Trip Report-(Not Live) Regal Princess: Athens To Barcelona-"Our Totally Ruins Cruise"

[JimmyVWine]

Day 6 in Naples or, “Will Our Day of Ruins be Ruined?”

 

Day 6 of our cruise, October 13, brought us to the port of Naples, the same port my grandfather departed from when he left his homeland to venture off to the New World at the age of 14.  So there was a bit of emotion on my part as we arrived.  This was going to be the crowning glory of our trip and would bring all of the reasons for our travels together in one big, memorable trip to Pompeii.  If you’ve followed from the beginning, you will recall the story of SV’s college and graduate school adventures, and our desire to celebrate her accomplishments with two degrees in the field of Classical Archaeology.  She has studied all things Pompeii, and it would be here that she would take the reins from her father as the lead familial tour guide.  A passing of the torch if you will.  Today would be the seminal day of or “Totally Ruins Cruise”.  (Someone posted earlier that this title was “click bait” and I still don’t understand the reference.)  Our plan was to skip an organized tour, (“Dad!  How much money have you spent on my education?  Do you really think that we need a private tour guide after all of that?”) and spend as many hours at Pompeii as possible.  I did give SV the choice of hiring a guide so that she would have someone to geek with, but she declined with the scolding above.  And yes, we did just that, but I have to inform you that to our grave disappointment, it rained that day.  And when I say it rained, I mean it rained, and poured, and deluged. If it had rained as hard on that fateful October day in 79 AD, Vesuvius may very well have been doused and history changed forever.  So while we did get to spend a very long day at the ruins of Pompeii as planned, we slogged around in the cold rain, and I never was able to take my camera equipment out of its bag, so I have no pictures to share.  Memories, yes.  But no photos.

 

So without the ability to make this a pictorial essay, I will stick to the logistics of our day for the benefit of others who may wish to replicate the experience, (hopefully without the rain).  Knowing that there would be multiple ships in Naples that day, (I always check the port schedules to see who our competition will be for the day, and when we will arrive in relation to the thousands of other cruisers), and assuming that excursions out to Pompeii would be one of the top two activities that people would be booking for their day in that port, I decided that we might be able to beat the masses to the ruins by hiring a private taxi to take us from the ship directly to the entrance.  After researching the options, I settled on a company called “Naples Airport Taxi” and made an online request for private pickup for a one-way trip from the ship to the “Marina Gate” at Pompeii.  The cost was 68 E for the three of us, and I was grateful that we would not be beholden to the schedule of a bus tour.  The ruins were scheduled to open at 9:00 so I arranged for our taxi (a Mercedes private car, really, as it had no indicia of being a taxi at all), to pick us up at 8:20 for the 35-minute drive to Pompeii.  Everything worked out as planned except for the fact that the torrential rain made it difficult to meet up with our driver, owing to the fact of the hordes of people huddled under umbrellas trying to connect with their tour operators and the sheer number of vehicles in the pickup area hoping to catch the attention of travelers who wanted to get out of the rain.  But after exchanging a couple of text messages, our driver sent us a photo of the place he was parked, and we soon found him and were on our way.

 

I don’t know if it was my expert planning or the horrific weather, but either way, when we arrived at the Marina Gate (the Main Entrance), there were very few people there, and we were able to enter with our pre-purchased tickets like we had FastPasses at Disney World.  No line, no waiting.  A word on tickets.  “Skip the Line” prepaid tickets are available from a number of sources, or so it seems.  But I wasn’t quite sure who was legitimate and who was not, so we purchased ours directly from the official Pompeii site.  Their tickets go on sale around 30 days in advance of the time you wish to buy them.  With all fees included, our tickets were 16 E per person.  Again, you may see a slightly lower price offered from other sellers, and if you do an internet search for tickets, these other sellers’ sites come up in the search results well before you will find the official site, which in turn links you to a ticket seller called “ticketone”.  I can’t vouch for or criticize any other ticket sellers, as we only used the official site “pompeiisites.org” and that worked out just fine.  You print your ticket from a confirming email and bring that paper ticket with you to the entrance, using the “internet tickets” entrance to get right in.

 

So here we are at Pompeii, almost alone with no crowds to contend with.  We weren’t sure how long that would remain the case, so we set off to see as much as we could before the buses arrived.  It was a fabulous experience if not a fabulous day.  The rain hardly ever let up, but that did not deter us from our journey.  In all, unlike many organized tours that might offer a 4 or maybe 5 hour trip, travel time included, we stayed at the site from 9:00 until 3:30 non-stop with only bathroom breaks to slow us down.  I got a tremendous education from our tour guide and busted with pride with every new fact and detail that she pointed out. 

