5 weeks in Europe including 12 Night Royal Princess Grand Mediterranean

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Hi Everyone, we are back a couple of weeks from our five week holiday in Europe, including 12 nights on The Royal Princess cruising around the Mediterranean. I have finally organized the rest of my life so I am starting to write a review of our entire trip. We are a family of four, two children aged 9 and 11. The background first of all. We decided to holiday in Europe, because my husband and I ( sounding a bit royal there) love Europe. We planned to go to London, Paris and Amsterdam, the latter because DH’s father’s family is from there, and then we added Spain, as neither of us has been there and he wanted to see the Alhambra, and then seeing as were in the neighbourhood, so to speak, Turkey would be nice and why not a Greek island. At this stage we had no plan to cruise, and had never planned to cruise. We also had no plan to go to Italy as last time were in Europe, we spent quite a bit of time there. So after this, we decided we should ask the children where they would like to go. After explaining that California was nowhere near Europe and was therefore off the cards, they decided that, if they really had to go to Europe, perhaps Italy might not be too bad, as the did have the Colloseum and The Leaning Tower of Pisa. OF course, you can’t go to Italy and miss Venice, can you? Our original plan was to stay a few days in places and then either fly or train onto the next place, but of course in a limited time, this is not possible to cover all that we wanted to cover. We looked at bus tours, but of course you still have to pack up and move on and with kids, we were trying to not to do that every night, and then we hit on the idea of cruise. Looked at a few different itineraries, just sailing around Italy and then flying to Greece and Turkey, and finally found the Grand Mediterranean on the Royal Princess.

 

DAY 1

THE FLIGHT FROM HELL

Not because the planes were terrible or running late, or because the staff were rude, no just because we were flying from Australia and it is 24 hour in economy with children. (And I am not very fond of flying. In fact my original plan was once over there was to stay on the ground and train it everywhere, but it is actually cheaper and of course quicker to fly, so every time I turned around another flight had been added) Although, I must say, and I am biased because I am their mother, they behaved brilliantly. We love a screen. We were on a brand new British Airways 777 and they have the best in flight entertainment system, games,movies, TV shows kept them both entertained the entire way. We used frequent flyer points and I know they have a reputation of being hard to book, and we booked very early, believing the same thing, but it was really easy. No fussing with dates or times, all over the net and we used them for all of us. Also got a flight from Paris to Seville with them at the same time.

So we flew Sydney – Singapore – London – Paris. Arrived at Paris – Orly around 9 in the morning and caught a taxi into Paris. This was very easy to do, and there was no problem with four people or our luggage. We had booked an apartment in Paris, not far from Notre Dame, and fortunately they were able to let us in a bit early so we went straight there to drop our luggage. Otherwise we would have left it at the Gare d’Austerlitz station which has a left luggage section. The kids were very amused, at the airport, as the taxi driver was putting our luggage in the boot, Dad has hot footed around the taxi to get in quick and has hopped into the drivers seat, because where we come from, that is the passenger side. Even the taxi driver thought that was hilarious. (yes we had just come off a 24 hour flight, everything was eithr hilarious or a drama)

 

So we are off sightseeing to beat the dreaded jetlag, in the rain. We walked to Notre Dame. Even in the rain, it is a beautiful building. We were amazed by the number of padlocks on one of thee bridges leading to it. We have seen this in Australia, but not to this extent. We spent the rest of the trip comparing bridges with locks to the one over the Seine. We joined a queue for what we thought was to go into the Cathedral to have a look. This was quite a long queue and actually moving quite slowly, so we bought a hotdog from across the road and ate it while we waited. Eventually we got to front of the queue and discovered that we had actually joined to queue to climb the spires and onto the roof. With children this was way better than a musty old cathedral. Fantastic views of Paris, up close and personal with the gargoyles,which my son loved. Back on the ground again, we decided to walk to the Louvre. I love walking around strange cities, although I have been to Paris before, you get to see all the different building styles and you get an idea of the layout. First we tried to get Museum Pass from the Conciergerie, this is the prison where many of the aristocracy, including Marie Antoinette, were held during the French Revolution. We have been there before, well worth seeing, but we just wanted the pass so we could jump the queue at the Louvre, so we didn’t go in this time. However, they were not selling them on that day. We found out later that all of the monuments in Paris were free that day. which also explained the many French speakers at Notre Dame, all the locals were out. So on we walked,saw the Eifel Tower, so now the children have seen what they came to see “we can go home now” Made it to the Louvre, to discover that, of course, the queue is a miles long. At this stage we didn’t know about the free day, so we went to find tourist information to buy a card, this is where we found out, and of course with everything free and moneywise , there was no point in buying it for what we wanted to do. Wandered around the Opera District a bit and then walked home. Dropped into a green grocer on the way home to buy some veges for dinner and we also found a barbeque chook. Dinner sorted.

