The cruise was great. It was a Holland America ship, MS Ryndam, that departed out of Barcelona. We flew in a couple of days early as we wanted to know Barcelona. The ports were Messina,Sicily, Italy, where we visited Greco Roman theater in the town of Taormina and saw Mt. Etna; Argostoli, one of the Greek Islands where we visited the town of Cephalonia; Brindisi, Italy, where we visited the beautiful little town of Lecce; Kotor, Montenegro where we fell in love with the old city; Rome, Italy, and the Vatican City, where we saw all of the ruins and museums; Florence and Pisa where we saw the statue of David and the leaning tower; and finally Marseille, France, where we were mostly ignored and snubbed. We won't be going back there. I ate too much but then that's not hard to do on a cruise. Great food and lots of it. We encountered warm weather and smooth seas.
We flew to Miami, then nonstop to Barcelona. With a population of over 4 million, it was the largest city we visited. It is one of those places that is full of life and energy. The streets and restaurants were crowded at all hours of the night and everyone seemed happy. The main drag is called Las Ramblas and that is where we spent our time. We love this city and want to return. Enjoy the sights:
A few comments here: There is a large open air market just off of the main drag. It must cover a couple of square blocks and we spent a few hours there in awe of the fruit, hams, fish and other goodies. It is a wonderful place. Also note what looks like a statue. It is a person, frozen in place until you toss a coin in the bucket. Then they become animated and pose for a picture. I'll show a couple more of them. The street is quite wide with a huge pedestrian mall in the middle.
Note the naked fellow playing guitar on his fourth floor balcony. I told you this place is great!
Jim