 

When it was time to leave,  we walked across the street from the main Marina Gate to the train station, bought one way tickets back to Naples, and boarded a 4:12 train that would arrive in Naples at 4:46, in plenty of time for the 6:30 “All Aboard” time.  Taking the train to Pompeii really is easy and convenient, with one caveat thrown in.  The Naples train station is not very close to the port, requiring about a 30 minute, non-scenic, somewhat uneasy walk.  Or a cab ride.  We thought about taking a cab to the station and then taking a train to the site, but we figured that once we were in a car, we might as well have the driver take us all the way to Pompeii.  But I was certain that on our return, the train would serve us well as time was no longer a factor.  I just didn’t count on the rain.  I had assumed when planning that we would make the 30 minute walk from the station to the port, but it was raining so hard when we left the train station that we decided to just take a cab.  Most (all?) of the cab drivers in the taxi line at the train station were expecting and  hoping for fares to the airport, and when it was our turn at the front of the line and we informed the lucky driver whose cab we entered that we were going to the Regal Princess, (we got in and shut the doors before telling him our destination so that he couldn’t refuse the fare) he told us that he would have to charge us a flat rate of 25 E for the trip.  I knew that I was being taken advantage of, but I was too cold and wet to argue, and I certainly wasn’t going to walk a mile and a half more in the pouring rain.

 

We got back to the ship wet and hungry, but full of memories from a family day spent at Pompeii.  KV won the battle for “first to shower”, so SV and I went up to the Lido Deck to find some food, lunch having been skipped this day.  The Horizon Court’s cupboards were bare, as we had entered in the dead zone between Lunch and Dinner, and we were too hungry to wait for Dinner Rope Drop.  So we walked under as much cover as we could find from there to the Trident Grill to get some cheeseburgers and fries to hold us over until dinner in a few hours.  It was still pouring, and there wasn’t a single chair hog in site as the entire pool area was as deserted as could be, save for one lone guy in a hot tub.  We laughed at the site of his towel draped over the railing, waiting for him to exit his bath and dry off.  The towel was wetter than he was. 

 

After we were all showered and dressed, we repeated what had become somewhat routine (in a good way, not a boring way) of getting some wine at Vines, easing our way to “our” table in Concerto, enjoying a nice “Dress to Impress” meal that included escargot, lobster and Beef Wellington, and then hitting up various lounges for music and more cocktails.  We ended the night at Club 6, more or less closing the place down a little after midnight, as tomorrow would be a Sea Day with no need to rise and shine any earlier than we desired. 

 

That finishes our day in Naples.  Sorry for the lack of photos.  I will make up for it in my report on Barcelona.  Happy to answer any questions anyone might have.            

 

[Senga]

@JimmyVWineThanks so much for a fun, interesting read and amazing photos.  We're on the14 night Enchanted September 2023 Athens to Rome.  Really found your advice on Kotor very useful.  A lovely family and a positive attitude!

[MustangGT]

@JimmyVWine - where did you go?  Anxiously awaiting more!  Loving your excellent reporting!  I feel as if I went along with you!

[JimmyVWine]

Days 7

The last day of our cruise was a Sea Day.  This is the second cruise where our last day was at sea, and I’m still not sure what I think of it.  It does take the pressure off of packing, but it also means that your second Formal Night, or Dress To Impress Night, or “Wear your very best tank top and torn jeans night” as we came to call it due to the attire of a person seated near us in the Dining Room that night, is on a port day, which tends to be suboptimal.  But on balance, and owing to the fact that we were going to spending two days on land in Barcelona seeing as much as possible in that time, the relaxing day at sea proved to be a welcome rest.  Unfortunately, the tail end of the horrid weather we had in Naples lingered as we traversed the Tyrrhenian and Balearic Seas.  The rain had subsided, but he wind persisted in spades.  We tried to enjoy as much time as possible up by the Retreat Pool, and finding loungers there was easy due to the fact that the weather simply did not favor that sort of activity.  But SV was heading back to Edinburgh soon, and we were going to be making our way back to New England, so the prospect of not experiencing a warm, sunny day on a lounge chair for the next 7 months was enough to cause us to tough it out.

 

Rather than make use of the Medallion App Ordering, we opted to walk around the ship to get our cocktails, making sure to hit up any bar that we might have possibly missed during or cruise.  By the end of the afternoon, we had crossed off every bar on our imaginary Regal Bingo Cards.  Trivia, a return trip to Alfredo’s and packing pretty much rounded out our afternoon.  I really have to stop asking the question: “What would you prefer to do for lunch…buffet or Alfredo’s?” because in all the times I have posed that question, the answer has never been anything other than Alfredo’s.

 

At dinner we said our goodbyes to our servers and promised Arthur that we would see him in April/May and would be requesting a table in his area.  He was all smiles, and I do hope that both his plans and ours remain steady and we get to see him again on Regal.  I just love the way he says: “Here you are Mr. James” as he brings me my glass of wine.  A few more cocktails and a trip to the Theater to see comedian Chas Burnett capped off the night.  Now, was Chas as entertaining as his namesake Carol would have been?  No, but we did enjoy the show.  Perhaps it was the wine and cocktails, but I think the three of us enjoyed the show more than most.  Back to the cabin for some last-minute packing and that ended our day, and for the most part, our cruise.  We had a 9:30 disembarkation time in the morning since we were not catching a Princess Transfer or a flight that day, so we had some time to spare, but we did make a promise to ourselves that we would be out of our cabin by 8:00, so we couldn’t stay out too much later this evening. 

