Our trip started in Barcelona for one night. After a shaky start leaving Chicago with our 2 ½ hour delay, we arrived in Barcelona. We checked in to the hotel and ran to catch up to our preplanned tour of Guell Park, famous for the Gaudi artwork and the Sagrada Familia Basilica which took 142 years to build; fabulous. We fell into a wonderful restaurant that had been recommended to Sonny near the beach in Barcelona. Friendly, local and wonderful food!
The next day we boarded the wonderful Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas ship for the next 7 nights. As we have been to Europe many times Robyn and I searched for tours that were unique and not the same old, same old that tourist usually do. Each port was different from Spain, to France and Italy with each country having vast history, cultures and food styles. This trip was not made up of museums but more of an adventure type of tour.
Our 1st port was Palma de Mallorca, we visited the amazing Drach Caves worth climbing 150 steps. To say it was beautiful and breathtaking in an understatement.
Marseille France was our second stop, we took a half day city tour, uneventful and not recommended.
LA Spezia, Italy was our next port, generally tourists will go to Florence which is only 1 ½ hours away but we chose to go to Cinque Terra which means 5 towns. We traveled by bus and train to arrive in this quaint town, one of five that we visited. We stopped into a local restaurant for wonderful pizza and of course, margaritas!
The ship comes into Civitavecchia for those that want to go to Rome, but again we chose a different route. The delightful town of Tarquinia only about ½ hours from the ship. Tarquinia, formerly Corneto, is an old city in the province of Viterbo, Lazio, Central Italy, known chiefly for its ancient Etruscan tombs in the widespread necropoleis, or cemeteries, for which it was awarded UNESCO World Heritage status. We traveled by “trolley train” through this very interesting little town where 17K people live in the fortress area.
Last port was the Amalfi Coast! We have a great tour guide, Manuel, we personally have traveled with, this is our 4th time! Manuel drove us privately for 8 hours to Positano, drove the Amalfi Coast to Sorrento, stopped by the “slushy man” selling limoncello then onto Pompeii with a wonderful “private guide” named Juicy, worth the extra money! We ended with big hugs, kisses and tears leaving our friend,…until next time, Manuel.
After the cruise we went back to Barcelona for one additional day, we chose to go to Monserrat, another fabulous Basilica built into the mountain! Worth the trip by bus, then train to get to the top. How did they build this so many years ago, oh my!
