Sinppu

Back on the ship!

This evening we went to the MDR at 5.30 so right when it opened. We liked it so much we decided to have dinner early from now on.

Just look for yourselves! We were the first ones in, everyone greeted us with a smile, had time to talk and joke... it was lovely.

We both had soup as a starter today.

My entrée was no doubt some kind of cheese with polenta and Lowry had meat.

We are predictable that way.

Extremely edible both, I can tell you.

The entrées, not us.

If you are thinking of a cruise that leaves from Barcelona, it is a wonderful city to stay a few days in.

Plenty to see and do for everyone and anyone.

When going back with the bus, just lookn for these rings and you'll find the stop.

The bus drops you off right at the statue of Christopher Columbus and Las Ramblas.

From there it's easy to walk up and dowm either along the beach or Las Ramblas.

We just went on a very relaxed stroll to see places we've been to and seen before.

If looks could kill, I would've hit the floor second time that morning when I told Lowry what happened in the spa.

He was a little displeased with me [emoji15]

But as I was slowly recovering from my terrible ordeal of hurt pride and awkward post-fainting small talk with my Jamaican beautician, Lowry pointed out that the weather in Barcelona was less than ideal. See for yourselves:

Indeed. So we waited for a couple of hours before we set out. It made all the difference.

In Barcelona you can easily walk to the city centre from the ship -if you have a death wish. It's a loooong way and again there are buses. They cost 3 € pp and were frequent.

Next up is Barcelona.

For many people it was the most anticipated stop on this cruise but we've been there twice on a longer holiday already so we'd again decided to just go with the flow.

I'd booked myself a spa appointment in the morning and very neatly fainted while getting my nails done.

Yes, fainted. After scaring another customer and three beauticians out of their wits I promptly woke up and asked for a bowl to throw up in and plenty of water to drink.

Got both, used only the water.

The nurse came with a wheelchair but I sent her away as I knew I was suffering from sunstroke-induced dehydration (had those before) and would be fine just as soon as I'd get enough water in my system.

After two pints of water I convinced poor Marvely to continue my pedicure and kept drinking water. I felt so sorry for her after my treatment was done that I gave her a big tip and bought something she recommended but I'll likely never use [emoji6]

And I gave her my WOW card.

So a word of advice, my friends: Even if it feels nice and cool in the breeze of the HOHO bus, wear a hat, use sunblock and drink more than you think you should.

But at least my fingers and toes were pretty!

Hi Sinny,

 

:DYay -- a Sinppu review! Fun,fun,fun! You crack me up.

 

Unneccessary comments? Hell no -- keep em coming - they're the salt in the soup (lol -- I don't even know if that's a saying in English as well...if not I guess it sounds pretty weird...oh well, who cares?)

 

Stef

Hi Stef!!

Thanks [emoji3]

I don't think it is a saying in English but I do know what you mean... in Finland we'd say "The dot on the i" [emoji12]

Oh for crying out loud.

I'm so sorry for all the typos.

Cringe-worthy, truly.

The city of Palma in itself is very pretty.

We got well our money's worth out of the HOHO.

This evening we went to the WJ and saw the circus-themed show but weren't at all impressed. We found it chaotic and boring.

So not always right on the mark with the RCCL singers and dancers here either.

The view from the castle is just :)

This statue made us sing every possible song about jumping we could think of. You don't often hear a medley which includes Van Halen, Madonna, Kris Kross and House of Pain...

Love the Spanish.

If you hit a lamp post and your mirror falls off, you pick it up and put it back on.

Problem solved.

If you don't know what to do with your earphones, here's a solution or two.

Easy, right? No stress, amigo.

Palma is famous for its cathedral and Bellver castle and you can stop to see both.

The HOHO takes about 2 hours and you get to see a lot of Palma.

We soent maybe an hour in the centre before getting back on the bus.

Here it is very easy to DIY again. Just outside the terminal building is a HOHO bus stop.

Local bus to the city centre is 1,50 € and the HOHO was 16 or 17 € pp.