 

Still come, our stay in Barcelona.  Happy to answer any questions that anyone might have.             

[JimmyVWine]

Day 8.  Disembarkation and Barcelona, Part 1, or “This Is What They Mean By Living The Sweet Life”

 

We got up, showered, and kept our promise to vacate our cabin by 8:00, meeting that deadline by about 6 seconds.  We headed to the International Café for a last round of breakfast, converse about our trip, plan the day ahead, and wait out the clock until our departure group was called.  SV walked down the stairs to try to find some seats, but KV and I had luggage that needed to be taken down by elevator/lift.  Only we didn’t want to be elevated or lifted.  We wanted to be descended or lowered.  But somehow “Descender” does not sound the same as “Elevator”.  Either way, as anyone who has experienced departure day knows, getting onto a downward elevator from a middle deck is next to impossible.  So eventually we made the play of getting on an upward elevator, (elevating, or lifting as the name suggests) so that we could later descend once the elevator had reached its apogee, wherever that might be.  So from Deck 10 we ascended to deck 17, boarded a full allotment of passengers, and then made the trip down to Deck 5 stopping at every single deck on the way down.  About half the time the people who were waiting self-declared that there was room for one or two more people (there wasn’t) and half the time the waiting passengers harrumphed and conceded that they would have to wait some more.  Once we made it to Deck 5, we pushed the button for the deck that seemed to have the most waiting passengers so perhaps they could figure out that when the now-empty elevator stopped on their deck, they could/should simply get on it regardless of which direction it was heading.

 

When our Pink group was called, we somewhat sadly walked off the ship, but once we collected our luggage, the sadness was replaced by excitement knowing that we would soon be exploring Barcelona, a place that neither KV nor I had been to, but one that SV had spent some time visiting her best friend who studied there while SV studied in Athens.  So once again she would be our guide.  We got in what proved to be a very long line for a taxi, but there really was no other good alternative to take us where we needed to go.  We tried every rideshare app we could while we were in line, but none of them were able to connect us to a driver.  So we waited in the line for about 30-40 minutes and were on our way.  If you are doing a land visit to Barcelona, either build that time into your day, or arrange for a car service before you arrive.  If you are thinking about public transportation such as the Metro or anything similar, remove that thought from your mind.  The port is simply not situated such that walking anywhere from the ship other than into a bus, car or taxi is feasible.

 

So this ends any and all discussion of the Princess Cruise part of our trip.  If you are a purist and don’t want to or care to read anything about the land portion of a Trip Report, stop right here.  I won’t judge.  (But you will miss some cool stuff.)  For those of you who want to come along on our journey to Barcelona, hop on board.

 

Our hotel for the next two nights was called “UpSuites BCN”.  It was next to impossible to find accommodations that would suffice for three adults, especially if we wanted to give SV her own room.  Typical hotels just don’t seem to have such options, and even finding a room with two queen beds which are so common in the U.S. didn’t seem to exist.  So after a lot of research and review-reading on the website that Advises people on their Trips (still not sure if I am allowed to say that name here), I honed in on UpSuites.  Still not sure if this is really a hotel, or a series of privately owned apartments rented out through a common booking agent.  Either way, I was able to make a booking online through a website that was very Expedient (still not sure if I am allowed to say that name here), and when we arrived there was a reception area one floor below street level, or -1 in European parlance staffed by a very kind and helpful gentleman.  We had expected to have to drop off our luggage being that it was still so early in the morning, about 10:30 when we arrived.  But to our amazement and luck, we were told that our “room” was ready for occupancy and that we could go straight there.  So why did I put the word “room” in quotation marks?  Because what we booked for just under $200 per night was not a room by anyone’s definition. It was a two-story, two bedroom, three bath, full kitchen, full outdoor deck, full outdoor patio with a full dining table and 6 chairs, SUITE.  And I mean SWEET!  Thoroughly modern in an IKEA kind of way, but not a thing in the place was more than a year or two old.  Located in a somewhat residential neighborhood and 7 minutes from one Metro stop and 9 minutes from another, we could not be more pleased with the location.  It’s not in the Gothic Quarter, or steps from any museum worth noting.  But it is convenient to coffee shops, small groceries, an amazing charcuterie shop, a fruit stand, and pretty much anything else that we would need for some al fresco dining on our patio with full dining table and 6 chairs.  Below are some photos of our Unit that I borrowed from the establishment’s website.  If you look closely at the photo with the long white credenza, you will see a small stone bust on the right side.  That is where I place my wine glass for the photo that appears in Post #6 of this thread.

 

After unpacking we opted to go out for some provisions with Spanish wine, Spanish cheese, Spanish olives and Iberico Ham on our “must obtain” list. Seemed like lunch on our patio was what we all craved.  So we headed out and achieved all of our shopping list goals and then some.  I got my portable speaker hooked up to my phone and put on a Spanish guitar playlist that I curated for weekend afternoons by our pool and we were in heaven.

 

Next up, we venture out into the city.

