Pic heavy, detailed Vision OTS review/recount of our 12nighter out of Barcelona!

[Hailzmick]

Wine & cheese... Does life get better?

 

The fromage cellar

 

 

She left us alone in here for ten minutes... Big mistake lady!!! Huge! (Quoting Julia in Pretty Woman! Lol!)

[Hailzmick]

Bordeaux itself was stunning, but once again, the French people were super rude. We tried so hard to be nice & friendly, but nothing really made a difference.

 

 

 

 

Finding the bus stop to get to our next destination was proving tricky. We were both lugging our extra heavy suitcases, plus backpacks over bridges & walkways to where we thought we had to go. & what do you know?! It was another bank holiday, so nearly everything was closed, including the travel agent store which we were suppose to go to.

 

I was starting to get worried.

Luckily I had everything printed out (twice) & put in to what I called our bibles. Yes, I had two folders of every bit of info we needed for our 7 week trip within these two folders, including maps of every neighbourhood we were staying in & contact details. I had hidden one in Mick's suitcase & I had the other one in my backpack.

 

So, we were lost. & I was panicking because we had to meet the bus at 3.30pm for a 4pm departure for Valencia, Spain, & this bus only comes every 7 days. Yes, EVERY. SEVEN. DAYS.

After asking locals, (& even them not being able to understand the directions), we saw a big bus pull up. We asked the driver and BOOM, thank god, our bus!!! A quick hug from the super sweet homeless lady who was trying to help us, & we were on our way to Spain! Hola!

 

Next up, Ontenyent, Spain!

[Hailzmick]

I had more time to post, so here's Ontenyent.

We stayed here for 5 days and we didn't have any downtime. It was awesome and we fit about 2 weeks worth of things in!!!

 

Ontenyent, Valencia, Spain. (5 days)

Our bus ride was LOOOOOOONG! 18.5hours long to be exact. & we had to sit near the toilet- & it stunk! We drove through the night, but I couldn't sleep, of course, so I started & finished a James Patterson novel. (It was brilliant).

We finally arrived early the next morning where we met up with Mick's aunty Fiona & Uncle John, who we were staying with in Ontenyent.

 

The bull arena next to the station, (that is still in use!)

 

The train station in Valencia

 

The view from our bedroom window!

 

Our street views

 

 

Our welcome meal

[Hailzmick]

While in Ontenyent, we met a heap of awesome, retired English people.

We had Sunday sippers & Sangria in the sun.

 

Mick and his uncle John. Yes, they could pass for father and son!!!!

 

Some of our yummy food

 

These ribs were €8... We would pay over $40 for these in Australia.

 

 

We also did a traditional Menu Del Dia. It was €8 for a three course meal with bottomless wine. Yes, that wasn't a typo. Eight euros. I heart Spain.

 

[Hailzmick]

We did the most amazing winery tour.

 

 

 

 

[Hailzmick]

Mick ate a town's special breakfast. It was disgusting. You need to see the pic to know what I mean.

AND HE ATE THIS, PLUS ANOTHER 1/2 ONE!!!

 

We also went to a medieval town, which was spectacular. & the fact that people still lived there was crazy!

 

This is a church at the top. People walk there every Sunday!!!

 

Sangria was so cheap! €1... And yes it had alcohol in it!!!

 

The view from our new friends' houses

 

Yummy strawberries

 

Next up, Barcelona! (& nearly cruise time!)

[cgomps]

I had more time to post, so here's Ontenyent.

We stayed here for 5 days and we didn't have any downtime. It was awesome and we fit about 2 weeks worth of things in!!!

 

Ontenyent, Valencia, Spain. (5 days)

Our bus ride was LOOOOOOONG! 18.5hours long to be exact. & we had to sit near the toilet- & it stunk! We drove through the night, but I couldn't sleep, of course, so I started & finished a James Patterson novel. (It was brilliant).

We finally arrived early the next morning where we met up with Mick's aunty Fiona & Uncle John, who we were staying with in Ontenyent.

 

The bull arena next to the station, (that is still in use!)

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The train station in Valencia

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The view from our bedroom window!