Tucked the children into bed, and our son, who is notorious for wandering and putting off going to sleep, was asleep in seconds.

 

If you have any questions feel free to ask. Hope I’m not too long winded. I love reading about other people’s trips and cruise critic was so much help in planning ours, I hope others find this helpful as well.

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DAY 2 VERSAILLE – EIFEL TOWER

 

Had an excellent sleep and a bit of a sleep in as well. Today we are off to Versaille. Walked to the Gare d’Austerlitz and caught the RER C train to Versaille Rive Gauche. We managed to find a ticket window to buy the ticket, although there were ticket machines everywhere, it’s just a bit tricky to work out which ticket you want. Here is why we wanted a museum card, 2 queues at Versaille , an hour and half queue to get tickets and a two hour queue to get in. We cheated. Sent DH into get tickets and the kids and I joined the the other queue to get in. Fortunately, the weather had cleared up and the kids had ipads. We eventually made it in, after putting everything through the x – ray machines. Versaille was absolutely packed, probably because it is closed on Mondays so all the buses were getting in early, plus it was a Sunday. It was a bit tough for the kids to see things, and they weren’t really impressed by it. We did try to limit art galleries and cathedrals, knowing that they wouldn’t be appreciated, but I really thought a Palace would be a hit. Especially as by the time we get to Amsterdam and London, we will be too late in the season to go inside the palaces there. They liked the gardens, and they were amazing, especially once they turned the fountains on. We walked down to see Petit Trianon, which I have always wanted to see. I’m not sure that Marie Antoinette quite grasped the idea of a simple life. We also saw Grand Trianon and then we caught the little train back to the Chalet, walked to the station and caught the train back to Paris. We got off the train at Champ de Mars, to go up the Eifel Tower. Another queue, an hour and a half. The museum card wouldn’t have saved us here, though, as they do not accept it. You can book online though. This was something the kids particularly wanted to do, in fact our son had visions of pizza on the lawn in front of the Eifel Tower. He’s seen it on some website. Too cold for that, and a bit damp after the rain the day before, so we settled for finding a pizzeria nearby. Of course the view from the Tower is spectacular. Although there are hordes going up, they seem to spread out once you are up there, so it doesn’t feel so crowded. Tried to pick out where our apartment was, but very tricky to see from so high. Had dinner, as I’ve said at a nearby pizzeria. We had pasta dishes and the kids had pizza. Stayed until it was dark enough to see the Tower do its sparkly light act. That impressed them! (As we continue this tour, you will find the children very difficult to impress) Caught the Metro home and collapsed into bed.

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DAY 3 – LOUVRE – L’ORANGERIE – ARC DE TRIOMPH

 

We had planned to go to Paris Disneyland today, but discovered that the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays, which is the day we planned to go there, so fortunately the pre-booked ticket to Disneyland was undated, so we swapped the days. We were off bright and early to beat the queue at the Louvre. We knew the kids wouldn’t be overly impressed with this, but we thought they should see the Mona Lisa, and then of course it has some really cool mummies and sarcophaguses (sarcophagi?) Well you, know, it was all a bit ho hum. DH and I loved it, you could just spend hours in there. Not with kids, this is where we discovered how fast you can get through things. We call it speed sightseeing) well worth a look, is the Medieval Louvre. The palace is actually built on the foundations of a medieval castle that was complete with turrets. (so the Louvre is a knockdown/rebuild) Down in the basement, all the foundations of that castle are still there, it was fascinating to look at.

