Detailed Photo Review of Carnival Sunshine 12-Night Mediterranean Cruise 9/8/13

[deladane]

[B][SIZE="3"][COLOR="Purple"]After that, we went back up the Ramblas to the Boqueria Market. I was greatly looking forward to walking through this market, and it exceeded my expectations! It was very lively and crowded as we were there at lunch time. Vendors were selling everything you can imagine- fish, meat, fruit, veggies, candy, wine, cheese, bread, and more! We bought some fruit juice (I had the orange, strawberry, and pineapple juice and it was delicious!), and wandered around the market.

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[deladane]

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I really wanted a crepe for lunch, but the line was too long!
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[deladane]

[B][SIZE="3"][COLOR="Purple"]I thought this vendor was pretty funny... she sold eggs! And a LOT of them!!
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As we were leaving the market, we walked passed a restaurant that caught my eye. It was called Wok and Walk, and they served make-your-own-stir fry dishes in cute take out containers. I picked udon noodles with chicken, mushrooms, and a sweet and sour sauce, and it was great! They cooked it very quickly and I ate my lunch as we walked the rest of the Ramblas and back to the hotel.

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[wnycruisefam66]

[quote name='Buffalofirsttimer4']Yup, we live in the city, I have children who attend Honors, so we have to be a resident of the city. Which suburb?

Sent from my KFOT using Tapatalk 2[/quote]

We live in Cheektowaga. Small World!


Deladane: Love the pictures of Barcelona! I really can't wait to experience it after seeing your pics.!

[lovingretirement]

Thanks for this amazing review! I have thoroughly enjoyed reading, and viewing all of your FANTASTIC photos! We had a great time on our Northern Europe cruise in September, and look forward to doing the Mediterranean cruise soon. Your tips have been most helpful!

[ajtaylor29]

Thanks so much for the GREAT review! You gave such good detail, and helpful tips - I've been thinking about a med cruise so now i'll reference your review when/if I start making plans!! Just too bad I won't be able to do it on Carnival. :(

[deladane]

[quote name='wnycruisefam66']We live in Cheektowaga. Small World!


Deladane: Love the pictures of Barcelona! I really can't wait to experience it after seeing your pics.![/QUOTE]
Thanks! It was a beautiful city, definitely worth experiencing in person!


[quote name='fyree39'][COLOR=black]I have been reading this thread over the past couple of days and I have to say it's one of the best reviews I've come across. Thank you for a comprehensive look at the Mediterranean ports. Although this wasn't a bucket list cruise, the more reviews I read on Med cruises, the more I change my mind. [/COLOR][/QUOTE]
I am glad you are enjoying the review! With all the amazing things that the Med ports have to offer, it is definitely a cruise worth taking :)


[quote name='lovingretirement']Thanks for this amazing review! I have thoroughly enjoyed reading, and viewing all of your FANTASTIC photos! We had a great time on our Northern Europe cruise in September, and look forward to doing the Mediterranean cruise soon. Your tips have been most helpful![/QUOTE]
Thank you! You should write a review of your Northern Europe cruise ;)


[quote name='ajtaylor29']Thanks so much for the GREAT review! You gave such good detail, and helpful tips - I've been thinking about a med cruise so now i'll reference your review when/if I start making plans!! Just too bad I won't be able to do it on Carnival. :([/QUOTE]
Thanks! Let me know if you have any questions when you start planning for your Med cruise :)

[Hardways]

I just spent the last few hours enjoying your thread as much or more than any other trip report I've read. Thank you for all the pictures. It looks like it was a very memorable trip. I'm cruising with Carnival in a few weeks and now your thread has me thinking about a cruise of the Med. The photos of the flag hung by Carnival on 9/11 choked me up in a big way and made me as happy as anything else I've seen to be cruising with Carnival.

Thank you so much for your travelogue.