 

 

[JimmyVWine]

Our Time In Barcelona, Part 2 or “You Mean the Guy Who Called All Those Super Bowls?”

 

Sated and happy, it was time to begin our self-guided (or SV-guided) tour of Barcelona.  Knowing that SV would show us around, I had actually done precious little planning or research for our time in Barcelona, which for anyone who knows me, sounds ...

 

 

But it is true.  So as we got ready to leave our “room”, I asked SV where we would be going.  And she replied:  “Do you like Gowdy?”  And I said: “You mean the guy who called all those Super Bowls?  Sure!”  She gave me that tilted-head puzzled look that a dog gives you when you fool yourself into thinking that he understands what you are saying, and came back with: “What?  No.  I mean the architect” to which I replied: “You mean to say that in addition to hosting all those Olympics and Rose Bowls, he designed buildings too?  You mean THAT Curt Gowdy?”  Exasperated, she said “No.  Antoni Gaudi.  The renown Spanish architect.”  I shrugged and said “Lead the way.”  So off we went on a sun-drenched, hot for October day in search of the life’s work of one of the most ingenious, original and controversial-for-his time architects who ever put pencil to paper. 

 

Never having been to Barcelona and honestly not knowing much about it, my thoughts are these.  In most of Europe’s great cities, there are any number of museums to go to in order to see the artistic masterpieces of the region.  But Barcelona is its own museum.  Until you have been there you cannot appreciate what an architectural masterpiece the city is.  All one needs to do is look up and you feel as if you are in a museum.  Are these works of art masquerading as buildings or buildings masquerading as works of art?  As if to dangle that question in front of us, Gaudi created Casa Batllo to put the masquerade right in front of our very eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And when asked to build a house with iron railings, Gaudi challenged that notion as if to say, “I’ll give you iron railings!”

 

 

 

On and on we strolled, jaws dropping at every turn, astounded at what an architectural marvel this city truly is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked probably close to 4 miles over the course of the afternoon, stopping on occasion for espresso and ice cream as the mood hit.  Our agenda was no more ambitious than walking and looking up.  Seems pretty simple and unfulfilling but trust me.  For an afternoon in Barcelona this is more than enough.

 

 

We returned to our abode and got ready for dinner.  What little research I had done in advance of our arrival focused on food.  No great surprise there.  We would only have two nights for dinner, and I wanted to make them count.  For the first night, I made an “early” reservation at 8:00 at a highly-rated restaurant within a few blocks of our hotel.  It has (at least to me) the odd and incongruous name of “Jobs”.  The restaurant did not seem to be paying homage to either Steve or employment, so if there is a joke in here, I missed it.  But what I did not miss was outstanding Catalan cuisine and a particular dish that will haunt me until I make it myself, which I promise I will.  We enjoyed Anchoas, (anchovies),  Patatas Bravas which SV insisted we order and try, a delicious local burrata, steak tartare for SV, melt in your mouth beef cheek for me, and the dish of the evening, KV’s Veal cannelloni with a morel cream sauce.  I cannot get this dish out of my head.  The cannelloni itself was 10 inches long if it was an inch.  And stuffed with either braised veal shoulder or short rib meat placed atop a delicate sauce of morel mushrooms, cream, and stock.  As wonderful to look at as it was to eat.  I will not rest until I replicate some form of this dish, perhaps with oxtail, or duck thighs or short ribs.  The three of us capped off our meal by sharing two desserts, a chocolate coulis with hazelnut ice cream (to see if the kitchen could challenge the “Viking Ship” hazelnut dessert by Norman Love), and a passion fruit cream with coconut foam.  Both were outstanding.  Though I will say that the Norman Love Viking Ship does stand up to pretty much any dessert I have had on land, irrespective of the number of Michelin stars the establishment might have earned.

 

We walked (or waddled) back to our hotel, grabbed a bottle of Rose and headed out to the patio to enjoy the evening air until either it got too cold, or we got too tired.  The two seemed to happen in unison.  So we called it a night and rested up for our next big Familia adventure.    

 

Edited November 10, 2022 by JimmyVWine

[buckeye7]

Wow. Your trip reports are the best I’ve ever read!!! Please write when you take your next cruise! Also, we will be spending 2 days in Barcelona  pre-cruise this spring. Can you give any more detail about how to book that apartment? Does “upsuites” mean that exact apartment or are there others? Thank you!!

[JimmyVWine]

29 minutes ago, buckeye7 said:

Wow. Your trip reports are the best I’ve ever read!!! Please write when you take your next cruise! Also, we will be spending 2 days in Barcelona  pre-cruise this spring. Can you give any more detail about how to book that apartment? Does “upsuites” mean that exact apartment or are there others? Thank you!!

Thanks. UpSuites BCN is the name of the establishment and will come up in any internet search.  We got a good rate on the online booking site I alluded to, but I am sure there are other ways to book.  I used the online site because I was a little unsure what I was getting, and knew that any issues or refunds would be easier using a stateside booking system.  But now having been there, I would have full confidence in them.  The "front desk" (really a basement desk) manager was super kind and helpful.  Even booked us a taxi to the airport on our departure date.  I don't know what the other units are like, but ours was Unit 1 with the entrance, one bathroom, the kitchen, living room and patio on the street level, and the bedrooms, two more bathrooms and a deck one floor above accessed by an internal staircase.  