We found a café for lunch and then walked up to L’Orangie. Another queue, not so bad this time. We are now seasoned queuers. When we were last in Paris this was closed for renovation, actually it’s been renovated twice since we were last here, and we saw its artwork at an exhibition in Sydney, so we were keen to have a look. We were disappointed. The massive Monet Waterlillies are amazing, but we weren’t really that impressed with the rest of the collection. We liked the Musee D’Orsay much better, or the Marmotten, which is all Monet. From here we walked up the Champs d’Elysee to the Arc de Triomph. Actually no queue here! We really like the view from here, you can see the Eifel Tower and because it is much closer to the ground, it is easier to pick out other landmarks. Even the children were impressed. (so, that’s two things in Paris) caught the train home, and found a café for dinner. There will only be occasional food recommendations, we were eating with fussy children, so we were eating in restaurants that had stuff they would eat.

[caribill]

Nice reports. Looking forward to the rest.

[The Big Booper]

Enjoying your well written and well thought out reports.

 

Our DS was so impossible at the ages of your kids that we never traveled with him, just sent him to sleep-away camp. And that was OUR vacation. ;)

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Yes, that is the thinking in our house now too. :)

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DAY 4 – PARIS DISNEYLAND

Caught the RER A from Gare de Lyon to Marne-la-Vallee-Chessy. Excitement for the day – there was drama on the line and trains not running right through to Disneyland. We were going to have to change to buses but luckily we were the first train through. We had prebooked our ticket so were able to scan and walk in. Now the children are regarding this as a fake Disneyland ie it’s not in California, so you an see how this day is going to go. And they are not really ride people. Our daughter to be fair, enjoyed it and regards it as one of her favourite things on the trip.She liked Sleeping Beauty’s castle, Alice’s Maze, Pinochios train ride and just the sheer magicality of it. Our son is a tough nut to crack, however and even is beloved Star Wars couldn’t raise a smile. We thought the ride simulator through space was great. I thought there would be more characters wandering around. I think to meet Mickey, you had to go to his house and find him. We did see some princesses in the castle though, so our daughter was happy. Just after lunch, It was a brief trip, we wandered over to the Disney Studio Park. I don’t know what I expected from this, maybe I thought it would be more “this is how things are made” so we were a bit disappointed. There were some great statues around, particularly like Wall – E and Eva. Caught the train back to Paris, spent some time wandering around the Latin Quarter looking for somewhere to eat. We did see, in our travels, this shop, full of space series memorabilia – Darth Vader figurines, Luke Skywalker, Star trek stuff, Daleks. Every small – and big – boys dream.

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DAY 5 – PARIS – MADRID – SEVILLE

I won’t bore you with the details. Had originally planned to take an overnight train to Barcelona, and then we were probably thinking of a train to Granada. Looking at Trafalgar tours we decided that we should go to Seville as well, so we started looking at flights and we were able to book a flight via Madrid with our frequent flyer points when we booked our big flights. Pre- booked a taxi to take us to Orly airport. The flight was on time, a bit quicker than scheduled and the flight to Seville from Madrid, was on time and arrived a little bit early as well. Grabbed a taxi from Seville airport to our apartment in the historic quarter of Seville. Seville was very warm, especially after Paris, which had been cool. We settle ourselves in and eventually took a wander out to find some dinner. The later eating times in Europe take a bit of getting used to. We tried not to be eating with the staff in Paris (which happened on our first trip one night) and we were getting a bit later, but in Spain, the eating time is really late. We managed to make it to 8pm, but even that was a bit early. We found a Tapas bar on the first night. DH and I liked it, our daughter liked a few things, she’s a bit more adventurous, our son is more adventurous with desserts, so there wasn’t much at the tapas bar for him. Oh well, he’s not fading away to a shadow.

