We finally took one of our bucket list trips to Spain, France, and Italy.
Barcelona - Day 1
We stayed on La Rambla in Barcelona, and spent our first day in Spain wandering the beautiful streets surrounding our hotel.
We arrived in Barcelona, exhausted, at about 10: 30 AM their time. We knew we wanted to stay awake to help get our days and nights settled before the cruise. We dropped our luggage off at the hotel and went wandering the streets.
Barcelona - Day 1
Inside the Sagrada Familia Basilica.
This place was stunning. The stained glass and the soaring pillars made it feel like you were standing in a fantasy forest. The light pouring through the windows felt like standing inside a rainbow.
Marseille, France - Day 2
Long Champ Palace
While we were not overly impressed with France (I didn’t find a single bakery I wanted to go into to get an authentic baguette!), Long Champ Palace was gorgeous and the weather was absolutely perfect. Inside was an art gallery, and the grounds were perfect for walking and enjoying the weather.
We missed the riots and the turmoil by a few days, but the tension in the air was palpable. The people we encountered were nice, but certainly not overly friendly. I have no desire to go back to France.
Pisa, Italy - Day 3
Did you know the tower doesn’t actually HAVE to lean anymore?
Our first day in Italy was fairly exhausting. Because the streets are so narrow, the tour buses take you to a central location and you walk from there to all the sites. On this day, we clocked over 20k steps!
Pisa and Florence were beautiful, but crowded and we were rushed from place to place. We did have about an hour to wander the grounds at the Tower. Robert wanted to climb the stairs inside the baptistry (almost 200 of them!), so I wandered over to get a photo with the tower.
Fun fact: The tower has been stabilized with iron weights, and it’s steady progressive lean has been stopped. They could actually reverse the lean and straighten the tower, but - no more tourists. So they’ve left it as is.
Rome, Italy - Day 4
Inside the Roman Colosseum
I truly wish we’d had more time inside the colosseum, but we had to keep pace with the tour guide and not lose him in the crowds. Even as rushed as we were, standing inside this incredible piece of history was surreal.
Walking through the corridors, seeing the bathrooms, the seating, and some of the marble stairs still in place was incredible. As we entered the lower level and climbed the stairs to get to the viewing areas, it felt very much like entering a modern sports arena.
On this day, we also visited St. Peter’s Basilica and the Tevi fountain. Both places were packed elbow to elbow with people even though we were assured this was the off season for tourists.
And no trip to Europe would be complete without a big scoop of gelato!
Pompeii, Italy - Day 5
Entire streets of houses still standing.
Pompeii was hands down the place that impacted me the most. When I've seen images of this city, they were a few broken columns or crumbling walls. Perhaps a bit of paint on broken plaster. What I did not expect was to walk through an entire city that is still standing. Two-story homes, cobblestone streets, food vendors, bakeries, and spas - all still mostly intact with paint and frescoes still in place. When we stood in the main square - the central hub of the city where meetings, markets, and worship took place.
In the market, I stopped for a moment, completely overwhelmed by the history surrounding me. For a moment, I could almost hear children running with parents calling after them, food and merchants hawking their wares, and political figures speaking to large crowds. It was a surreal moment I will never forget.
Day 6
A rest day at sea.
After 3 crazy days of non-stop tours, we were finally able to get a bit of a rest day at sea. We slept in, took in a show, and enjoyed a great dinner.
Malta - Day 7
A snack and a cannon!
If Pompeii impacted us with it’s history, Malta did so with its beauty. The harbor where we docked required us to either walk 30 minutes uphill, or take the Barrackka Lift up to the Saluting Battery. From there, we were able to watch as they fired a cannon at exactly noon, then we saw and heard the second firing at 4PM from the ship which I’ve uploaded below.
Because everyone spoke both English and Maltese it was the easiest city to navigate and enjoy. After the cannon firing, we wandered the streets where I bought a hand-painted silk scarf, we enjoyed some coffee and sweets, and enjoyed the beautiful weather.
Day 8
Another sea day.
After a long week of tours and seeing as much as we could in one trip, we were glad to have another sea day to rest, gather our things, and prepare to head back to Barcelona for one more night across the pond.
Barcelona, Spain - Day 9
Another day wandering the streets of Barcelona.
After getting off the ship, we once again left our luggage at the hotel and headed out to do some exploring. In order to see as much of the city as possible, we opted for the hop-on-hop-off bus, and rode it through most of the city. We got off the bus at the main square and walked the entire length of La Rombla, including a stop at the huge outdoor food market. I wish we had purchased our dinner there, but we kept walking and ended up grabbing some snacks at one of the many small markets along the way.
Day 10
The Barcelona airport was spectacular all by itself.
Our flight left at about 10AM, and we had breakfast at the airport before being bussed onto the tarmac to board the plane. The flight home was bittersweet, but we were both ready to be home!
If you have never traveled to Europe, I highly recommend it. Customs, and getting through security wasn’t the hassle we expected, and getting our Global Blue refund was time consuming, but not hard.
I think we will one day go back, especially to Italy and Spain. I would love to get away from the touristy areas and experience more of the food and the culture. What we were able to try was fantastic!
Have you been on a vacation like this out of the states? Where did you go?
Phoenix logo, Always Hope, Michelle Bolanger
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