Saturday, November 7, 2009…My Equinox diary

Today was spent in Barcelona, one of my favorite cities in Europe. The weather was mild and the sun shone all day. (One thing we heard from the 300 or so folks who were on the Equinox for the past two weeks for its last regular Med sailing was that it was a gray and dreary trip, raining almost every day. These folks are called back-to-backers and will have been on board the ship for almost a month when this cruise ends in Ft. Lauderdale.) So far on this cruise, weather has been cooperative.

La Sagreda Familia

Some years back I spent several days here so I wanted to be sure Chet got to see the highlights and, for me, that was the fantastical buildings by Antonio Gaudi and most particularly the Sagreda Familia church. So we booked a shore excursion that took us to the church and by several other Gaudi buildings and then included wine and tapas at three local tapa bars. Seemed like a perfect combination!

We left the ship at 8:30 a.m. and headed directly to the church, driving through the old part of the city and seeing many of its most famous buildings, old and new. Then we got out of the bus at the church and we able to view it from all sides.

This is without a doubt one of the most amazing structures in the world. It was begin in 1822 and has not been finished yet. Construction is funded entirely through donations, therefore its formal name, in English, is the Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family. Many refer to it as a cathedral, but I don’t think it actually is one…at least yet. Maybe when it is finished in 20 years or so.

Three different major architects and untold artists have worked on this masterpiece, however, Antonio Gaudi was the major visionary, even though he died in 1926. Two of the facades of the church are nearly completing and work is forging ahead on the final section.

Tasty tapas

This is one place in Barcelona that every visitor must see. I also strongly recommend the Park Guell (Gaudi’s never completed garden city) and the Picasso Museum, even though we did not make it to them today. Many Mediterranean cruises depart from Barcelona, so if you happen to book one that does, be sure to come in a few days early to explore all this lovely city has to offer.

But on to the tapas! As most of you probably know, “tapas” are the wildly popular small bites that are sold in tapas bars all over the city…and now the rest of the world as well. It is a bit like ordering dim sum…they have all sorts of snacks displayed and the rest are pictured. Usually, one would order two or three of them with a beer or wine…and then head on down the street to another such bar.

Living statues on the Ramblas

We did visit three fun tapas bars, all very different..and despite the fact we began around 11 a.m., the wine certainly did slide down easy.

We finished up around 1 p.m., early enough for us to explore a bit more. So Chet and I left the group which was returning to the ship and decided to walk down La Ramblas from the Placa de Catalunya to the statue honoring Christopher Columbus. It took about an hour to stroll down this most famous pedestrian boulevard where we passed an array of flower stands, bird shops, souvenir shops, sidewalk artists and many entertaining “living statues.”

The produce market

We stopped off to spend 15 minutes inside the Mercat de la Bouqueria, one of Europe’s most famous city markets. It was full of colorful produce stands as well as those selling meat and seafood, candies and spices. This is always a good photo opp.

If you are interested in exploring on your own, you should know that you can take the ship shuttle down to the oceanfront and from there catch the bright red Barcelona Bus Turistic. These open-air, double-deck buses travel all over the city on three routes, offering 44 off/on stops and you can easily cross between the routes at special intersections. This is all for one price, 21€ for one day or 27€ for two days. You can pick up the brochure right at the tourist desk in the ship terminal as you leave the ship.

The tourist bus

We then caught a cab back to the ship (10€ with tip) which we considered worth it. We were back by 3 p.m. giving time for Chet to nap and me to write.

Tomorrow: A short day at Palma de Mallorca, Spain, and our first formal night.

Friday, November 6, 2009…My Equinox diary

We have been very busy since we boarded the ship yesterday. We began at the Hilton Garden Inn at the Rome Airport where we almost joined another group from Kentucky who were taking a bus from the hotel to the pier. We had made our own plans to return to the airport (10 minutes) and then catch the Celebrity bus transfer to Civitavecchia from there. We decided it make sense to cut out the step of going back to the airport if it only cost us a few bucks more.

Notre Dame Basilica

But, plans change. Their bus was very late so we decided to go ahead and transfer back to the airport and catch that transfer as originally planned. It went very smoothly…Celebrity handled our luggage to the bus and then, because it was nearly full, it left almost immediately. So we had a smooth trip and actually arrived at the pier at the same time as the Kentucky bus, around 11:30 a.m.

Celebrity check-in was extremely efficient so we zipped through the lines and were onboard the Equinox quickly. This is the mark of a first-class operation. As cabins would not be ready until about 1 p.m., early boarding passengers could have lunch in the Lido (on this ship called the Oceanview Café) and explore the rest of the ship.

We snuck a look at our veranda cabin and quickly got in line at the Customer Relations desk where we requested a change of cabin. We asked to change for two reasons, one being that we prefer the cabin configuration where the sitting area is next to the veranda, rather than the bed. It appears that half of the veranda cabins are one way and the other half are the other way.

The other reason is that we personally prefer the port (left) side of the ship for transatlantic cruises because the sun is in the southern sky during that part of the year so you will have sun on your veranda for most of the crossing. Conversely, cabins on the veranda side will have shade throughout almost the entire cruise. Just depends on what you prefer.

They have to wait until everyone is checked in (about 6 p.m.) to confirm cabin changes but we were fortunate and were able to snap a similar cabin on the port side with the configuration we liked. It was a few more steps to walk, but we figured that is part of our fitness program.

We spent some time exploring the ship but early seating for dinner came fast and there we ran into another snag. We went to the table where we were assigned, only to find out that there were too many assigned there…and four couples had planned to dine together. So we did eat there, but have been assigned to another table for this evening.

We had planned to take in the opening show but my back continued to bother me and we decided to make an early evening of it.

This morning I opted to visit another part of the ship many of you (hopefully) never experience. I had to see the doctor about my ongoing back pain. Celebrity’s medical clinic is first class and although I had to wait a bit due to the first day rush, I was able to get the medications I needed and was loaned a heating pad. Don’t know what this has cost (I will report that back to you later), but the convenience was well worth it to me.

This afternoon we took the bus shuttle into the French port city of Marseilles. There we happened upon a local tourist trolley (7€ each) that carried us high up in the city to the lovely Basilica of Notre Dame where we could overlook the entire city. It turned out to be just what we needed…a look at the streets and shops of the city, as well as many of its historical monuments.

Tomorrow: Barcelona, one of my favorite European cities