[buckeye7]

2 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Thanks. UpSuites BCN is the name of the establishment and will come up in any internet search.

Thank you! I quickly did a search and they are booked for our dates. But what a great tip for someone heading to Barcelona!

[NownZen]

Gaudi's Sagrada Familia Cathedral is well worth a visit. I was not particularly impressed with the outside but the inside was great. It looks like a forest with the columns.

[JimmyVWine]

40 minutes ago, NownZen said:

Gaudi's Sagrada Familia Cathedral is well worth a visit.

No fair skipping ahead!

[JimmyVWine]

Our Time In Barcelona, Part 3 or “Yes, It’s Worth It!”

 

What little planning and research that I did do in preparation for our time in Barcelona included carving our time to visit La Sagrada Familia, (henceforth “LSF”).  In so doing, I came to learn that the admission price isn’t cheap.  Indeed, it seemed unusually high for a cathedral.  As many of you reading this know and understand, visiting cathedrals is one of the seminal activities that travelers partake in when visiting the great cities of Europe.  If I tried to list all of the cathedrals that I have been to in Europe, I’d be here all day.  Heck, I think I’ve been to five just in Belgium.  But I don’t recall any of them being quite as unspontaneous or costly, so I had to check with SV to see what was up.  I knew that she had been to LSF on her prior visit to Barcelona, but also knew that as an Archaeology Student in Europe, she had a UNESCO admission card as well as a student museum card that got her in to pretty much any facility or location gratis.  With that perk now gone, I had to get some advice on whether gaining admission into the interior of LSF was really worth the fees being charged, which were 26E per person for basic admission; 30E for admission and a guided tour in the language of your choosing; and 40E for admission, a guided tour and access to one of the two Towers (Nativity or Passion).  These prices were all a far cry from dropping a few bills into a donation box.

 

We Facetimed to discuss, and I put the question to her directly.  “Is it really worth almost $150 (using the exchange rate at the time) for the three of us to take the full tour?”  And she said “Oh yes.  Yes, it is worth it.”  So I returned to the official (and very slick) LSF website and booked a 1:00 tour with Tower access for the Sunday that we would be in town. The price includes access to the App from which you can also download an audio guide.  So now a note on planning your visit.  As noted earlier, I am an obsessive planner (usually) and book/reserve as much as I can in advance.  I prefer the “no surprises” approach to traveling.  But I know that there is another side to that coin, and that is the spontaneous, wake up and decide what to do that day type of traveler.  A word of caution to the latter.  While I don’t know if this is always the case or if LSF is still operating under some cautious health guidelines, but if you want to gain entrance to the cathedral you MUST book in advance on the website.  There were plenty of signs that said something to the effect of: “No Tickets Sold On Premises.  You Must Book Online.”  Now, I don’t know if you could simply go on to your phone and book online right there and then, but I wouldn’t advise it if you want to take a tour.  I booked at least 6 weeks in advance and the three of us got three of the last four slots available for the 1:00 tour, (in English) and several other tour times were already sold out.  So unless you want to book a tour in Swahili, I would not count on being able to get a slot at the last minute, or standing there on the sidewalk by the entrance.

 

With tickets booked, you then download the app and your tickets will appear in the app.  Even though you could download and add them to your Apple Wallet, when we checked in for our tour, the agents still wanted to see our tickets accessed via the app and didn’t really care about the version that I had put into my Wallet.  As I said, this is about as unspontaneous as a cathedral can be, but given the size of the crowds, I can forgive them.  But that brings me to another point I’d like to make.  Without getting into too much of the history or backstory, construction began over 140 years ago, started under the plans and oversight of Antoni Gaudi, it is still unfinished with much evidence of construction taking place.  And over the years, subsequent architects were brough in to assist with the completion and were allowed, indeed required, to put their own designs into the project as Gaudi left behind no definitive drawings for others to follow. So from the outside, you can see parts of the structure that are older and stained from years of soot, and other areas that look brand spanking new.  And there is construction scaffolding and netting in many places.  But the real reason that I raise all of this is to pose a question that probably has no answer at this time.  Once the temple (which is what it most commonly called there, though I confess to not knowing the difference between that and a cathedral) is finished and serves as a place of worship, is all of this circus-like atmosphere of tourists and apps, and pre-purchased tickets going to go away?  We were there on a Sunday which one would expect would be a time for services and solemn reflection.  But in its current state of construction and curiosity, it certainly did not seem to be serving that sort of function.  I guess we will know in another 10 years or so when construction is slated to be complete.  Our guide put the finish date much closer in time to today, but I have my doubts given what we saw.