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DAY 6 SEVILLE

We found a little hole in the wall café for breakfast. We were surprised at how late the sun gets up here. It was nearly quarter to eight. At home we are coming into spring so the sun is getting up about 6. Love this part of Seville, tiny little lanes and old shuttered buildings. We walked up past the Plaza Duque de la Victoria and past the Plaza Encarnacion. At some point we needed to turn right as we were heading to the Cathedral and the Reales Alcazares but we overshot. Seville is very deceptive, although the map looks all spread out it is actually quite compact. Never mind, sadly we had to wander through all the little winding backstreets to find our way. Lots of interesting little shops, lots of wedding dress shops, lots of beautiful flamenco shops. I was surprised by the flamenco dresses. When I think of flamenco dresses I think sparkly and frilly and low cut but in reality, they are very modest. They are made of lovely cottons, polka dots and a variety of prints. It was very interesting. Eventually, after a lovely, morning walk through Seville, we found what we were looking for. The cathedral wasn’t open until 11 so we went to the Reales Alcazares. This royal palace was originally a Moorish fort and has been added to over the years by various monarchs. It is just beautiful. Lovely, big cool rooms, amazing plasterwork and woodwork. The gardens are beautiful, separated into various “rooms” I guess is the best way to describe it. Our daughter has displayed a previously unknown love of gardens. First Versaille, now here. (This cannot go on, soon she will be casting a critical eye over the garden at home, and let’s just say, we are not gardeners) If you are ever in Seville, I can highly recommend visiting the Alcazares. It set the bar very high for the Alhambra in Granada that we are going to see in a couple of days. Having finished here, we found a lovely cool restaurant in a plaza around the corner to have lunch. By now it was quite warm. After lunch we went to have a look at the Cathedral, which is close by. This is where Christopher Columbus is buried and it is just huge! We climbed the Giralda, which is the bell tower of the cathedral. This has ramps, not stairs, to climb to the top, apparently so that they could take horses up there, as you do. On the way up, little rooms open up at the side of the ramp every now and then with bits and pieces related to the building of the cathedral and the Giralda. From the top you get amazing views of Seville and also the actual cathedral. Looking at the roof, you really get an idea of the size of it. Apparently it is the world’s largest gothic cathedral and the third largest church in the world. From here, we wandered some more through the streets of Seville looking for the Museo del Baile Flamenco, the Flamenco Museum. I thought this was a bit disappointing. The videos were interesting, showing the progression of Flamenco, but I thought there would be more costumes. What there were, were lovely but there weren’t very many of them.

After this, we headed for home, churros and chocolate on the way. Just bought some salmon and salad to have for dinner.

[Pia1913]

Enjoying this. Keep going. Waiting for the Royal report since we just spent 30 days on her.

[CI66774]

Love your review. Keep it coming! :D

[yukongold]

Informative so far...looking forward to the rest.

[Mom33]

What an ambitious trip you and your family took! Whew, I'm exhausted and I'm just reading along! ;):D My DH wants to visit Spain again and visit Seville and Madrid. We love the architecture and history we experienced on our 2 previous visits.

 

Looking forward to more!:D

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Yes Pia, we were on your Barcelona to Venice leg. I followed your TA live thread when we eventually got home.

 

It was tiring, but I think because we were so busy, we were sleeping well. Also, some mornings were a slower start than others. That's partly why the queues were so long at Versailles, we didn't get there until nearly 11. Although, that made any other line we encountered look good.

 

Spain is beautiful. We loved the place and the people and would go back in a heartbeat.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

