Spain: 40 Years On

Bonnie, John and Sue

We were last in Spain in the spring and summer of 1975, nearly 40 years ago.  We and Spain have changed considerably. Spain was still under the iron rule of Generalissimo Franco, and the European Union was a Utopian dream.

For much of our 1975 trip we managed to stay within our $100 a week budget; this time around we are struggling to manage on a $200 a day budget. We were so naive in 1975; so young and foolish that we were up for almost anything.  Now, we are old, out of shape, and avoid too much excitement. We can no longer claim naivete, but we certainly remain pretty gullible.

Sister and Brothe

Frank Gerhry's big fish at seaside in Barcelona

One of our goals in '75 was to learn to speak Spanish--we are still working on that; most of the time we can understand and be understood, if we stick to the present tense.

 Barcelona, the first stop on our new Spanish tour, is, however, the capital of Catalonia--and the Catalan people are fiercely proud of their history and language.  So although everyone speaks Spanish, you are more likely to hear Catalan in the streets of Barcelona and most of the signs are in Catalan.  Still we were able to practice our Spanish quite a bit with our first test being our rapid fire talking landlady. She was full of information, suggestions, and helpful hints so it was a good to understand her.

In May 1975, Barcelona was our next to last stop, and we were running out of time on our Eurail Pass, so we only had eight hours to see all of its sights and attractions. We remember very little of our visit except walking along the sea side and looking for a restaurant where we could afford the paella.  There were few high rise buildings and the people seemed a lot less prosperous than they are today, despite Europe's economic malaise.

Gaudi's Sagrada Familia

We are so glad that we now have had the opportunity to revisit Barcelona--what a wonderfully beautiful and vibrant city. 

Barcelona seems to us, more than anything,  to be a city of incredibly beautiful buildings and architectural wonders. Everywhere you turn there are interesting buildings, both new and old.

 Barcelona's most famous hometown architect is Antoni Gaudi.  We didn't have the time or energy (remember the part about being older) to see all of his more famous and well known endeavors, but we were able to see both the lovely and inspiring Sagrada Familia Cathedral and the Park Guell: both well worth the visit.

Columns shaped like trees

Facade sculptures

The Sagrada Familia is truly awe inspiring and marvelous to behold, and we were able to spend an afternoon exploring its beauty.  Although Gaudi died more than 90 years ago, the Neo-Gothic Cathedral is still under construction.  He devoted the last years of his life to this building, living by himself in a small cottage workshop on the building site.

Plants atop columns in Park Guell

Sue and Bonnie on our bus tour

View from the Park

Park Guell, which started life as a planned housing development, provides an opportunity to walk through a lovely park-like, but urban setting and to admire Gaudi's building genius. On the day of our visit to the park, the sky was a clear blue and the sun was delightfully warm, although overall the weather during our Barcelona visit was surprisingly cool.  

Art Gallery atop Montjuic

 On our second day in the city we took a city tour on a double decker bus with an open air top deck.  We opted to stay on the upper deck so we could see more, but were chilled to the bone after our two hour ride.

Still it was the best way to take in this huge city and its many different neighborhoods with their interesting buildings and historic sights, like the beautiful national art gallery that sits atop Montjuic, one of the city's two small mountains.

In addition to housing Catalonia's artistic heritage, the museum's front steps provide a lovely view of the city of nearly two million people spread out before you.  It was not hard to relax, listen to some of the best street musicians around, buy a beer or two from one of the illegal street vendors, and watch the sun slowly set.

Market fare

Barcelona, like so many other major European cities, prides itself on its culinary heritage and the food you can find in its markets and restaurants. In our few days there we were unable to really take advantage of all that the city has to offer.

Meat vendor

A walk in the city's "Mercat St Josep La Boqueria,"however, gave us some glimpse into what gustatory delights await a return visit. The crowded, often raucus market was filled with incredible sights and sounds

Dried beans and other dried foods

One restaurant,  Mussol, we discovered on our first day and went back three times because we liked the ambience, food and service so much.

Mike, Larry, Sue and Dona at Mussol

We ate great gazpacho, good grilled meats and vegetables, and our favorite, "Pan con Tomate", grilled bread (which was described as Catalonia "caca" bread) on which a tomato spread was applied very lightly.

It was served with a whipped garlic and olive oil paste that was finger licking good. Discovering that our nice little neighborhood diner was part of a Catalan chain didn't spoil our enjoyment of the restaurant.  We even invited some friends, Dona and Mike Morgan, whom we had met on the Cruise to join us for drinks and Pan con Tomate.

Woman With Bird

Speaking of our neighborhood, our AirBnB apartment was one of the nicest we have rented.  It had two very comfortable bedrooms, two baths, a well appointed kitchen and a delightful patio.

It was a short distance to the metro and easy walking distance to shopping and other amenities. One of the neighborhood landmarks is a 35' sculpture of "Woman with Bird" after a work by one of Barcelona's native sons, Joan Miro. One of the extra added treats was that we could walk through a park and past an elementary school where we were often greeted by playing children.

