Embarking on our Mediterranean Cruise - May 17, 2009

It's finally time to get on the ship... we grabbed some breakfast at a little sidewalk cafe near our Hotel, disappointingly found out that La Boqueria was closed, then grabbed a cab and headed for Port Vell to board the Norwegian Gem!!

We got on the ship a little after noon, but our room wouldn't be ready until about 2, so we had fun exploring the ship, and mostly finding out where all the restaurants were. And of course, the first restaurant we found... we stopped and began our week long binge! We ate at the Blue Lagoon which is known as the comfort food cafe and is open 24 hours. After eating plates full of sardines, it was great to order a simple plate of chicken tenders and fries.



Until of course, we discovered the welcome barbecue on the deck beside the pool. They had some really great Penne Rosa and some wonderful grilled skirt steak. We didn't pig out though because we were excited about having lamb on the dinner menu... in hindsight, the grilled foods were WAY better than the lamb, and we would have gorged ourselves if we had known it was going to be one of our favorite meals of the entire cruise!

And we couldn't help but order a special drink (Virgin of course!) poolside for our big sailaway ... suckers!
It was rather relaxing just exploring the ship, stopping to eat, or chill in a lounge, and then finding our room, etc... etc... even enjoying a new view of Barcelona from the ship and looking out over the Mediterranean blue water, imagining the adventures that awaited us.


That is looking up at Montjuic, you may remember from one of my previous posts... beautiful!
We were so excited for our first dinner on the ship... the dining room was just beautiful and we loved the pampering service. As mentioned before, the lamb we were so excited about was a little lacking but they had a Vanilla Bean Souffle on the dessert menu, and that happens to be one of my favorite desserts. I had heard to order whatever you want on a cruise, and after eating my first souffle, I found myself wishing I had a little more. So I told Chris I was going to try out what we heard and order another one... he made fun of me of course, and when I timidly asked the waitress if I could have another one, she laughed and said of course, and said she would bring as many as I wanted and we all laughed thinking that was ridiculous but little did I know... because that second one was so fabulous, I ordered a third! Chris thought I was crazy but I didn't care because what a fabulous way to start our Cruise! Yummy!!






And what beautiful views we had all along the cruise, even just at sea. There really is something so special about that Mediterranean blue water, and the sunset over the Mediterranean was always even more amazing. We loved that our daily bulletin included the times for sunsets and we often found ourselves on the back of the ship at sunset. Amazing...

Dinner in Barceloneta- May 16. 2009

Chris and I had planned even before we came to Barcelona to have a nice dinner in Barceloneta, the old port part of Barcelona by the sea. We could see the Marina and the Mediterranean sea from our little table outside at the Siempreviva Restaurant. We had sort of planned on trying a different restaurant, but a very convincing cute little old man talked us into trying this place. We wanted a dinner with fresh seafood from the Mediterranean... and we got it!



We each ordered the "Menu del Dia" which is almost always your best bet at saving money in Europe, because it often includes multiple courses with just more limited choices. We each got to choose an appetizer, entree and dessert from some limited selections from the menu. Chris was determined to have some fresh clams, but it wasn't one of his choices so he ordered both mussels and clams for his appetizer. As it turns out, the clams were pretty good but the mussels were too chewy for my taste but Chris was happy as a clam (sorry, couldn't help myslef ;)



For my appetizer, one of the choices was "Pescada Frita" which I knew in Spanish was fried fish. I envisioned a plate with a sampling of various pieces of fish and shrimp all battered and deep fried, and that sounded pretty good, so I ordered that. What I got was completely unexpected... I probably should have known better but it surprised me nonetheless! It was nothing other than a whole plate of fried sardines!



As I've told the story of the plate of sardines, people always immediately ask if I tried ONE, and promptly make a questioningly twisted face! This picture is the answer to that question!



I determined that before our trip, if I had an opportunity to try any local food, even if I had preconceived notions about it, I wanted to try and experience everything I could... so when this opportunity presented itself, I had some apprehensions, but my original resignation overruled! In other words, I was bound and determined to try this disgusting looking fried little fish even though I was sure it was going to at least make me gag...



So the answer to whether or not I ate ONE is... yes, and not only that I tried very hard to work my way through that rather large plate. I am happy to report that I successfully finished about two thirds of the plate. The answer to the other popular question is that they actually don't taste that bad, I mean, they are salty and fried, they can't be that bad!? The hardest part is psychological, when you are staring at a plate of fish heads with bulging eyeballs, that's hard! And they have a distinct crunch from the bones, another hard part is seeing the spines hanging out of the sides of broken ones... hmmmm?? I will say that Chris and I probably laughed harder at that dinner than during any other time of our entire trip... he was laughing at all my little pep talks to keep eating, and that I would frequently burst into singing "Fish Heads, Fish Heads, Roly Poly Fish Heads, Eat Them Up, YUM!" I can thank my Mom for bringing us up on Dr. Demento for that... and that song will never, ever be the same to me. But I was proud of myself despite the fact that the waiter gave me a disapproving look when I returned the plate not licked clean.



My entree was much more tame and expected, Salmon Steak with French Fries, and was really good, but was a little tainted from my stomach already full of fish, but I still finished every last bite.