 

So with that, let me start off with some pictures of the exterior.  If you have seen a picture of the entirety of LSF, it was probably taken from at least a mile away.  When you are there on the sidewalk outside of the structure, it is simply too massive to get a picture of even one-tenth of the building.  The best you can do is focus in on certain points of detail and let them tell the story.  Here you can see some of the construction netting and an example of how 140 years of construction have caused older parts to look weathered in comparison to newer areas.  They also show some of the whimsy and detail employed to tell a story through imagery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Imagine a cathedral designed by Dr. Seuss clutching a bottle of Absinthe.  To say that LFS is like nothing you have ever seen before would be the understatement of the century.  Or of a century plus 40 years.  A mixture of unfamiliar playfulness and traditional religious iconography.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But then we get to the inside.  Oh, the inside.  For that we need an entirely separate post.

[JimmyVWine]

Our Time In Barcelona, Part 4 or “The Master Class”

 

As noted in the prior post, we had purchased the “Full Monty” 40E tour and we met our guide outside where we were provided personal listening devices wirelessly connected to our guide’s microphone so that he could speak in a reverent volume level with us still being able to hear him.  Our guide was very informative, and the dialogue provided was almost more philosophical than historical.  It is very difficult to describe what you are seeing, but perhaps easier to describe the emotions that you are experiencing as your eyes dart around from place to place.  We received an education on how form followed function, even if the forms themselves were so unique and original.  We received a thorough walk-through of the interior and then exited to learn more about the exterior and the meaning behind many of the seemingly odd details added to the building, such as the hard-to-miss fruit.  Once the tour was over, we were given ample free time to go back into the temple for as long as we wanted, mindful that we had a one-hour window in which to enjoy the self-guided portion of our visit, which would be the Tower Tour.  More on that later.  For now, I would use my free time to stretch and test my photography skills. 

 

There are many definitions of “photography” but the one that I like best is the art of capturing and recording light.  Pretty much every syllabus of every photography course will include as required reading: Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson.  Exposure is everything.  Countless settings on your camera are designed to be tweaked and experimented with to try to do justice to the light and shading of what your eyes are seeing.  Under ordinary circumstances, this can be rather straightforward.  But the interior of LSF is anything but ordinary or straightforward.  Imagine a forest of trees reaching up to the sky, trunks and limbs casting shadows, and all the while a sunrise and sunset simultaneously bathe that forest with contrasting shades of blue and gold.  Quite simply, trying to photograph the interior of LSF is nothing short of a Master Class in exposure.  I am far from a professional photographer--miles and miles away if I am being honest.  But I viewed the opportunity to photograph the interior of LSF as sort of a final exam in this Master Class. Let’s see what Mr. Peterson taught me.  I will say that I have never worked so hard to capture and record the light that I was seeing, and in the end, give myself a C+.  The builders of this amazing edifice used many tricks and techniques to cast natural light through profoundly brilliant stained glass to create an interior forest lit by angels who were intent on showering their world with colors cast by the hand of God.  Everywhere you look, you see something whimsical yet sturdy.  Playful, yet purposeful.  Blue at one moment, and gold in the next.  Here are some pictures showing the tree and leaves imagery that unmistakably dominate the interior theme. 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Natural light passes through glass to give the impression that the sun is rising allowing you to confront the dawn of a new day with anticipation of the wonderment that God has in store for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the same time, but on the opposite side, natural light passes through glass to give the impression that the sun is setting, causing you to contemplate the end of a day, left to think about what God had provided for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And in some places the two become one, with the collision more so than the blending of the palettes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So much to take in and so much to try to capture.  On a geeky technical note, I would offer that out of nothing more than a bit of frustration, I found that the best practice for me was to set my camera to a bracketing range of +/- 2/3 which allowed me to take three consecutive photos, the first in what the camera detected would be the “best” exposure setting, and then two more photos, one being set to 2/3^rds of an exposure setting darker and the other being set to 2/3^rds of an exposure setting brighter.  There did not seem to be any consistency when I went back to review the photos.  Sometimes the camera chose the best exposure automatically, sometimes the darker photo was the better choice, and sometimes the brighter option was preferred.  I also played around with spot metering and evaluative metering finding the latter to work out better. ISO was set to 800 sometimes and 1600 other times, explaining the graininess of the images.  No flash, of course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hoping that I had managed at least a few “keeper” photos, we headed over to the area where our Tower Tour would begin.

[Murray's Pop]

On 10/25/2022 at 12:40 PM, Steelers36 said:

This was our experience on the Regal as well.  I spoke to a DR host on the afternoon of embarkation and he has us setup right away.  We did ask on our own volition to move after a week to 10 days for a quieter section near the front and had a better wait team to go with it.  We were then offered an even better table with the same waiters for the final segment since it was open for the taking.

 

IMO, the dining team on Regal does a great job working with guests to provide a TD experience.

 

I asked some questions of a couple of senior staff, but never did get around to an audience with the DRO.  At first, the Patters listed all DR's as opening at 6pm, but they really opened at 5:30pm.  I asked what they were doing with guests who booked prior to 5:30pm in DMW pre-cruise and they were being accommodated in Allegro. 

 

Club Class has been moved down to Deck 5 Mid-ship (Port side).  The other side is for Walk-Ups as I understand it.  Deck 6 Mid-ship where we were had both walk-ups and res.  And also TD set tables.  So, we got the DR we wanted and the TD experience and was quite pleased.

