesting or out of the ordinary was here. (Translation - I don't need to come back... lol... unlike Nice or Eze or parts of the French Riviera closer to Monaco which we loved.)
After the bus loop, we wandered trying to find a place to eat for a long while but most of them were expensive seafood places being near the sea. We finally found a super awesome food hall that will definitely be my happy memory of Marseille. I had breaded chicken cutlet, patatas bravas, and chorizo with fresh herbs in wine sauce. Nom nom nom. We were thankful it didn't rain at all when we were off the ship. After about five hours we'd had our fill of Marseille and had a CRAZY taxi ride back to the ship. The guy was friendly and funny and obviously knew every other taxi driver in town... but he was honking at everyone and was a speed demon. Now, back on the ship we are just getting ready for dinner and a low key night before our early wake up for our Italian Riviera tour tomorrow!
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