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Our street views

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Our welcome meal

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So fun reading and you have not gotten to our cruise yet! Wish we would have spent more time together you two are so fun and such a cute couple! Looking forward to the next post!

[Hailzmick]

So fun reading and you have not gotten to our cruise yet! Wish we would have spent more time together you two are so fun and such a cute couple! Looking forward to the next post!

 

 

Awwwww... You guys are!!!! We loved every second with you!!!! Xxxxxxx

[Hailzmick]

Ok folks, now it's time for Barcelona!!!

I guess this is where my review officially starts. (I can hear you yelling, "Yay" & probably, "About time!!!")

Leading up to this cruise, a whole lot of research and preparation had been done to ensure it was the best cruise I could possibly make it. I loved every second of planning all the buses, trains, flights, but nothing captivated me more than reading through the Cruise Critic reviews and feeling like I became a friend to the person posting. (I know, that sounds really sad, and I do have real friends in real life too, promise!)

We had the absolute best Cruise Critic roll call going, with so many people pitching in to share ideas, shore tours and just general excitement, you just have to see the last post from Cgromps to see that!

Just before our cruise, we had over 900 posts- with over 100 people signed up for our official Meet & Mingle.

Originally, Mick & I had signed up for an AFT facing balcony. We had one on our last cruise & it was absolutely brilliant. Not everyone's cup of tea, as it's a bit of a walk, wether you're on a small ship or a huge one.

GET READY FOR AMAZINGNESS!!!

 

Because of the roll call, Harry, a man from Florida, had organised some shore excursions that I had signed up for. We had emailed each other a few times & he emailed me about five months before the cruise to let me know he had to cancel the cruise & his shore excursions. It was sad, because Harry was one of the main people on the roll call. He offered his room to me... 7652... A WRAP AROUND BALCONY!!!! I could only ever dream of such a room!!!

We worked out that he would call his travel agent to cancel on the Friday afternoon, which would make it Saturday morning for me to call my travel agent to grab his cabin... & it worked!

I wanted to do cartwheels all around the house, but instead, I had to keep it a giant secret from Mick as it was going to be part of his birthday present, that he was celebrating on our cruise! (5 months of hiding a secret... I felt like I was going to burst every time we talked about the cruise!)

 

Talking of awesome people on our roll call, over the year before our cruise, I got to know some of the members quite well. I seemed to post every other day, (oops, I DO talk a lot), & decided to organise my own shore tours. It didn't take long until the four tours I had organised were full & we were all counting down the weeks.

I got talking to two girls in particular, Joann, (who I nicknamed Joey) & Laura, (who I nicknamed LaMac).

Side note- EVERYONE in Australia has a nickname. & if you don't, you'll get one soon enough. We don't always just shorten words either. If your name is Sam, you'll become Sammy, if your name is Barry, you'll become Bazza. Sometimes if your name is John, you might be called Knackers. That's just the way we roll. Lol.

[Hailzmick]

Ok, back to Barcelona, Spain.

We got the train from Valencia, Spain into Barcelona. Of course, Skipbo was played, but something weird happened. Mick won three games in a row. Noooooo. My good luck streak was vanishing!!!

It was about 2pm & at the station, we bumped into an English couple with cruise tags on their bags & I asked if they were getting on our ship in four days. Nope- they were leaving THAT DAY! Ahhhhh- are they kidding? I could NEVER get into a country that day, let alone, that afternoon. I'm way too A type personality to leave it to chance to possibly miss my cruise!

 

TIP NUMBER 5:

If you can, try & get into your destination city at least the night before you head out on a cruise. One flight delay or a build up in cars on the freeway & you might miss the boat... Pardon the pun. Ha ha.

 

We stayed three nights in Barcelona. We had an amazing One bedroom apartment only 100 metres away from the Sagrada Familia. It was the perfect position to be in the heart of everything for during the day, but it was quiet at night time, which is super great for us, as we had already done so much, being a night time party animal didn't seem like my idea of fun for this trip.

 

To tell you the truth, (now that we are friends of course, lol) Mick & I don't really know a lot about Europe or history, so this was the perfect trip for us. After checking in on Facebook & sending a text back home to say we were safe, (Yes, at 29 years of age I'm still seen as the baby!) we went for a walk to check out the neighbourhood. I was trying to describe what the Sagrada Familia was to Mick when he saw it in the flesh for himself! Words cannot express the shear beauty of it. WOW! But more about that later.