 

We used the DR a lot for breakfast and rarely for lunch.  Service could be slow waiting for mains, so you had to let waiter know if you wanted to move things along.  Lots of nice staff. 

 

It's unfortunate the System is not up to doing what it should, but the Regal team is doing a great job managing it IMO.

So Club Class dining has moved from deck 6 port side to deck 5?

[Kay S]

Fabulous photos.  Barcelona was on my cancelled covid cruise in 2020, but I will get there someday.  

[NownZen]

The photos of the Familia Sagrada are beautiful. This is one place where the cameras do not do justice to the immersion in the actual site. The wrap around experience is wonderful.  Photos are like looking at a forest from a distance. The nice part is that, after being there, the photos bring back that immersive feeling.

[JimmyVWine]

Our Time In Barcelona, Part 5 or “And Now, The End Is Here. And So I Face That Final Curtain”

 

We are now at the point of our “tour” that allows us access to one of the Two Towers, which sounds rather Tolkien, and truth be told, what we saw close up could very well have been built by or for dwarves and fairies.  First, a word on process.  To call this part of the admission ticket a “tour” is a bit of a misstatement as it isn’t really a tour at all.  Rather, you have purchased access to an elevator (and here, it really does “elevate”) to the top of one of the two towers from which you walk down (and down, and down) a skinny spiral staircase with points along the way to stop on outdoor platforms to look at the view of the city and get a closeup view of many of the details that one must strain to see from the street.  It is all self-guided, and before you board your lift, you must deposit most of what you are carrying into one of many lockers that reside right next to the lift.  Again, one must wonder what all of this will look like when the temple is completed.  Will this place of worship really resemble an amusement park ride where you must store your belongings into lockers? I suppose so.  There is way too much money being made here to stop anytime soon.  As I understand it, the promise was made to fund this project entirely through private sources with no contribution from public sources.  To operate the locker you must insert a one Euro coin which will be returned to you upon the retrieval of your belongings.  So while you will not be out the Euro at the end of the day, you will need the Euro to operate the locker, and storing your belongings is non-negotiable.  You can take a purse and small camera bag but that is about it.  And upon descending the spiral staircase, I can see why.  It is narrow and you will want your hands free to hold on to the handrails.  If you are claustrophobic or acrophobic, this is not the right choice for you.  If you are arachnophobic, this should be ok, as we did not see any arachnids along the way.  

 

The elevator shoots you up quite quickly, and soon you find yourself exiting at the top of whichever spire you elected when you purchased your ticket.  Again, the choices are “Passion” and “Nativity” although if I am being honest, (and I always try to be), we didn’t really notice any overt religious iconography that would indicate that we had chosen the Passion Tower.  But what we did see was some incredible detail that is astonishing close-up, but would surely be missed from street level, causing one to wonder why the builders were so meticulous about creating details that hardly anyone would ever see.  Many of the details are sort of like “Easter Eggs” that code writers build into computer programs.  Wait a minute.  Easter Eggs?  There’s the connection to the Passion!  The following photos were all taken from eye level along our descent down the stairwell, on outdoor platforms built for viewing. As you can see, there is still a lot of construction going on causing me to believe that the two-year timeline for completion is probably off by at least eight years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the time we completed our descent, we were a bit leg weary and used the next 20 minutes to sit in one of the pews that occupy the center of the temple facing the altar to be used for quiet contemplation, prayer, or in our case, rest and relaxation.  It is a no-talking zone, so we enjoyed the quiet and took in more of the outstanding view.

 

From here we headed back to our hotel via Metro.  I neglected to mention at the outset that LFS sits atop its own Metro station, so getting here is a breeze from any part of the city.  After freshening up, we had one last stop on SV’s itinerary to complete our short stay in Barcelona.  I had booked a dinner reservation at a recommended restaurant in the Gothic Quarter called Viana, (more on that in a bit), so SV thought that it would be a good use of the time between our return to the hotel (4:00 p.m.) and our reservation (8:00 p.m.) to stroll through the Gothic Quarter to get an entirely different, non-Gaudi perspective of the city.  So after refreshing and taking the Metro to a station at the edge of the Gothic Quarter, we arrived around 6:00 with two hours to stroll, shop an people watch.  Included in our little tour was a stop at the Cathedral of Barcelona which resembled much more of what one would expect from a European Cathedral as compared to LFS.  Being a Sunday, there was a Mass taking place, so we enjoyed the view from the outside and the courtyard, getting yelled at by swans a bit, which was fun.  Because it was getting dark and we were headed toward our dinner, I left my camera behind, so I don’t have any photos of the Gothic Quarter, but I can wholeheartedly recommend spending time there getting lost, and then rediscovering yourself, admiring architecture that could not be more different than what we saw along the Gran Via the day before. 