[deladane]

[B][SIZE="3"][COLOR="Purple"]We rested at the hotel for a few minutes, and then took a taxi to the Picasso Museum. We arrived at 2:30pm and there was a huge line to enter. Luckily, we had pre-purchased our tickets, allowing us to skip the line. Our scheduled time was at 3pm, but they let us enter when we arrived a half hour early. We read the Rick Steves walking tour along with what was posted on the museum walls, although I found that we really didn't need Rick Steves because it basically said the same things on the museum walls anyway. We spent about an hour at the museum, and while I enjoyed it, I don't think it would have been worth waiting on that long line.

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After we left the museum, we walked through the Barri Gotic neighborhood back to the Gothic Cathedral to catch the orange route for the HOHO bus, since this was the second of our 2 days on the pass and we had only done one of the routes yesterday. The first half of this route was interesting, but we were bored with the second half as it drives to very spread out sites all over the city and offers very little info on the audio guide. It took us 2 hours to complete this loop, approximately the same timing as yesterday, but yesterday's itinerary was much better. If you only have one day to see Barcelona and want to do the HOHO buses, I would recommend only doing the Green route and skipping the Orange route!

Las Ramblas
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Interesting sculpture near the marina area:
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The Olympic Stadium
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[deladane]

[B][SIZE="3"][COLOR="Purple"]One thing I did want to point out was that our bus was basically empty. I don't know if it is because this route is less common or because it was so late in the afternoon, but either way, the upper level had tons of open seats for nearly the entire ride!

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We got off the HOHO bus when it got back to Placa Catalunya, and walked back to our hotel by 6pm. We got changed and left for dinner by 7pm. Tonight's plan was to go back down to the beach for dinner and to watch the fireworks. We rode the metro bus from a stop around the corner from our hotel for 15 minutes to Barceloneta Beach. Our timing was pretty good because we arrived right as the sun was setting.

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[deladane]

[B][SIZE="3"][COLOR="Purple"]Once the sun set, we doubled back to the marina harbor area to check out the vendors, restaurants, and a big carnival. We ate dinner outside at a restaurant called Hispano Restaurant. They had a price fixe menu for 18.75 Euro including an appetizer, entree, dessert, and wine.

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Patatas bravas
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They serve a Catalunyan style of paella mariscos that is made with very thin short noodles (it reminded me of Rice-a-Roni, only much tastier haha). It was very unique and I really liked it since I always prefer pasta over rice anyway! Mom and I both ordered it as our entree, so they brought it out in the pan to show us, and then they divided it up onto two plates for us to eat.

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Casaba melon for dessert
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[wnycruisefam66]

More great shots! Love the food pics!

Do you remember about how long it took to walk from the Picasso Museum to the HOHO bus stop? I ask because the apartment we've rented is right near the Museum & we plan to ride the HOHO bus 2 days, getting on at the stop at the Gothic Church. Just trying to get an idea of how far away it is. Thanks!

[deladane]

[quote name='wnycruisefam66']More great shots! Love the food pics!

Do you remember about how long it took to walk from the Picasso Museum to the HOHO bus stop? I ask because the apartment we've rented is right near the Museum & we plan to ride the HOHO bus 2 days, getting on at the stop at the Gothic Church. Just trying to get an idea of how far away it is. Thanks![/QUOTE]

Every time I post more food pics, it just reminds me how yummy everything tasted! haha

I think the walk from the museum to the HOHO bus stop was about 10-15 minutes. It is hard to say exactly because we stopped at a bunch of stores along the way, and also stopped to pick up something to eat before getting to the bus stop. It was an easy walk though, mostly on one street, and we were able to task for directions pretty easily because everyone knew how to direct us towards the Gothic Cathedral haha I hope you have a great trip!!

[deladane]

[B][SIZE="3"][COLOR="Purple"]After dinner, we walked around the carnival for a little while.

