After a quick clean up, I joined G in the Horizon Court Buffet for breakfast. It was definitely a hot breakfast kind of morning, and I enjoyed oatmeal with stewed apple wedges and cup after cup of hot water with lemon. We looked out the windows as the rain, though never heavy, fell relentlessly. Finally, by 10:30am or so, it started to lighten a bit, and, bundled up in our rain jackets and hats and gloves, we walked off the ship and through the amazing Barcelona port terminal C (fancier than an airport terminal). We were in port with two monster cruise ships, Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas and Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Epic. The Sapphire Princess looked quite small in comparison.
Princess offered a shuttle through the port to the Christopher Columbus statue at the end of La Rambla for €5 all day, but the public port bus was only €4 all day, so you can guess which one we took. Plus we had the pleasure of riding with the port workers who weren’t giving up their seats for anyone, regardless of age. I had watched our bus race through the port to pick us up, and knew we were in for a ride, but, holy smoke, I didn’t imagine it to be quite as death defying as it actually was. I was a child of the 60s, and survived the death traps that used to be called playgrounds. This bus ride was exactly like the playground merry go round that, when pushed by older kids (usually perverse older siblings) would spit out the little ones trying to hold on to the metal bars. I had my gloves on, both hands clutching an overhead bar on the bus as the driver took turns at high speed, and the passengers tried to stay on their feet.
I don’t think the Princess shuttle could have offered the same sense of adventure. ;-)
Once deposited near the Columbus statue at the Plaça de Colón, we paused for a moment to allow our brains to re-center themselves in our skulls and walked toward the famous La Rambla, the pedestrian boulevard that runs at an angle from the waterfront. I wasn’t sure how far we’d walk - we’ve been in Barcelona several times in the past 20 years and have seen the major sights, and so had no specific goal in mind- but usually, rambling down La Rambla is a fun couple of hours. Today, though, there were none of the usual buskers, and, though the boulevard was busy (with three cruise ships in town), it wasn’t the kind of lively crowd one finds on warm summer weekends and evenings.
After about 45 minutes, we grew tired of dodging umbrellas and turned right off La Rambla to walk through the narrow alleyways that lie on either side of the busy street. These were the most fun today, and we walked for over an hour without paying attention to a map; we knew we’d eventually hit the waterfront and could make our way back along it to the Plaça de Colón. About the time we thought we’d stop in one of the tiny restaurants for tapas and sangria (G), it started to rain more ambitiously, and we felt chilled. We decided to head back to the bus and the ship.
Catalunya flags proudly displayed, highlighting the political divide with Spain
Once on board, we ate for the first time this cruise at the Alfredo’s pizzeria on Deck 5 in the Piazza. I enjoyed my veggie pizza without cheese (because they didn’t have vegan cheese), but G thought the pizza available up by the pool was better. As we sat there and ate, we could see the rain stop and the first hint of sunshine appear, and then it was covered once again by a dark cloud. It felt like hot tub weather to us, but instead of using one of the four midship hot tubs, we went up to the two large hot tubs on Deck 16 aft, overlooking the back of the ship. I must say again how impressed we’ve been with the Sapphire Princess. On the Golden Princess we were lucky to find half the hot tubs open and none were actually hot; on the Sapphire, we’ve never seen one closed except at night and they are all very hot. It felt incredible to have that light rain and cold air on our heads while our bodies were toasty in the water. And afterward, I used the Terrace Pool for the first time and I think the water must have been at least 85F.
I can’t wait to return to this ship on November 28th!
We had just enough time for a quick clean up before dinner at 5:30pm. We watched from our table as the ship pushed away from the pier and maneuvered through the large port of Barcelona into the Mediterranean Sea.
Polish violinist Michael Bacala performed in the Princess Theater tonight. We’d never before seen his show, and it was really excellent. It was amazing how many songs he played that we had in our wedding ceremony, and I pointed each one out to G (he couldn’t tell you, 35 years later, that we’d even had music at our wedding ceremony, which would have been a great question for that game show we played last night about the differences in how men and women think).
G is still out attending the Mediterranean White Party which was supposed to take place on the open deck, but, due to the weather, is happening in Club Fusion instead. I’m tucked in bed with contacts out and The Big Bang Theory on our on demand TV. The forecast for Toulon tomorrow is rain and a high of 42F. It’s a brand new port for us, so we’ll brave the the elements, but we may see all we need to see in just a couple of hours. We keep encountering people on board who had no idea the Med could be this cold and didn’t bring warm clothing, but we remember all too well the horrible weather we had here two years ago. We even had a shipwreck to prove it!