11.06.18

Daily blogging started my fourth day away from Oz whilst S went out for a run to the dock. I know I talked up the back packers yesterday and I have to say waking up after an awesome night’s sleep is so welcome after a long day yesterday.

We consumed our included brekky out on the balcony and organised to head on a free city walking tour (leaving our bags etc at the backpackers for later in the afternoon). This one actually came to the backpackers to pick us up! I was super impressed! Personalised service on the free walking tour. (as you guys will know the “free” tour isn’t actually free as it is expected that you tip the guide at the end of the tour—but heaps better than trying to work out your own trip around town).

Before we knew what happened we were back down in the old part of town and realised that we had done the major sites the night before on our walk around town (without knowing what it was that we were looking at!).. So, Barcelona.. Originally a Visi-Goth town, then Roman, then Moorish + eventually Catalonian.. Like all cities in Europe oodles of history and amazing architecture. Started at La Catedral (not the famous Gaudi one but the main Cathedral in Barcelona) topped with Santa Helena (Constantine’s mother) before heading out into the old town.

Some interesting facts about Barcelona:- was the home of Hannibal (well at least he started his campaign from Barcelona).. its patron saint is George (the dragon slayer)~ yep the same as England.. St Valentine’s day is celebrated in April, men give women red roses and women give men a dictionary?!?!.. every street corner you turn is another amazing architectural vista and if you look up you are more than likely to see a dragon adorning the windows or door frames (in relation to the patron saint).. Santa Elena (not Helen) was martyred on one of the streets by the Roman’s for practicing Christianity, she was stripped naked and rolled in a barrel down the street three times and eventually had her throat cut to finally kill her off… poor old Elena, and lastly, it is one heck of a city to wander around and check out the little tiny shops + alcoves.. As I said yesterday; Barcelona, I’m in Love!

We had to leave the walking tour before we made it all the way down the Christopher Columbus statue near the port because we needed to get back to the digs to pick up our packs and hot foot it to the cruise ship terminal to board our boat. Packs on our backs and we headed to the metro to go down to the ship terminal + get on the tourist bus that takes you out to the terminals.. REALLY, really happy with my new pack—so much more comfortable than my old one and a real godsend when trying to navigate public transport/ stair cases/ cobblestones in Europe.

Made it down to the port (via Signor Columbus’ statue) and after negotiating a twenty min line up to check in got ourselves on the boat. I’ve alluded to this cruise in previous posts and I guess it is now high time to let everyone in on the secret.. Two days before we left Oz I found a dirt cheap, 8 day cruise return from Barcelona to the Italian + French coasts.. 300 USD plus port taxes, so just under 600USD in total for the trip for each of us… not too surprisingly we signed up and changed our Moroccan trip plans (we’re returning to Morocco after this so we will still see most of the country) to take advantage of this cheap deal. Only catch, the trip is on a Spanish speaking P&O style cruise ship~ so plenty of partying and the trips off the boat won’t really cater to us (unless we want to tag along on a Spanish speaking tour).. Considering the price we both decided that it was well worth the trip and that we don’t speak Arabic or French so we were winging it in Morocco so why would a Spanish speaking boat be any different (in fact, I speak a fraction of Spanish so I can at least order a drink or a coffee on the boat as opposed to my shit French + non-existent Arabic so could only be an improvement!)

We had read the reviews on Cruise Critic and they weren’t super flattering so my expectations were pretty low (complaints about noise Spanish ppl, having trouble being understood etc)! As it turns out the boat is perfectly fine ~ P&Oesk (definitely not Azamara Club, Dad) but still more than fine for the price we’ve paid! The staff speak basic English so being understood is easy + the boat is comfortable enough for the price we paid. We decided that the cruise was so cheap that we would invest in the full beverage package so that we could really enjoy ourselves on board (which has already been a god send once we saw the price for wine at dinner and tasted the “included” brew)… All in all, eight days aboard this boat checking out the Italian and French coasts sounds pretty damn fine!