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DAY 7 CORDOBA

This morning we were actually up a bit earlier to catch the train to Cordoba. We walked up to the Plaza del Duque and caught the number 32 bus to Seville Santa Justa. There are plenty of ticket machines around, and there is also a proper customer service ticket counter and they were very helpful. Santa Justa is a great station. There’s plenty of space to sit down and they have travelators to all of the platforms so luggage is very easy to move around. Today, that is not an issue for us, but tomorrow we are going to Granada with our luggage, so it’s good to know. The Spanish trains are great too. Numbered seating, so no fighting for a seat, clean, a screen so that you know where you are and which station is next, it also gives you the outside temperature and the speed the train is travelling at, and the announcements are in English as well as Spanish. It took us about an hour and a half to get Cordoba, but there are faster trains that take about 45 minutes. In Cordoba, we walked from the station down to the historic area, about a 30 minute walk. Our first stop was the Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos – the palace fortress of the Christian kings. This was interesting, but not as beautiful as the Alcazar in Seville. It does, however have a collection of beautiful and old mosaics. What is very impressive here is the gardens. They are cool and inviting with several large ponds. Now our daughter is starting to compare to our garden (I knew this would happen, ours is not coming up well in the comparison) It was in these gardens that Christopher Columbus met Isabella and Ferdinand and there is huge statue of the meeting. It is going to get hot, I wouldn’t like to be here earlier in the year, it must be absolutely baking, and I come from Australia, I’m used to heat. From the tower you can see the river and the Roman bridge that crosses it, the restored Muslim water wheel and a great view of Cordoba.

We had lunch across the road from the Mezquita in a courtyard restaurant that was lovely and cool and then we went to the Mezquita. This was a mosque that was converted to a Cathedral, and then apparently, the middle of the mosque was torn down and a cathedral popped into the middle of it. It is an amazing mix of muslim and catholic. There are beautiful mosaics with writings from the Koran, side by side with Christian saints and chapels, Arabic arches next to pointed gothic arches and a vast collection of gold alter plates and boxes. The thing that really took my breath away, I guess because I wasn’t really expecting it, was the rows and rows of red and white arches, spread across this vast space. When I was doing my research for this trip, I looked at what to see websites and read some books, picked out a few things that sounded interesting and that the kids might not mind too much, but for the most part I didn’t really look at photos. This lead to a couple of things being a bit disappointing, but for the most part, it lead to some wonderful surprises, and this was definitely one of them. After we had seen the Mezquita, we walked down to the river and over the Roman Bridge, sat down for a bit of a rest and then started the climb back up the hill to the train station, wandering through some of the Jewish Quarter on our way. This has beautiful buildings and winding streets with interesting little shops. It would be well worth spending more time here, but we had a train to catch, so we had to keep moving. The train trip back was uneventful, although it was a bit scary to see the temperature outside climbing as we got closer to Seville. I think it was about 34 celcius at Cordoba and by the time we got to Seville it was up to 37. Caught the bus back, all very easy. Had dinner that night in a sidewalk café on the Plaze del Duque.

[Pia1913]

Yes Pia, we were on your Barcelona to Venice leg. I followed your TA live thread when we eventually got home.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

Did we meet? So many people; so little time. :D

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DAY 8 SEVILLE – GRANADA

 

This will be a very quick post as it is a moving day. We prebooked a taxi to take us and our luggage up to Santa Justa station. We had prebooked our tickets to Granada using Rail Europe. But forgotten to print them out. Thank goodness for technology , as it was all stored on the tablet. Again, the ticket office people were very helpful and we were able to print them out at the station. Although, they did say the electronic version would be fine. This is a three hour train trip, through some beautiful countryside. Granada station is not as high tech as Seville and Cordoba, but it is all on one level, so easy to maneuver suitcases. Caught a taxi to Plaza Nueva where we were to meet the man to take us to our apartment. This apartment was small, although the bedrooms were a good size and very comfortable, but it had this amazing courtyard, and from the courtyard, we looked right up at the Alhambra. After settling in, we walked up to the Alhambra to print our pre booked tickets for the next day. We walked up the back way, which is a very steep climb, but after 8 days of walking around Europe, everyone’s fitness levels are up. I should say the grown ups fitness is up, the kids never had any trouble. We came back down the other side, which takes you through a narrow alley way with souvenir shops on both sides. How do these shops survive? They are all selling the same things for the same price, right next door to each other. Anyway, across the square and spent the afternoon wandering through the narrow alleys up to the Mirador de San Nicolas. This is one of the highest points in the Albayzin, the old part of the city, and gives a spectacular view across to the Alhabrim. Had some dinner in the Plaza Nueva.