 

On to dinner.  Finding a highly recommended restaurant in Barcelona that is open for dinner on a Sunday is not as easy as it might seem.  Sunday really is a day of rest for many establishments, and the early afternoon “siesta” is a real thing where shops close for a couple of hours, so bear all of that in mind.  But my research led me to Viana for dinner, but Google maps led me elsewhere.  Sort of.  We followed our trusty app map to the address that it promised was Viana, but it was only half right.  Probably my fault, not the apps.  It seems that there are two, related Vianas.  The first, where we arrived, is more of a bar or tavern.  Much more casual than I had expected when I made my dinner reservation.  I was looking for more “high end” as the place to enjoy our final meal as a family unit for many months.  When I arrived to check in, the very helpful host informed me that my reservation was for “Gran Viana” which, as the name suggests is far more “Gran” than plain old ordinary Viana. Luckily, grandeur resides just around the corner, about a block and a half away and our host walked us there on pedestrian-only streets.  We were greeted, seated, and enjoyed a wonderful meal of Spanish food and wine, telling stories, laughing, and trying to plan when we would all be together again as a family.  Turns out that that will be Christmas on our side of the pond.  Gran Viana lived up to its stellar reputation and is highly recommended. 

 

After dinner we took the Metro back to our hotel, performed the least enjoyable ritual of any vacation—packing, and got ready for bed.  The following day, at around 1:00, we were met by the taxi that the hotel host had arranged for us in advance and made our way to BCN, as SV’s flight and ours were within an hour of one another.  We said our tearful good-byes at the airport and each headed home in different directions.  Our next adventure together will be sedate family time at my home around Christmas, and after that, KV and I will head over to Southampton at the end of April to meet up with SV in her country where we will board Regal Princess once again, this time to England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland.  Upon my return, I hope to write another Not-Live Trip Report to help me solidify my memories and give me good reason to process my photos in a timely manner.

 

So there it is.  At the outset I promised that this would be a long, self-indulgent trip report and I think I kept that promise.  And yes, I apologize for both aspects.  But these reports do help me preserve my memories, allow me to recall the funny little anecdotes that occurred along the way, and force me to do something with my photos other than leave them on my memory card.  And with any luck, I snuck in a few facts and suggestions that might come in handy.  I hope you enjoyed it.  I trust that if you have made it this far, you probably did.  And if you didn’t enjoy it, you gave up long ago and aren’t reading this.  So there’s that.  Farewell for now, happy cruising and be good to one another.

Edited November 11, 2022 by JimmyVWine

[ROWSE]

Loved your review!  

Thank you!!!  

[Texter2]

Thanks for taking us along! I enjoyed every minute!

[Essiesmom]

The discussion of La Sagrada Familia caused me to go back and browse through my pictures from my two visits.  First was in 2009, when there was a lot more interior work remaining.  Most of the tour was in the undercroft, as the nave was not fully open.  Then in 2012 we could see the nave, sit in the pews and marvel at everything.  There were places you could see down to the undercroft,  it it was not open to the public.  EM

[montythecat]

Thank you for such a beautifully written review. I am looking forward to reading your 

observations about the UK next year. As for the inside pictures of LSF, I think you

are being unduly modest by a significant margin by awarding yourself a C plus. They

way better than that and I particularly liked  8,9,11,12 and 13. I thought they were

spectacular with the framing of the pictures and the colours being more like an A.

I found LSF to be a very frustrating photographic experience which I failed to

solve. I just couldn’t get it right. You showed me how it should be done. I must

now go back sometime and give it another go.

 

[caribill]

Thoroughly enjoyed reading your review, both on the ship and on land. It was fun to revisit places we have been to and fun to learn about places we have yet to visit.

 

A great report with appropriate photos and the just right touches of humor.

[JimmyVWine]

4 hours ago, montythecat said:

I found LSF to be a very frustrating photographic experience

Agreed, and thank you for the kind words. I wasn’t kidding when I said it is a Master Class in exposure. I’m glad you enjoyed my efforts. I’ve never appreciated digital photography more. I can’t imagine how many rolls of film I would have gone through trying to get everything just right with no instant feedback available!  Reminds me of the time I photographed (on film) a sunrise and a late afternoon thunderstorm at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Spent a fortune on film and processing. LSF was even harder!

[JimmyVWine]

4 hours ago, caribill said:

A great report with appropriate photos and the just right touches of humor.

Thank you. I appreciate the kind words from someone who has shared so much here and from whom I have learned a lot. 

[kamelia]

On 10/25/2022 at 3:04 PM, JimmyVWine said:

One of the bottles was a Belle Glos, so we were good to go there.

As someone who enjoys Belle Glos pinot noirs, I'm curious to know if that was within your Plus package limit or if there was an upcharge, please and thank you!

 

I very much enjoyed your review, and you've definitely moved Kotor higher up my priority list!  We were weathered out the last time it was on our itinerary, so it became a "one of these days we need to try again" item.  I've now added, "soon."

 

If you are a paella fan, I highly recommend Restaurante Salamanca in Barcelona if and when you are there again.  Our tour guide in 2018 (retired 5-star hotel concierge, so he knows his stuff!) took us there and it absolutely lived up to his rave review.

 

Again, thanks!

Edited November 12, 2022 by kamelia