We went with the HOHO although our first choice would've been these really cute Tweezies. They seat two (small) people.

Lowry was a bit disappointed because we couldn't rent one as it was Sunday and the office wasn't open.

But he got over it in the HOHO quickly enough.

If you take the local bus, it will leave you here.

We didn't really know what to expect from Mallorca.

It has had quite a bad reputation in Finland as an island where all dorky people go on holiday, get boozed up, sunburnt and behave badly.

Mmmhmm. Rrright.

Well ok. The sunburnt part I can believe.

So. MDR again.

Escargot for me.

And something I really wish I could remember what rolls for Lowry.

Strip steak for both of us. This was the only time I had red meat on the cruise and it was OK. I'm not a vegetarian, but I never eat chicken or pork, do sometimes eat fish and seafood and on occasion beef and game.

This honey-walnut pie was to die for. Absolutely wonderful.

And Mr. Low-Fat strikes again.

And the girl who had no idea her dress shrank when the camera was taken out. I swear the hemline was three inches longer when I looked in the mirror.

The bus number 4 leaves from this square and the stop is clearly marked.

When you see these buildings on the left-hand side, prsee the button.

And if you end up here, you have gotten off on the right stop.

Then you just walk back to the terminal building and take the FREE shuttle bus. Couldn't get much easier or cheaper.

The drivers might not speak English and it's good to have small change (5 or 10 € note or coins) but showing how many people you are with your fingers and saying "billetes" (bee-yet-tes) will help.

That wasn't at all condenscending, was it? ;)

I really wanted to stay in Valencia. People deserve to know about this absolutely wonderful city.

Around this church were a lot of small streets and alleys that were completely quiet and had quite a magical feeling.

Now we didn't know much about Valencia but it did surprise us (and we heard later on that many others as well) with it's beauty and very soothing atmosphere.

Another hot day.

In Valencia (and all of Spain, really) public transport is cheap and reliable and well worth looking into.

There was a shuttle bus to the centre but we thought that the price of $18 pp was downright ridiculous.

Right down the pier there was a FREE local shuttle that took us to the terminal building.

Just follow these signs on the road...

...and you find the local bus stop.

Bus number 4 will take you to the Old Town for 1,50 € pp. It takes about 20 minutes.

I just noticed that the itinerary in the first post is wrong :eek::o

Ibiza was on Day 7 but and it moves the rest of the ports one day forward. Otherwise it's correct.

Sorry about that :D

I also want to thank everyone for your nice comments.

We have a lot of fun cruising and it's nice to hear that I'm able to communicate that to everyone here on CC as well :p:cool:

So on with the show -to Valencia muy bonita.

This evening our dinner was in Johnny Rockets.

The cover charge has gone up to $5.95 pp but we got the same treatment and good food for it.

And the fun we had was worth a lot more than the extra dollar.

And in honour of our American friends, we indulged in a 4th of July cupcake.

Tomorrow for the biggest surprise on this trip, Valencia.

Sailing away from Ibiza.

Back on the ship it was definitely time for ice cream.

We set ourselves in the orderly queue and Lowry made a good use of his McDonald's work experience as a teenager.

We played a round of minigolf as there wasn't much of a crowd.

And here is the happy winner. I beat the Mr. with 8 points which was pretty surprising. He's usually the aiming master in our family.

(I was soooo tempted to make a crude joke there...nnnggghhhh. Survived it.)

Board games were also available in the card room but we never got around to make use of them.

Lowry being all man-like and interesetd in pipes.

We spent a while talking about our holiday here in 2008 and pointing out places we remember. We also watched the planes. We love planes.

We also noticed a boat that wasn't probably as happy as we were.

We went back to the ship in no hurry.

There was just the 3 of us on the hilltop.

It was quiet and well, you just couldn't beat the views.

Cloudy weather is a bugger, isn't it? :mad:

Don't think it looks like much?

Well you'd be right. It doesn't.

But if you persist....

...you find this.