[Hailzmick]

We went back to the apartment & got ready for our walking tapas & wine tour through The Barcelona Taste.

We waited at our meeting point in the Gothic Quarter & right on time, four other people joined us, two couples from the US. Then, in came our guides, Joe and Miguel.

Our guides were wonderful & very interesting as they took us to our first destination... A cheese shop called LaSeu, being run by a Scottish lady!

We tried wine and cheese and chatted about politics... (Something I know NOTHING about & am very happy to keep being ignorant).

The next place we went to was called Cala Del Vermut. Vermut is a drink that I'm pretty sure is illegal in the US. Its called a few different things. I liked it. It was better with coke, which I'm not sure is really done in Spain. Such a rule breaker I am!

 

We got told lots of interesting things about Barcelona, including which markets to go and visit & where is the best seafood!

We then went to Belmonte for our main course, which was a shared tapas. The food was super yummy, but there wasn't a lot and we only got one drink at each place we went. We ate like sparrows, but it was all about the experience! #havereuroadventure

Our final place to eat was at Bodega La Parma. This was where we smashed down some delicious desserts. Can you believe that I only got a couple of pics and NONE of the main food? I was too busy looking at everything around me, (the Gothic area is amazing!!!) plus the people on our tour were so lovely!)

 

Us at the last place!

 

Our yummy desserts

 

We said goodbye to our new friends, exchanged email addresses and got the train back to our apartment.

[Hailzmick]

Barcelona day two!

The next day we woke up super tired. We had tickets to see the Sagrada Familia & to do a guided tour through it.

I had booked these tickets super early, as I know how busy the place can get. Some reviews online said that you can line up for upto three hours just to get inside... After seeing the lines, I can fully believe that. It was absolutely crazy, and the weather was super hot, (about 32 degrees Celsius, but it was a strong heat if that makes sense?!)

Make sure you get your tickets early!!!

Our tickets got us in at 10.45am, where we walked around like everyone else, with our jaws pretty much touching the ground!

 

The outside! Wowsers.

 

The doors to get in

 

Breath taking!!!

 

Inside

 

 

 

 

Antoni Gaudi was born in 1852 and was a vegetarian! I love guided tours because you find out random information! Even if the tour guide was lying, it wouldn't have mattered because she was thoroughly entertaining, although she has a super thick accent!

[Hailzmick]

Sagrada Familia continued...

 

Gaudi never married or had kids. In 1926, he was walking across the street, when he got hit by a tram and later died. He dedicated his life to the church & his architecture... And thank god he did, because we know what happens when girls get in the way... He may not have even started the Sagrada Familia! Lol.

 

At 11.15am, our tour met up & were given very cool headsets to wear... Yes, many selfies were taken.

 

The small model of what it will look like when it is finally finished... Which I learnt won't be in my lifetime, if ever!!!

 

This is a pic of when it's finished. The grey is what is completed. The ORANGE is what HASN'T been completed yet!!! Whhhaaaaat?!

 

More pics

 

 

 

[Hailzmick]

These pics are of the ongoing construction.

I like to put humour in to my reviews, but this was just want too amazing!!!

 

 

 

 

[Hailzmick]

This is under the church. They have nightly mass here at 6pm and it's open to everyone through a side entrance. Antoni Gaudi's body is buried there!!! Wow!!!

 

The confessional

 

Gorgeous windows

 

 

Ok, well that took a lot longer than I thought. I promise to try and post more of Barcelona tomorrow if I can.

 

Hailz :-)

[vplsh]

Thanks, Hailz! We are leaving for Barcelona next Tuesday before we board the Vision of the Seas for the same cruise. We're also taking the Barcelona Taste Tapas tour and going to La Sagrada Familia, so I'm really enjoying your review!

[TFP2000]

i'll be on the vision on the 3rd but unfortunately will be flying in to Barca that morning from Ireland .. i'd love to show the kids around barca it's a wonderful city ... if you get a chance the Camp Nou stadium do a great tour and the legends that have played for the club is an endless list.

