Valencia, Spain

We arrived in Valencia on a sunny day, typical of this city that has an average of 300 cloudless days per year. Too bad we can't bottle up some of this year-round sunshine and bring it home with us. Once we got checked in and settled in our room, we discovered that we had an amazing view of the City of Arts and Sciences, a cultural and architectural complex that includes the largest aquarium in Europe, L'Oceanografic aquarium. Lorenzo has wanted to visit this particular aquarium for years, so we made a B-line for that area because he couldn't wait one second longer. We ended up getting aquarium tickets for the next day to ensure that we had enough time to enjoy it. After getting our tickets, we headed across the street to a shopping mall to purchase some supermarket items to make sandwiches for dinner. Buying drinks and snacks at local supermarkets is one way that we saved money on this trip. We walked back to our hotel to prepare for an exciting and fun day tomorrow at the aquarium. On our first night in Valencia, we noticed that the sun didn't set until 10pm, which confused us because we thought it was much earlier than it actually was. The next morning, we woke up later than planned and missed the noon dolphin show, so we started our aquarium visit by viewing other animals, including small colorful tropical fish, playful seals and sea lions, jellyfish, penguins, and exotic birds. We also walked through the aquarium's two 360 degree glass tunnels. Finally, we visited Lorenzo's favorite, the beluga whales, right before heading to the 3:30 pm dolphin show. The Valencia aquarium was our favorite activity and is a must see when visiting the city. After a full afternoon at the aquarium, we strolled over to the Old Town area, where much of Valencia's shopping and restaurants are located. Along the way we passed through streets lined with oranges and we saw a Brazilian Carnival styled band playing in the street to celebrate the upcoming Nations holiday. We began the next day with a visit to the Central Market, a large indoor market full of stalls selling fresh meats, seafood, and produce. Central Market was similar to La Boqueria in Barcelona, but less charming and interesting. From Central Market, we walked to the Valencia Cathedral. The Cathedral is is not only the first Christian church that we've visited in Europe, but is also the home of the Holy Grail. Following the provided audio tour, we learned about the art in the church and the human remains on display. Finally, at the end of the tour, we entered the Chapel of the Holy Grail where we saw the cup in person. According to history (or legend depending on who you ask), this is the cup that Jesus drank from at the Last Supper. Viewing the Holy Grail was the highlight of the day and we spent the rest of the day wandering around Valencia observing everyday local life before heading to the train station to purchase our tickets for the journey to Madrid. For our last day in Valencia, we went to the beach. Valencia is famous for its beaches and the beach was one of our main reasons (other than the aquarium) for adding this stop to our trip. After taking the metro and then a tram, we finally saw the palm tree lined boardwalk filled with restaurants, and beyond that, the beach. The sand is finely ground, almost dust like, and the beach was full of families and friends tanning, fishing, and playing sports in the sand. We walked along the beach and sat on the sand to enjoy the view. We really wanted to get into the water, but it was a little to cold for swimming. Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Valencia. The city was cleaner, smaller, and less touristy than many of the other cities we've visited. We appreciated the slower, relaxed pace of Valencia, and luckily we are well-rested because our next stop is the big hustle bustle city of Madrid.


City of Arts and Sciences


A cheap and easy dinner


Lorenzo in front of L'Oceanografic


A sea lion sunning


Lorenzo in a walk through tunnel


Jellyfish


Two turtles


Lorenzo watching a beluga whale


Orange trees lining a sidewalk


Kim in front of Central Market


Lorenzo in a plaza near the Cathedral


The Holy Grail behind protective glass


The palm tree lined boardwalk at the beach


The sand at the Valencia beach


The beach - ahhh so beautiful!

