Cartagena, ES

Monday - We arrived in Cartagena this morning. For some reason, I thought that this city was somewhere in South America. So much for my geography knowledge. 

After breakfast, we wandered into the area around the port. We found a long, scenic street with a number of shops and museums. We strolled a bit until my ankle started to bother me. I stopped for a milk-coffee (I hadn’t heard of that before) before making my way back to the ship. 

The walkway looked like it was marble. It looked very slippery when wet. Fortunately, today was dry. 

This is a very small harbor. Barely enough room for one medium sized cruise ship such as this one. Yesterday, I had left my hat, that I had picked up in Italy, at a seating area on the ship where we were resting. Today, I checked lost-and-found and it was there! It’s a small thing but getting my hat back made my day…

I found a nice, high deck on the ship. I guess it would be deck 13. It’s just a nice lounging area overlooking both the pool and the solarium. 

Palma de Mallorca, ES

Sunday - We pulled into Palma de Mallorca, an island about half way between Spain and Africa. We have no excursions planned though I may get off and look around a bit. 

The actual town is about 4km to 6km away, according to the cruise app, so we won’t be going into town. There are usually shops set up in the port area. We did no research on any of the stops on this cruise. We figured, correctly, that we would be sort of burned out on “touristing”. 

We are around the same latitude as Washington DC. Which did surprise me. I thought the Mediterranean was closer to the equator. Today’s high is 70°F which is hard to beat. 

After breakfast, we did wander off the ship into the port area. Not very touristy especially when compared to other ports. All I picked up was an hdmi cable to connect the phone to the TV. Hopefully it works as some apps look for some sort of circuit embedded in the cable before they allow their content to be sent out on the cable. 

This is our cruise ship. It looks small compared to most of the others in port. It’s over 25 years old and feels more classic in both decor and artwork. And, it has much more carpet. 

We were back on the ship by 10:30. There were long lines of people waiting for their excursions and shuttles.  I don’t think there is anything planned for rest of the day. My kind of day…

The solarium is partially open to the sky so on days like today, it’s wonderful. 

I’m not sure of the reason, but there is an old Harley with a sidecar in the shopping district. It looks to be in great shape.

We are also able to access the bow of the ship, at least while it’s in port. This is the view from the heliport towards the bridge. It was nice and calm this morning.

Transatlantic Cruise - Day 1

Saturday - Step 1, taxi to the cruise terminal. It took quite a bit of searching to determine which terminal Royal Caribbean used in Barcelona. The RC app gave just a general address for the cruise terminal location which has at least five terminals. I ended up looking at a live map provided by the port which showed what ship was where. 

We are boarding Explorer of the Sea, an older (smaller) Royal Caribbean ship heading for Port Canaveral in Florida. This is a repositioning cruise which means a one way trip to move the ship from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean for the winter. These are usually cheaper and there are a lot of sea days. I believe there are four stops. Two in Spain, the Azores, and Bermuda. 

The Royal Promenade shopping area is in the first picture and it is much narrower than the other Royal Caribbean ships we’ve been on recently. Nowhere near as many shops, which is fine. On this cruise, we did spring for the Internet package as we will be on for 13 days. 

We have a balcony on the starboard side, which for most of the trip, will not be in direct sunshine. That makes the balcony more usable if it’s mostly sunny. The fancy building in the picture is a fancy hotel right on the beach. This is the view from the front of the ship. 

In the background, you can see that cathedral we went to yesterday. It really does tower over the rest of the city. It’s 3:15 and we are supposed to be getting underway soon. 

We had lunch at the buffet and, I must admit, the best item I had was the hot dog w/sauerkraut. Kind of pathetic. Bridget pointed out the made-to-order station that I missed. Those are usually pretty good.

Dinner in the main dining room was delicious, as usual. We share a table with David and Marilyn, complete strangers. This is the first time we are on a cruise without knowing anyone in a long time. The last time was a Carnival cruise to Ensenada in 2015.

Barcelona, ES - Day 2

Friday - We decided to try out a new to us tourist option. The hop-on-hop-off bus. It was €28 (senior fare) and we ca use it for 24 hours. And there is an English audio to plug into. The only negative is that not many people get off. 

I’m not sure what to think of our first stop. Pretty weird in a Dr Seuss way. It is the Basílica de la Sagrada Família and it looks like it’s still under construction. 

We got back on the bus on the upper level and stayed there for the remainder of the loop. It was a nice tour of the city. 

Lunch today was a burger w/sweet potato fries. I know, not from the area but for us, an occasional burger is a nice change. My burger had goat cheese. Not feta but something with a stronger flavor. It was good as have all three of the burgers I’ve had in Europe (Florence, Rome, and Barcelona).

Last night we tried a couple of tapas. One was olives stuffed with anchovies. I already knew I’d like that one. The other was a waiter recommendation. Patatas Bravas. Basically fried potatoes with a sauce made from mayo and spicy tomatoes. Not a favorite even though it is supposedly the most ordered tapas according to the internet.