It escaped me what kind of fish Chris ordered right now, but it was cooked in a tasty sauce. And he liked it, so that's all that mattered. And we finished our meal with the traditional Crema Catalana, which is similar to a Creme Brulee. Oh, and one funny side note, every single table around us had ordered the Seafood Paella, and so we sort of thought maybe we missed out on something, so if you happen to go to Barcelona... and eat in Barceloneta- I might recommend the Seafood Paella. But we were happy to have had a very memorable and fun meal on the coast of the Mediterranean.





Admittedly, we were completely stuffed and looking forward to walking some of it off on the way back to the Hotel. And this was our only night where we had enough energy to be out at night, so it was fun to see the city at night. So much of it was alive and lit up and beautiful. We walked back through the Gothic Quarter and along some of La Rambla and through Plaza Catalunya on the way back to our Hotel. What a beautiful way to enjoy the city at night.




This was our little hotel, Hotel Advance, in the Eixample district, very close to all the historical parts of the city. It was sort of a boutique hotel tucked right in the middle of a nondescript street, but it looked especially lovely at night. It was close to our favorite little bakery, and with an internet spot around the corner and helpful staff, what more could we want?

Montjuic and Passeig de Gracia- Barcelona, May 16, 2009

Some more of our great Saturday in Barcelona... these pictures are taken along and off of the Avenida Diagonal, one of the widest avenues of the city, it crosses the entire city diagonally until it reaches the sea. But there again were these beautiful buildings lining the streets, with these fantastic balconies and great architectural details.





Chris was fascinated with Obelisks that were in squares and plazas everywhere we went, often stolen from other places that they conquered. This may be the first of many pictures of obelisks to come...




These are of La Pedrera along the famous Passeig de Gracia, a street rich with architectural history and now lined with expensive stores and nice sidewalk cafes. La Pedrera, also known as Casa Mila, is one of Gaudi's most free works and was constructed between 1906 and 1910. This was his last civil work before he devoted himself exclusively to Sagrada Familia. The owners of the property, Roser Segimon and Pere Mila, wanted a spectacular residential building of great social importance. The main floor was to be occupied by the owning family and the rest of the apartments were to be rented. The sheer size and originality of the project meant that the house was often caricatured in the newspapers and magazines of it's day, to which it owes it's nickname, Pedrera means "quarry." The house was located on the main thoroughfare of the time, Paseo de Gracia, where a large number of Modernist houses and even the current street lamps and pavements are evocative of this style.




Las Casa Battlo, with it's roof of coloured ceramic scales, is one of the most charismatic buildings in the Ensanche quarter and one of Gaudi's most characteristic works, although he reformed an older building dating from 1875, redone between 1904, and 1906. He transformed the entire facade, ground floor, courtyard, and attics. The highly original facade is topped by ceramic tiles reminiscent of fish scales, in a rhythmic pattern that is said to resemble the backbone of a dragon. It is flanked by Casa Amatller, and Casa Lleo Morera which together form the Block of Discord, because of the architectural contrasts between the three buildings and three leading architects of that period, and from the varying opinions of people who prefer one work over another. These architects worked at the service of a bourgeoisie who wanted to be different and wished to be recognized as the owners of such singular and striking buildings.




This is the front of a little cafe that we ate along the Rambla Catalunya. We had the most fantastic little ham sandwich on a crusty baguette, and some Horchata which as it turns out is not nearly as good as Mexican Horchata. We actually ate on the sidewalk under the umbrellas that line every sidewalk cafe and are all over the town. (Sorry, don't know why I don't have a picture of what I'm talking about...) But it fascinated us that these large areas of sidewalk cafes were serviced by these tiny little storefront restaurants, often with just one waiter running in and out and obviously working very hard!



This is the University of Barcelona, and another grand example of the amazing architecture that was everywhere we looked. This was close to our hotel and we walked past often multiple times a day during our trip and became our own personal landmark.



After wandering the streets of the Gothic Quarter, we hopped back on our double decker bus for the tour of the other side of the city (it has two routes) where we headed up Montjuic, a beautiful "mountain" just outside town. It is home to some beautiful gardens (Jardins de Miramar), the Olympic Stadium from the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the MNAC or National Art Museum in the Palau Nacional (National Palace), Poble Espanyol (Spanish Village), and Plaza de Espanya at the base with the beautiful water fountains which were unfortunately not turned on yet??



The Olympic ring of Montjuic was the focal point and main sporting area of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. The stadium is a restored building that originally dated back to 1929, and of which only the facade remained, with the interior being fully refurbished.



The views of the city from the grounds around the National Palace high atop Montjuic were breathtaking. It was fun to pick out many of the landmarks that we had recently visited too. We could easily see Torre Agbar and La Sagrada Familia, and I think you can even see Tibidabo in the distance to the left, and the Mediterranean to the right.




These were taken by the MNAC, one of the biggest museums in the city which houses the best collection of Romanesque wall paintings in the world. Like so many of the other beautiful buildings of the city, most of the facade was covered in scaffolding.




More fantastic views of the city... gotta love it!





This was a great area for some fun architectural and view pictures. And every once in awhile, we remembered to squeeze ourselves into a fabulous armlength shot!




Even if the facade was covered in scaffolding, you can see some of the great detail on this building from this shot of one of the towers of the National Palace.




Here's Chris patiently waiting at our bus stop to get on to the next fabulous place.