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DAY 9 GRANADA

 

Unfortunately today, our son has woken up not feeling very well. This is unfortunate for him, as we have pre booked tickets for the Alhambra, so he is going to have to come. Our entry time for the Palacio Nazaries is for around 2:00, but my husband thinks we should be able to have a look around the rest of the grounds as they are not timed. We head up around 11 but the lady at the gate won’t let us in because our ticket says 2:00. We spent the morning siting under the shade of the trees out the front, relaxing. It was quite pleasant actually. But here is the thing. If you go further down the hill, there are other gates that you can get into the complex, without having to go past the lady, so you can have a wander before you go into the Palacio Nazaries. AT the Palace there is another man checking tickets, and he understandably, very strict about the times, but you certainly have a look around the King Carlos Palace and a few other things at an earlier time than on your ticket. We had a quick drink, and then walked down the hill, discovering the other gate in the process. Because our son was not well, we had a very quick look in the Palacio Nazaries, so unfortunately, I can’t go into great detail. It was beautiful, and very peaceful. Lots of “filigree “ work and marble. Palacio de Carlos V was impressive in its grandeur and my husband had a quick look in the museum before it closed and said there was some interesting things in there. We didn’t get to the garden as we didn’t want to keep DS out in the heat too much longer. So on returning to our apartment, he went to bed, my daughter and I had a peaceful afternoon reading and my husband went out on a stroll through some more of Granada. We had dinner at a restaurant by the river, and as we were walking back, it was getting dark, we walked past a shop selling the beautiful lantern lights in all different colours. It was like Aladdin’s cave. This dark little shop, with glowing jewel colours

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DAY 10 GRANADA

 

I felt bad about our very short visit to the Alhabrim the day before. Kids didn’t care, actually I think they thought it was a good thing, but DH’s whole reason to come to Spain was to see the Alhambra. So early this morning, he went out to see if he could snag one of the few daily tickets on sale and he was successful. So he had a ticket for around 12. I can report, that this time, he spent a great deal of time there, did the audio tour, the Generallife, all up on the castle battlements. He assures me it was absolutely worth doing and he enjoyed every minute of it. I have a sneaking suspicion that a couple of hours away from the rest of us my have been enjoyable. He’s not used to spending such a long time in our unrelieved company. He started the day with us, and we had a look at the Chapel Royal and Cathedral. Isabel and Fernando are buried in the Chapel Royal. There were a few interesting artefacts, Ferdinand’s sword and Isabella’s scepter and crown. The cathedral is one of the lightest I have been in. It’s all white marble inside. After the cathedral we had a wander around the Alcaiceria. This used to be the Muslim Silk Exchange, but was destroyed by fire and rebuilt. Now lots of tourist shops, but we don’t mind, we love a good tourist shop. We also had a look around the Plaza Bib – Rambla. This is a lovely big square with lots of restaurants around the edges. After DH had left for the Alhambra, the children and I had lunch in one of these restaurants. The choice being dictated by the fact they had Pepperoni pizza. Yes, that ‘s right, we have come to Spain to eat pizza. We got a bit lost getting back to our apartment, but we eventually got there spending a relaxing afternoon, until DH got home. For dinner we went to a quite a good restaurant that served Moroccan food, beautifully prepared and presented.

 

In our time in the South of Spain, the home of flamenco, we have seen no flamenco. It’s tricky with kids as most of the shows are late and the kids can’t go. There was one flamenco club on the way down from the Alhabrim that had an earlier show, but the kids weren’t interested and we weren’t sitting there with them whinging. On our way back tonight though, just in the square, was a Chinese girl, with a guitar player, just in her jeans and t shirt and flamenco shoes and she was fantastic, so we watched her for a bit before heading home

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Did we meet? So many people; so little time. :D

 

Hi Pia, yes soooo many people and very little time. I wouldn't have thought so, but if you were in the lifts with a boy who kept repeating what the elevator said, that was us. :D

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DAY 11 – GRANADA – BARCELONA

 

We were up early this morning to catch a flight to Barcelona. This was one of the trips I had originally planned to use the train for. It is, however, a lengthy and expensive process. There is an overnight train from Granada to Barcelona, or you can catch a during the day to Madrid and change to a train to Barcelona, or you can catch a train from Granada to Antequera Santa Ana and then change to a train to Barcelona. All in all, hauling around suitcases on and off trains was beginning to look very unattractive, so we stated looking at flights. Much cheaper and quicker .From Barcelona Airport, we caught a taxi to Barcelona Sants where we left our luggage at the left luggage depot and caught the metro up to the Sagrada Familia. We had pre booked our tickets for this, but we had problems printing them out. The girls at the Cathedral were very helpful and printed our ticket out for us. In all our touring around Europe, this was finest we ever cut it time wise. The luggage had taken a while to get off the plane, so we made it to the Cathedral about ten minutes before we were scheduled to climb the spire.