You can see from the photos that Barcelona, like Spain and many other parts of Europe, is home to people originally from many other parts of the world. We really loved our time in the Catalan Capital, and we hope to come back for a longer, more leisurely visit.

Cute kids

Cruising across the Atlantic

Sunset at sea

Count us among the Converted.  We had sometimes disparaged cruising-- but our 16 day repositioning trip across the Atlantic has totally changed our minds. A repositioning cruise is when the cruise line moves its ship from one area to another--usually with the change of seasons.  This one aboard the Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas started in New Orleans and ended in Barcelona, Spain.

Our ship, dwarfed by a 220,000 ton behemoth

With only four ports of call: St Martin, Tenerife, Malaga and Cartagena; it meant that we had 11days of relaxing and invigorating days at sea. If you watch your onboard spending, not always the easiest thing to do, we think it is just as economical to travel this way as to fly and it is certainly a lot more enjoyable.

Towel Creature

We were joined by Sue's brother John and his wife Bonnie, and we were pampered and coddled, overfed and entertained the entire time.  There were about 2000 passengers and some 800 crew.  The ship was in nearly pristine condition, as a result of the very hard working crew.

Sue a poolside

Someone was always varnishing, cleaning or painting on the decks; room stewards visited your room at least twice a day, including re-making your bed with clean sheets every night and leaving you a "towel animal" for your delight.

The food was plentiful, readily available at all hours of the day and night, and surprisingly delicious, given the fact that they make some 14,000 meals a day.

John & Bonnie with Urzula

Breakfast and lunch we usually ate in the Windjammer Lounge, a buffet cornucopia with a open-air seating on the rear of the boat, but we chose to be served dinner every night.  Every dinner included three courses--appetizer, entree and dessert served by a delightful team of two young women, Ana Maria and Urzula, who were from Peru and Chile respectively.  Like the rest of the crew, they sign on for an eight month contract, and from what we were able to gather, work every day of that contract, although when the ship is docked, they sometimes are released for a few hours on shore.

Once their contract is finished, they have 10 weeks of paid home leave.  Many of the crew have worked five, ten or 15 or more contracts.  Ana Maria has a three year old daughter, who stays with her mother in Peru--that must be incredibly hard.  Urzula's husband, Christian is also a waiter on the ship and we got to meet him as well.

Besides being fed like kings, the crew does its best to make sure that every hour of the day is full of excitement and diversion--bands and combos play at various venues throughout the ship; bingo and trivia games as well as language classes and self-improvement lectures are offered every day. Each night, a song and dance review or variety act is performed in the 1000 person theatre. Many of the acts were outstanding and rival what you might see in Vegas or some other resort.

White People in the Tropics 

When the ship docks at one of the ports of call, you can elect to take one of their extra cost excursions or explore the port on your own.  At our first, we chose a sailing and snorkeling junket that was great fun and provided a view of the St Martin we probably wouldn't have found on our own.

Larry & Pablo Picasso

Although the snorkeling was kind of ordinary, it did give us another opportunity to realize once again how much we liked it.  The sailing trip around the island on the large catamaran was really extraordinary and exciting. The water was crystalline blue and the sand on the beaches was as soft as confectioner's sugar.

The ship excursions in Tenerife and Malaga were more disappointing, so when we got to Cartagena we chose to entertain ourselves with a visit to a restored 12th century castle that provided great vistas of the town and harbor.

In Cartagena

One of the best surprises about the trip was how much we enjoyed our fellow passengers.  Sitting down at a bar or waiting for a lecture or game to start, you invariably would get involved in a conversation with your neighbors.  Almost all of them seemed to have interesting stories to tell, but they were also interested in our story as well.  Of course, many of them are veteran cruisers and are delighted to provide tips on traveling and booking.  Like with the airlines, no one seems to pay the same price.  We now know that you need to research the best deals, shop and compare, or work with a travel agent.

Many cruises, like the ones in the Caribbean and Mediterranean involve stops at a port every night. Based on our experience in this cruise, we don't think that would like that, but we really, really liked the days at sea--looking out on the blue, blue waters surrounding you on all sides, feeling the wind, and marveling at the great big sky overhead.

Sitting on the deck, reading a book or more likely nodding off in a nap, was idyllic and made us realize how fortunate we are that we have the time and resources to be able to do something like a 17 day cruise across the Atlantic. As you can tell it looks like we are hooked and cruising may well be in our future plans--the 21 day trip across the Pacific is really tempting.

Charlie in Audubon Park, New Orleans

Our only regret with the cruise and with our planned three month stay in Europe is knowing how much we will miss Charlie and his family--we know he already has changed and learned lots of new things since we last saw him nearly a month ago.

Charlie and his Mom and Dad, AKA Bryn and Grant, traveled to New Orleans for Jazz Fest 2014 and a visit with the ever-welcoming Simpson Family. We are told that he liked the music and especially his special day with Auntie Lois.