April 25, 2025
Good morning from Barcelona, capital of Catalonia. This looks like a busy cruise port 5 ships in 5 different terminals. We were able to dock behind the HAL ship the Volendam. We parked our ship with our back deck facing the Voledam back deck. This was in anticipation of a drone show scheduled for 9 PM tonight.
For today we booked a City highlight tour. We didn’t dock till 10:30 and soon as we cleared customs, we got on our bus for our 5 hr tour. We drove by the numerous highlights of the City, like the Olympic stadium sites. Near the City Center we got off the bus to do a walk around the well-known church called Sagrada Familia Church built by the famous architect Goudi. They started construction in 1882, and it is still under construction today. It is now scheduled for total completion in 2026. Our Tour guide had his hands full to keep the group together in our walk around the church property. It was extremely busy on the sidewalks with pedestrian traffic. Eventually we all ended up at the bus location. Our next stop was at the Basilica Santa Maria del Mar. This church was build around 1383. Here we were allowed to enter the church. It was very impressive and in excellent condition for its age. After this visit we circled around the City some more, before returning to the port. It would be a better tour if our guide had used head sets on the walking portion of the tour.
After getting back on our ship, there was an opportunity to visit the Volendam ship. We sailed on that ship 5 years ago around South America. After being on the bigger ship now 2 times in a row it felt definitely smaller, but it looked like it was in good shape. It was currently on a 133 day Pole to Pole cruise and will be the ship used for the future Grand Voyages. Because of its smaller size it is able to visit smaller ports.
After our dinner we went onto the back deck where it was already crawling with people and music was being played in anticipation of the drone light show. After a toast from the captain the show started , and it didn’t disappoint. It was viewed by many spectators from both ships.
The following morning we took a taxi to the old harbour in Barcelona and spent a few hours roaming around there. Having a coffee and shooting a few pics. Instead of taking a Cab back, we decided to walk back, which took us a little over an hour.
That was the end of our stop in Barcelona , off to our next stop tomorrow.
Cheers
Cor and Carol
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