There is a lift that takes you most of the way up the spire and then you need to walk the rest of the way and then you walk all the way down. This is our first view of Barcelona and it is fantastic. The view of the roof of the Cathedral is fabulous too. You can see the detail on all the fruit and vegetable decorating the spires. I love the inside of the Cathedral. I love the way Gaudi has respected the traditional form of cathedrals, yet put his own spin on it. The whole thing seems light and delicate, belying the fact that of course it has to be strong to hold up the roof. Outside it’s interesting to see the construction of the façade and you can see how the concrete is poured and when you look at the adjacent façade, you can see where it is heading. I loved it, the rest of the family doesn’t agree, but you can’t please everyone. After we had some lunch, we wandered through the nearby park for a bit, and then caught the Metro back to Sants station to collect our luggage and grab a taxi to our apartment.

Spent some time searching for somewhere to eat, really not that great tonight. Maybe we will fin somewhere better tomorrow night.

[Pia1913]

Hi Pia, yes soooo many people and very little time. I wouldn't have thought so, but if you were in the lifts with a boy who kept repeating what the elevator said, that was us. :D

 

Since there were not many kids on board I think I know who you are. Maybe not you, but your son. ;)

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Yes, he is the memorable one;)

[The Big Booper]

DAY 11 – GRANADA – BARCELONA

 

We were up early this morning to catch a flight to Barcelona. This was one of the trips I had originally planned to use the train for. It is, however, a lengthy and expensive process. There is an overnight train from Granada to Barcelona, or you can catch a during the day to Madrid and change to a train to Barcelona, or you can catch a train from Granada to Antequera Santa Ana and then change to a train to Barcelona. All in all, hauling around suitcases on and off trains was beginning to look very unattractive, so we stated looking at flights. Much cheaper and quicker .From Barcelona Airport, we caught a taxi to Barcelona Sants where we left our luggage at the left luggage depot and caught the metro up to the Sagrada Familia. We had pre booked our tickets for this, but we had problems printing them out. The girls at the Cathedral were very helpful and printed our ticket out for us. In all our touring around Europe, this was finest we ever cut it time wise. The luggage had taken a while to get off the plane, so we made it to the Cathedral about ten minutes before we were scheduled to climb the spire.

There is a lift that takes you most of the way up the spire and then you need to walk the rest of the way and then you walk all the way down. This is our first view of Barcelona and it is fantastic. The view of the roof of the Cathedral is fabulous too. You can see the detail on all the fruit and vegetable decorating the spires. I love the inside of the Cathedral. I love the way Gaudi has respected the traditional form of cathedrals, yet put his own spin on it. The whole thing seems light and delicate, belying the fact that of course it has to be strong to hold up the roof. Outside it’s interesting to see the construction of the façade and you can see how the concrete is poured and when you look at the adjacent façade, you can see where it is heading. I loved it, the rest of the family doesn’t agree, but you can’t please everyone. After we had some lunch, we wandered through the nearby park for a bit, and then caught the Metro back to Sants station to collect our luggage and grab a taxi to our apartment.

Spent some time searching for somewhere to eat, really not that great tonight. Maybe we will fin somewhere better tomorrow night.

 

Simply an incredible edifice. The two of us took over 200 pictures of the complex, thank goodness for digital cameras and large memory cards. With my knees, no way would we even think of climbing to the top.

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I think so too, I love Gaudi's architecture, and the Sagrada is just awe inspiring.

It's a bit depressing doing stairs with the kids, they just bound up them. Our knees are ok, but our fitness levels leave something to be desired. :)