Disney Cruise - Arriving in Barcelona

So in my most recent blogging draught, I totally skimped on discussing the build-up, planning, stressing, excitement and anticipation that led to the 11 day Mediterranean Disney Cruise we just returned from. So let me just summarize in a word: AAIIEE!! It was a lot like that.

Okay, one more tiny detour. I'm going to set myself a goal to finish blogging the cruise within the next two weeks. I'd like to do a blog about each shore excursion, but I may combine a few. All the same, we had seven stops, so I think a two week goal is achievable. There! I've made it public. I don't want to disappoint you now!

Enough poppycock. Let's get to the trip!

We left the day before the cruise and went to Barcelona, which is where our ship was going to embark. Unfortunately, it was pretty cold in Barcelona when we arrived, and I had been hoping for (and was dressed for) warmer weather. Additionally, we struggled to navigate our way through the public transport, mostly because everything was in Spanish! My husband's high school and college Spanish classes didn't help us on the metro. We got a bit mixed up and ended up walking a ton the first afternoon because we couldn't figure out where to get off.

Our goal was to make it to the aquarium downtown, but when we finally got there, the line was so long and we were so cold, that we decided to just grab dinner and went back to the hotel. I did have some good sangria, but that's really all we accomplished the first day!

The next day, we decided to make it easy on ourselves and took a taxi downtown. We started at one end of Las Ramblas and just worked our way up. It was a beautiful first thing in the morning before it got too busy. The middle plaza-like section of the street was lined with market stalls.

Unfortunately, we had a hard time finding a place open for breakfast (at 8 am!) So we settled for some super yummy pastries in a shop along the way. And I totally grabbed a Starbucks coffee. Terrible, I know.

We made it to La Sagrada Familia, a cathedral designed by Antoni Gaudi. It was beautiful, even with the scaffolding around the outside. The inside was beautiful, too.

From there, we hit a market along Las Ramblas which was quite seriously bursting with the freshest, most colorful fruit and vegetables I've seen. I wanted to move in there. Unfortunately, it was also bursting with people, and Tommy was eager to get out of there fast.

At the end of Las Ramblas, there was a huge, open square we wandered around for a while. The weather was much better the second day and downright warm by this point. We fed the pigeons, which was fun. And then we promptly sanitized our hands.

Nothing like a self-portrait with pigeons in your hands!

From there, we caught a taxi back to our hotel and then another to the port to board our ship! Our stay in Barcelona was short, and I wish I had had a chance to see more, particularly of Guadi's other buildings. But it was time to board the Disney Magic! And we couldn't wait!