Day 2 – Saturday 23 June (Barcelona/Cruise):

We slept like logs and were up bright and early to pack.  We made it downstairs right on time, where we met Dad and Carmel.  Our tour guide from Barcelona Day Tours arrived soon afterwards and we set off on a 4 hour tour of Barcelona.

We started off at the Apple of Discord – adjoining buildings by different architects, reflecting very different styles.  We then continued on to a couple of other Gaudi-designed buildings.  Barcelona is all about Gaudi.  I know there are those who don’t "get" his work, personally I think he was a genius and I love his buildings.  As a kid I was a big fan of Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree books and whenever I see a Gaudi building I think that it would look perfect in a land on top of the Faraway Tree J

We made our way up to Park Guell which was amazing!  I was so glad that we managed to find a geocache there. 

The view from the top of Park Guell was incredible.

Next up was Sagrada Familia.  Another item ticked off the bucket list!

Wow!  What a unique structure and the details!  You could spend hours just wandering around seeing all the details that you may not notice at first glance.  We were lucky enough to get there early and on a religious holiday, so there weren’t long queues, which meant that we got to go inside. 

It was really incredible, the one side of the interior is more-or-less complete, so you get a good idea of what it will look like when finished.  This building has been under construction for over 100 years and they are hoping it will be completed in 2026 to commemorate the centenary of Gaudi's death  I’d love to come back and see it completed!  While queuing outside the church I got to taste my first churro…. Yummy!

After the Sagrada we headed to the site of the 1992 Olympic village, situated right by the sea, with beautiful yachts on the water, a really pretty area.

We continued along the shore area to the quarter where the fishermen and their families used to live – a really quaint area that has become very popular, with lots of seafood restaurants located here.

My favourite church was next, SantaMaria del Mar.  It’s an ancient church that was built for the families of the fishermen, who would go there to pray for the safe return of their men-folk.  So beautiful and with such atmosphere. 

We then went to the even older gothic Cathedral of Barcelona. 

Paula and I were not allowed in because we were wearing sleeve-less tops, so we bought (rather smelly!) scarves at the cleverly-located vendor nearby and were then allowed to enter.  It was also a very beautiful church, but Santa Maria del Mar was far more special to me.  The Cathedral of Barcelona adjoins some Roman walls  and we found a geocache hidden there.  We took a walk along a little lane, under the cutest old bridge

into a square that housed the City Hall

Having made our way back to our tour guide, we then went up the hill to Montjuic.  Stunning views of Barcelona! 

It was such fun to pick out all the places we had visited.  We also got our first view of our ship, waiting for us in the port.  Wow!!  How huge is that ship?!

Finally we visited the 1992 Olympic stadium which was quite impressive.  Our guide told us that the 1992 Olympics was a real turning point for Barcelona and that the positive effects are still clearly visible today.  

I am completely in love with Barcelona, our whirlwind tour was wonderful and certainly whet my appetite for more, but now it was off to our home for the next week:  Liberty of the Seas.  We got to the port and a porter immediately whisked our luggage off and we were directed to the check-in counters. 

We queued for a while and then had to wait for what felt like ages, but was probably only a few minutes, while they photo-copied our passports and reviewed our documentation for Calvin (a couple of special documents are required if you are travelling with a minor with a different surname) We had our photos taken for our sea-pass cards – these are cards that serve as keys to your room, security for boarding and means of payment for any extras. Once that was all sorted we were free to board the ship. After a brief stop at the chemist located in the duty-free section where Grant bought some sun-glasses, we climbed the ramp and were soon onboard the ship.

The ship is amazing, photos really don’t do it justice.  It is huuuuuge, accomodating 3634 passengers and 1360 crew! 

We immediately made our way to the Windjammer restaurant for lunch.  The ship has various restaurants, the Windjammer being a large buffet.  There was a really big selection of foods to choose from. 

After lunch we found our way to our room and met up with Lisa and Trevor who are in the room right opposite ours, yay!  

At this point I got into a slight flat-spin as everyone’s bags were there except mine. I had visions of my suit-cases bobbing around in the Med as we set sail….

While Paula and Cal unpacked Grant and I took a walk around the ship. We had a look at the pools, the rock-climbing wall, the flow-rider, putt-putt course, the gym (treadmills with the best view ever!) lounges etc etc. I never had a good sense of direction to begin with, but it seems that when on board a cruise boat I have no directional abilities at all! I will not be able to wander around on my own as I will never find my way back to my cabin again!

Soon it was time for the compulsory muster drill. We made our way to our designated area – Lisa seems to have the same problem I do with direction and yet she elected to be our guide, so this was quite the adventure – and sat through the drill, which involved learning how to don a life-jacket, let’s hope this is information I will never have to use!

After the muster drill Lisa and I (talk about the blind leading the blind) made our way back to our cabins to check whether I would be clothed during this cruise and indeed I will because (hooray!) my suitcase had arrived!

Supper-time came much quicker than expected! We had booked to eat in the main dining-room tonight, so we changed into smarter clothes and made our way to our designated floor (the main dining-room is a multi-storied thing complete with ginormous chandelier, very Titanic!) Dinner was very nice, with lovely options for each course and very attentive service.

We took another little stroll after supper and then made our way back to our cabin, where Grant and I unpacked and then it was time for bed. We were feeling verrry tired by this time. Our cabin is a fairly tight squeeze for four of us, but there are lots of little nooks and crannies to pack our bits and pieces, so I am sure we will do just fine!

Out of view in the above photo is an area with a couch, opposite is a large dressing table, and behind is the bathroom on the left and the wardrobe on the right.