Tuesday, June 13, 2017

June 2017 EUROPE CRUISE



Lovely Lisbon!

 Hola!!

We are about to embark on a 2 week cruise on Silver Seas with our son Dave, daughter Julie, and Dave's wife Kaitlyn. Our ship departs from Lisbon but FIRST..........

Our adventure began on June 10th with a departure from Newark Airport to BARCELONA, Spain,
The Capitol of Catalonia.......
Ray and I spent the weekend at the Majestic Hotel right on the main drag, Passage de Gracia.
We had a suite on the 9th floor with a balcony overlooking the city and sea beyond. There was rooftop terrace above our room, with  delightful sounds and smells and the chatter of happy people.

We arrived on Sunday evening and did nothing but have a nice dinner in the hotel restaurant.

Monday morning after breakfast we met our guide, Josep, and driver Manuel for a 5 hour city tour.
Our first stop was the city food market. This was the beginning of a walking tour that took us all around the oldest sections of the city.

The EGG lady at the market.  

Quite an extensive market with everything you could possibly desire, and more!
After the market, we wandered through the narrow streets of the Gothic Quarter, just before 10 am when the shops were beginning to open. 

At the Beach.... this is a big fish sculpture by Frank Geary. The big ball is the eye of the fish.
From a distance it all comes together.

View from the top of Montjuic Hill..... on Montjuic we have the Miro Museum, the Olympic Stadium from 1992,
and the National Art Museum.


Ray's photo of one side of the famous UNESCO site..... La Sagrada Familia.
Designed by Antonio Gaudi..... Very famous architect from Barcelona. This church of the Sacred Family is still to this day under construction, and Gaudi worked on it for 40 years before he died in 1926. An amazing site. Definitely the days highlight!



Outrageous columns of Sagrada Familia from the inside.

It's now September, 2017, and I'm sad to tell you that I made a computer error and deleted the entire blog about our Cruise with the kids. It was a great one, and I had put a LOT of work into it.
I will try to recreate it now, but this time it will have to be a lot more concise! so sorry!!

Ray and I arrived in Lisbon on the 13th of June to join Dave, Kait and Julie the evening before our Cruise departed. We had a great evening visiting their penthouse apartment in the city and going out to dinner.

The view from Lisbon Apartment

On the balcony

I like this shot of Rays as we walked around town. The pavement is in motion!
Next morning, we boarded our cruise ship, THE SILVER SPIRIT,  and departed Lisbon.

Our cruise took us to Porto, Portugal, then La Caruna, Bilbao, St. Jean de Luz, Le Verdun, La Palace, Belle Ile,
St. Malo, Guernsey, and finally Rouen.
Ray and I spent an afternoon in Porto .... the kids we across the river at a great restaurant..... the Yachtsman, and they tasted some Port!

Our next destination was La Coruna. From here, Ray and I took a bus to Pamplona, Spain. This town is famous for its bullfighting and the annual "Running of the Bulls" event.
                             Ray shot a poster in town showing the Bulls as they run toward the arena.                            
                                                  The object is to run faster than the bulls!!

Beautiful Spanish Countryside outside Pamplona

Rays photo of Frank Geary's famous Art museum in Bilbao

Julie strikes a pose overlooking Bilbao. She and Ray had a beautiful afternoon together.


Lovely Port at St Jean de Luz

From St Jean de Luz, Ray and I  tok the day long bus tour to Santiago de Compostela. this is a famous Catholic Pilgrimage site. People walk sometimes hundreds of miles to get to this town.

A section of the town with one of the minor Cathedrals. The big one was so large , we couldn't fit it in a photo.

Main Cathedral alter. Quite beautiful!