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[deladane]

[B][SIZE="3"][COLOR="Purple"]After that, we walked back down to the beach to get a spot to watch the fireworks. I would say these fireworks were mediocre at best. As someone who has stood on the FDR Drive in Manhattan to watch the Macy's 4th of July fireworks in person, these fireworks were a bit of a letdown. Apparently they were part of a competition from the La Merce Festival, so that's why I had somewhat high expectations. The most interesting part was to see the locals react- there were audible oohs and ahhs from the crowd, so I guess the fireworks were pretty good by Spanish standards lol

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The fireworks lasted about 20 minutes, then we quickly got a cab back to the hotel. Once again, it was very loud outside the hotel all night with whistles blowing, car horns honking, people screaming, and loud music playing from Placa Catalunya. I think there was actually a concert there for the Festival. After another long day of touring around the city, we were exhausted and managed to fall asleep despite the noise.

Up next: our Gaudi-filled last day in Barcelona!
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[deladane]

[B][SIZE="3"][COLOR="Purple"]Sunday, September 22 - Barcelona, Spain

Today was another one of the days I was most looking forward to on this vacation. Our plan was to visit all of the Gaudi buildings, and I saved it for today as an exciting end to our vacation (and because many other things in Barcelona are closed on Sunday, so it worked well to spend the day inside museums haha)

I got up around 8am, got ready, and went downstairs for another great breakfast at the hotel. At 9am, we left the hotel and took the metro to Sagrada Familia! The metro stop is literally right next to the church, and I thought this sign was pretty funny considering it is still under construction and they don't know when it will be completed...

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We walked across the street and around to the other side of the building to find the main entrance. Of course, there was a huge line to enter when we arrived, but that didn't bother us because we pre-purchased our skip-the-line tickets for 10am. They allowed us to enter at 9:45am, and we waited in line for about 10 minutes to pick up the audio guides. Rick Steves does have a written walking tour for Sagrada Familia, but the audio guides on site only cost a few extra Euros, so we decided that would probably allow us to appreciate it more.

We spent a little over an hour walking around and taking photos. It is such an intricate and beautiful church with incredible details at every turn. I did remember to bring my skirt today, but it turned out that the guards didn't care if your knees were covered or not. I saw many people inside wearing shorts, so I left my skirt in my purse and walked inside with no trouble.
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[deladane]

[B][SIZE="3"][COLOR="Purple"]Here are a bunch of photos from inside and outside the Sagrada Familia:

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[deladane]

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[deladane]

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They were holding Sunday mass in a chapel downstairs, but these windows offered a good view to see inside...
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[deladane]

[B][SIZE="3"][COLOR="Purple"]We also walked through the museum in the basement. It was surprisingly interesting- they had photos of the various stages of construction, and they had models on display for how the church will look when it is completed.

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This model shows the premise behind how Gaudi designed the church. It is meant to look like the mirror image of draped ropes hanging down.
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[MikeNKim]

Awesome review!!!

Where did you pre-order your tickets for the La Sagrada Familia I can't seem to find it anywhere

Kim

[deladane]

[quote name='MikeNKim']Awesome review!!!

Where did you pre-order your tickets for the La Sagrada Familia I can't seem to find it anywhere

Kim[/QUOTE]

Hmm, I just went to the link I have bookmarked from where I bought my Sagrada Familia tickets, but the link is invalid. I wonder if they shut down their website for some reason? I originally found it by doing a simple google search, but if you can't find it that way, I'm not sure what you should do :(

[KrusII]

Amazing review...............thank you for sharing your journey.

[zales]

Hi Dana, can you please tell me if you thought The House of the Virgin Mary was worth the visit:)

[deladane]

[quote name='zales']Hi Dana, can you please tell me if you thought The House of the Virgin Mary was worth the visit:)[/QUOTE]

In my opinion, probably not haha It's a small house that holds spiritual significance for many visitors, but there is some debate as to what part of her life Mary spent there, and there was a very long line to get in when we arrived. If you are tight on time, I'd say skip it and spend more time in Ephesus. If you do have the time to spare in your day, I guess I would consider it as one of those places that is worth knowing I've seen in my life, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see it again.