 

The only problem with Barca and as a warning to anyone reading who isn't familiar with the city be really wary of pickpockets .. i have been all over the globe and the problem with petty theft of tourists in Barca is immense. You'll be fine with just simple precautions and common sense.

[Hailzmick]

Thanks, Hailz! We are leaving for Barcelona next Tuesday before we board the Vision of the Seas for the same cruise. We're also taking the Barcelona Taste Tapas tour and going to La Sagrada Familia, so I'm really enjoying your review!

 

 

Oh you will LOVE the tapas tour!!!

The guides are amazing. Make sure you ask them lots of questions!

 

There's audio guides at the Sagrada Familia too... So if you haven't booked a walking guide, I'd highly recommend you get the audio guide. It's about €17 per person & you don't have to pre book them. (Might be easier to & less waiting if you can!)

[Hailzmick]

i'll be on the vision on the 3rd but unfortunately will be flying in to Barca that morning from Ireland .. i'd love to show the kids around barca it's a wonderful city ... if you get a chance the Camp Nou stadium do a great tour and the legends that have played for the club is an endless list.

 

 

 

The only problem with Barca and as a warning to anyone reading who isn't familiar with the city be really wary of pickpockets .. i have been all over the globe and the problem with petty theft of tourists in Barca is immense. You'll be fine with just simple precautions and common sense.

 

 

Good point!

This comes up in my review next. :-)

[vplsh]

i'll be on the vision on the 3rd but unfortunately will be flying in to Barca that morning from Ireland .. i'd love to show the kids around barca it's a wonderful city ... if you get a chance the Camp Nou stadium do a great tour and the legends that have played for the club is an endless list.

 

The only problem with Barca and as a warning to anyone reading who isn't familiar with the city be really wary of pickpockets .. i have been all over the globe and the problem with petty theft of tourists in Barca is immense. You'll be fine with just simple precautions and common sense.

 

We're on the July 3 cruise as well and have a great roll call group. Make sure you sign up for the meet and greet!

 

 

Oh you will LOVE the tapas tour!!!

The guides are amazing. Make sure you ask them lots of questions!

 

There's audio guides at the Sagrada Familia too... So if you haven't booked a walking guide, I'd highly recommend you get the audio guide. It's about €17 per person & you don't have to pre book them. (Might be easier to & less waiting if you can!)

 

We are going to Sagrada Familia as part of a tour, so I think we should have a guide. I'll look into the audio guide if we don't. Thanks for the heads up!

Looking forward to the rest of your review! Although I think I may have to read most of it after we get back! LOL!!

[Hailzmick]

Hiiiiiiii again, on with my recount!

 

So, we were in Barcelona!

After seeing the Sagrada Familia, we exited out the back & went straight to Hop on, Hop off bus stops. The weather was super boiling! (I REALLY like hot weather, Mick doesn't love it as much.)

There were two companies to chose from. I had read good reviews about both companies there were there, (there was no Big Bus tours like in London & Paris), so I just chose a company to buy the tickets from then & there. Unfortunately, I made a bad decision. We chose Barcelona City Tours. Please choose the other company!!!

After buying the tickets, we waited in the sun for 40 minutes for a bus to arrive, (it said on the sign every ten minutes).

When we got on, we were on the Blue Route. Unfortunately, the audio never matched up with what we were seeing. It was about 30 seconds or so behind, so we didn't know what we were looking at.

& we hopped on & hopped off a few buses and they were all the same. It was such a shame, as I had no idea what I was looking at half of the time. Mick even joined in with the Spanish & had a siesta at one stage.

 

mick having a snooze

 

Some of the things we saw on the way around

 

Loved seeing this. Just having a chat while on our scooters, lol

 

[Hailzmick]

The bus stopped stopped at Barcelona Football Club. We didn't even know it stopped there. We made a snap decision to jump off the bus and have a look around!

 

Mick getting very excited to walk thru the gates!

 

The tour prices we very well priced and we really wanted to have a good look around, so we decided to do a tour. This hadn't been pre planned, but we walked right in.

 

Us ready to walk in

 

As you enter, you're meant to pick up an audio set, but there weren't any left, so we missed out on the audio... Hmmmm, for me, as just said, I kinda need to know what I'm looking at. Mick absolutely loved everything that he saw. It was interesting, that's for sure.