Barcelona, Spain

We left Nice at 6 am to begin the 12 hour long journey to Barcelona (including a 4 hour layover at Montpellier train station). The sun was just beginning to set when we finally arrived in Barcelona, but our tiredness turned to excitement when we came out of the metro onto Las Ramblas - the most famous and most visited street in the city. We arrived on a particularly rowdy Saturday night, as Barcelona was playing Seville in futbol (soccer) and thousands of people and extra police filled the streets until the wee hours of the morning. The next day we headed back to Las Ramblas to watch a few street performers and to eat tapas (small appetizers) and paella (a seafood and rice dish). Although the restaurant we went to was disappointing, we were happy to have tried some traditional Spanish foods. After lunch, we caught a bus to Park Guell, a park designed by Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi. We got off the bus at the wrong stop and ended up walking in circles and up hills for 45 minutes before we finally found the park. However, it was worth the trouble, because Park Guell was one of our favorite things in Barcelona. The park is beautiful, whimsical, and colorful, like most of Gaudi's work. We walked around admiring the colors and tiles until we eventually ended up at the highest point in the park that overlooks the city. We rode the metro back to Las Ramblas and walked down to the marina and the waterfront. The waterfront area was surprisingly well developed with an IMAX theater and a mall. We wandered into the mall and missed a short rain shower while we window shopped. We ended the day with a very American meal of McDonald's salads and donuts from Dunkin Coffee. The following day, we began with a trip to La Boqueria, a famous public market with fresh meats, seafood, and fruit. La Boqueria is big, bustling, colorful, and full of tourists and locals. Lorenzo sat at the counter at a seafood bar and ate razor clams, a dish he saw Andrew Zimmern eat at La Boqueria on his show "Bizarre Foods". That afternoon, we walked to a nearby beach, Barceloneta, to enjoy the beautiful sunny weather. The beach was full of other people also enjoying the weather, including a number of topless sunbathers. On our last day in Barcelona, we visited Gaudi's church, La Sagrada Familia. Even though La Sagrada Familia is still under construction (construction begain in 1886 and it is expected to be completed in 2026), we were extremely impressed by its architecture and detail.


Nice train station at dawn


Las Ramblas at night


Disappointing paella


Entrance to Park Guell


Kim rock climbing at Park Guell


Lorenzo at Park Guell


Park Guell


A view of the city from the Park Guell


The marina at Barcelona's waterfront area


The front entrance of La Boqueria


Inside La Boqueria


Lorenzo eating razor clams


A seafood stall at La Boqueria


The beach


Lorenzo taking a quick break at the beach


La Sagrada Familia

Malaga, Spain

Though many may have never heard of Malaga, Spain, it is actually a somewhat large city with a very large port that the company Maersk ships from. We began our journey of Malaga through its typical narrow shop lined streets. Malaga is heavily marketing itself as the center of the upcoming cultural festival “Malaga 2016” and has literally laid out the red carpet for this event and covered the sidewalks in red. After walking around the shopping area, we walked over to the bull fighting arena before heading to the man made beach for a break from all the walking. It was a little cool, so the locals were not out tanning as they were the last time we were here. We then made our way back to the city center, on foot as usual. By this time, our feet were killing us, but we got a great workout. Despite our fatigue, we toured a beautiful church that had recreated particular scenes from the life of Jesus Christ in life size figures in the windows. Although we intentionally skipped a few of the main sites because we had seen them on our last trip, we soon came across a familiar and exciting shop (and Aunt Linda’s favorite), Dunkin Coffee. It’s the same company as Dunkin Donuts back home, so we had to get a couple of treats for nostalgia’s sake. We continued to roam the streets and take in all that the city had to offer before heading back to the cruise ship. We have three more days at sea until we arrive in Venice, Italy where the next part of our trip will begin. Adios for now.


The red carpet in the shopping area


Kim in front of a fountain


Dunkin Coffee


Kim admiring the flowers in the shop window


The Malaga beach


Lorenzo outside the bullfighting arena


The Last Supper on display in the church

Cadiz, Spain

Once we arrived in Cadiz we headed straight for the famous beach. We took the long route and walked along the coast through the meticulously sculpted gardens, multiple theaters, and the University of Cadiz. It took a while, but we saw many interesting sites along the way, including discovering the Santa Catalina Castle, which we did not see the last time we were here. We explored the Castle which sat on the beach and provided a perfect backdrop for us to take a ton of beautiful pictures. We walked along the sidewalk that ran parallel to the beach and passed an elementary school as the children were getting out for the day. We were beginning to get hungry and hot from being in the sun, so we decided to head back toward the center of town. On the way back, we took a short cut through narrow streets full of locals. We saw men selling bags of oranges out of the back of a van, small cars and motor bikes speeding by us, shop owners cleaning the outside of their shops, children walking by in school uniforms, and men joking loudly with each other in Spanish. We eventually reached one of the main squares in Cadiz that has a Cathedral on one side and numerous restaurants on the other. The city of Cadiz also provides free wi-fi in the square and we took advantage of the connection to send a few emails. After a quick trip back to our ship to eat and rest (gotta take advantage of the buffet), we headed back out to the city for some shopping. Following Lorenzo’s memory, we found the main shopping street and ended our day with window shopping and buying a few Spanish snacks from the grocery store.


View from the Castillo


Lorenzo and Kim enjoying the sun and ocean views


Small fishermen boats along the coastline


Kim taking a stroll through the streets


Locals selling fresh oranges in the street


Lorenzo on the cathedral steps sending emails on his ipod via free wifi


Lorenzo shopping for a few snacks at a local supermercado