Date: April 16
Location: Day 98 – Barcelona, Spain
Next Port: Valencia, Spain, April 17
Report: We enjoyed a sea-day morning, before arriving in Barcelona around 12:30 p.m. That meant our daily devotional group got together at 8:45 for the first discussion we’ve had in some time due to our schedule.
This was followed by a town hall meeting at 9:30 in the theater with Mark Conroy, Regent’s President and CEO, and Christian Sauleau, Regent’s EVP of Operations. Both joined us in Monaco for a few days. It gives them an opportunity to meet with and get direct feedback from their customers. In this case it includes the 360 or so full world cruisers, many of them repeaters who are known by name.
It was an interesting 90-min. session. Mark told us a bit about Regent and its parent company. Before opening it up to questions from the floor, he addressed the simmering issue of “smoking.” In particular, some people are bothered by people smoking on adjacent balconies or some smoke drifting into their rooms form the ventilation system. (Thankfully, Karen and I have not experienced either of these problems.) Then the discussion turned to the limited smoking in public spaces – the small part of Compass Rose restaurant, and portions of the Voyager and Horizon lounges. (Surprisingly no one mentioned the Casino!) Mark and his team promised the issue would be addressed by the company and that we would receive a personally addressed letter in the next six weeks or so that outlines what structural changes will be made and what the policies will be for 2008 cruises. (Capt. Dag had a good suggestion for an immediate partial solution: make Compass Rose a non-smoking restaurant just like theothers. Times have changed around the world. Non-smoking restaurants are not oddities.)
After a quick lunch, we headed into Barcelona on the shuttle bus with Barb (Jim was going on a biking excursion). Karen and Larry had been to Barcelona twice before so had only two goals for this short stop: Walk La Rambla and see what progress had been made on the construction of the Temple de la Sagrada Família.
Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, is a visually stunning city. It has a beautiful Gothic Quarter where we stayed on our two previous trips, wide boulevards, majestic buildings, beautiful beaches and harbors, nice museums, former Olympic sites, and some pretty wild sculpture and art.
It was only a short shuttle bus ride to the Maritime Building which is close to the towering column that supports a large statue of Christopher Columbus pointing west to the New World. This monument is at the foot of La Rambla – a 10-15 block long, tree-lined walkway between two small streets. It is full of small cafes and tables; small vendor kiosks selling flowers, birds, small animals and souvenirs; and mimes, jugglers and acrobatic teams. Larry and Dodi joined us for a fun stroll up La Rambla taking in all the sights.
We took a small detour into Placa Reial – a large rectangular square lined with porticos and cafes. We also visited the Boqueria, Barcelona’s spectacular food market. Though many of the stalls were closed (Monday?), the food displays were beautiful. Karen purchased some of our favorite marcona almonds.
At the top of La Rambla, Larry and Dodi hopped on the on and off bus for a tour around the city. Barb and we took a taxi to the Temple de la Sagrada Familia. If you have ever been to Barcelona you know that this is a unique temple that was begun in 1892 and is Barcelona’s most unforgettable landmark. It has been called one of the most important architectural creations of the last 200 years. The city’s famed architect, Antoni Gaudí, worked on the project for 40 years until his accidental death in 1926. The overall plan and his in-depth studies of the project, based on the innovative geometrical shapes of naturalist style, are the cornerstones on which the current architects continue his work to this date.
Actually, since our last visit 2-1/2 years ago, one can see that considerable progress has been made. In fact, four sky cranes are now operating on the site. Eight of the 12 bell towers of the façade dedicated to the apostles and having a height of more than 100 meters are complete. The oldest façade is dedicated to the Nativity and the most current one contains very modernistic sculptures depicting the Passion. The four belfries awaiting construction are the Façade of the Glory, the 170 meter central dome in honor of Jesus Christ, the Tower of the Virgin Mary and the Tower of Four Evangelists. The vaults of the main nave are finished and work is focused now on the area of the transepts and the apse.
We walked through the interior construction where we saw men working on plaster elements that were being placed high up in the nave and others laying out mosaic patterns. We took the elevator up the towers of the Nativity Façade and walked down the 60 meters on a tight spiral staircase (275 steps!). We walked through the museum where we could look into the model workshops, see Gaudí’s drawings and models, and see photographs of the 125 years of construction. I doubt that we will ever see this temple completed in our lifetimes, but it will be fun to watch its progress!
We caught a cab back to La Rambla, which was even more crowded with folks and entertainers enjoying a delightful spring afternoon. We found Kirk enjoying a beer at one of the cafes and joined him for a glass of Sangria and our marcona almonds. At 6:00, we hopped on the last shuttle bus back to the ship.
We had a light supper in La Veranda where we joined Shirley and John – very nice folks from Vancouver, B.C. They boarded in Muscat. We met them at our block party and enjoyed this opportunity to get to know them better. After dinner, Larry attended the show by the pianist Brooks Aehron and Karen turned in.
We have thoroughly enjoyed each of our three visits to Barcelona.
Karen and Larry
Photos of our cruise are available at the following web site:
picasaweb.google.com/larryworldcruise
Photos of our visit to Barcelona have been uploaded.
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