 

The museum was cool.

 

The grounds were AMAZING

 

[Hailzmick]

There were soooo many things to see. It was HUGE. Well worth every cent.

 

Any chance for a selfie...

 

Opposition change rooms. Are these used as spas or ice baths? I'll never know. I bet the audio guide would have told me. Google could probably tell me too, but I won't google it. Lol.

 

We walked down on to the grounds & got drenched by a rouge sprinkler. It was SO NICE as the weather was super warm by now. A lot of people complained, but we loved it... #HaverEuroAdventure right?!

 

We got to do a tour of the opposition change rooms, but not the BFC rooms, which was a bit of a shame. I did a tour of the new Dallas Cowboys stadium when I was in Texas & just in my opinion, the Dallas stadium change rooms were a billion times better. Also the Australian Football League's are better too... Just saying! Ha ha.

 

 

 

From the top. (Mick with left over sprinkler water on him, lol)

[Hailzmick]

HOHO tour continued...

 

Something that really interests me are graveyards. It's something that I've grown to like. My parents are antique dealers & have always been interested in old things... (Mind you, nothing is really old in Aus!) So graveyards are some of the oldest things we have in Australia & I find them so damn interesting. I found a few cool ones in Europe & I'll post pics of them... Just in case they tickle your fancy too!

From a balcony in the football grounds, I could see a graveyard like I've never seen before... The graves were in a wall and piled on top of each other. It was one of the coolest things I had honestly ever seen.

 

 

See what this sign says....

CRUISE TERMINAL. SEE YOU SOON!!

 

 

Another Gaudi building. Wow!!!

 

We jumped back on the HOHO bus & did the Red Route back. The weather changed & became suddenly freezing... We weren't ready for that one! Ha ha.

There seemed to be pigeons everywhere.

 

Side note: I have two really big fears. Water & birds. You must be thinking, water, what?! Yes. Water. Not when I'm on a cruise ship, but on small boats, (row boat type boats) or in spas or baths. I know, super weird. I've tried hypnotherapy, but it hasn't worked. Oh well. How good are spas anyway, lol. (Yes, I've been told how awesome they are!!!)

Birds are even more scary for me. Like, I'm terrified. I will cross the street if I see a gang of birds, or even a single one that will come across my path. Pigeons are the worst. They are so confident & in your face. I'm feeling sick & anxious just thinking about them. So as you read on, I will discuss pigeons and water more...

 

Ok, so on the way back to the apartment, we stopped at what looked like a great priced dinner. It said Paella for €15... We should have looked in to it more.

 

TIP NUMBER 6:

If possible, don't eat around the touristy areas. So many places in Barcelona say things like, "3 courses for €15" & generally, they aren't.

 

So anyway, long story short we paid $114 for paella and sangria. Although they were very very yummy, completely ripped off.

 

My Sangria, a MUST do in Spain

 

Paella... In Spanish, you he double l's are said like "y". So, pay-e-ya.

[Hailzmick]

The next day we had some downtime. We decided we were going to catch up on Facebook and lounge around. You should never really waste any time when you are travelling, but we had just spent four weeks making amazing memories and we did need a day for some relaxation.

We had organised that night to meet LaMac and Mike near their hotel for dinner, as they had just flown into Barcelona. I was super nervous because we had spent so long emailing each other and what if we didn't get on as well in person?

 

Standing outside their hotel I felt like I was waiting for a blind date! I shouldn't have worried. When we met, it was like we had been friends for ever! The husbands got on as well as we did and we had an amazing dinner, laughing and talking about our upcoming adventure together.

It was super late and we decided that we would meet tomorrow on the cruise ship. I had organised an informal meet and greet with the other Cruise critic members at 3:30 in the Schooner Bar. At the very least there would be at least four of us, right?

We said our goodbyes and headed back to our apartment to pack and get excited for tomorrow!!!

 

First pics, (of MANY) of Mick & Mike

 

First pics of an amazing new friendship in the making, Hailz & LaMac, (AKA Laura)

 

Next up, CRUISE DAY!!!!!!!!!!