Villefranche

Day #11

Cruise Day #7 - Villefranche

We quietly slipped into the tiny bay at Villefranche after cruising along the French coastline past Marseille. As there is no dock large enough to handle this ship we tendered into port via several sleek passenger ferries. They had six ferries running with two separate disembarkation spots.... all very efficient but it take a bit longer to get to shore.

Coffee on our balcony as we enjoyed the views then off to breakfast before catching our tender for our Monaco and Monte Carlo excursion.

Tender vessel.

Once on shore we gathered with our tour guide and proceeded to the bus. It was a nice coach with very  comfortable seats and we all received radio receivers to hear the guided tour as we got on. A quick 25 minute drive along the lower coast as we traveled through several tunnels.  We arrived in Old Monaco then descended into the basement garage that was full of buses. We then walked through the garage and took two separate escalators and an elevator to reach the street level and the entrance to the Centre Scientifique du Monaco. A beautiful building that rose up from the shoreline and was the start of our tour.  

Kelly in front of the Centre Scientifique du Monaco.

Shoreline view from the bus garage at the Centre Scientifique du Monaco!

 We walked in front of both Princess Caroline and Princess Stephanie's residence as we made our way up to the Cathedral du Monaco which is the resting place of many Royal Family members including Princess Grace and Prince Rainer III. Absolutely stunning inside! 

Cathedral of Monaco

After a tour on the cathedral we walked up a narrow street past the Legislative and Justice Buildings to the main center of the palace grounds. Numerous shops and restaurants lined the area and there were spectacular views from all around. 

Kelly in front of the Palace.

 We walked around the immaculate grounds and got some great pictures from the high vantage points. 

Looking south from the palace grounds. This is a small marina:-)

The center of Monaco's marine district! I was humbled by the shear wealth on display.

After the tour of the Palace grounds we reloaded our transport and drove over to the new part of Monaco. It was hustling and bustling with lots of tourists checking out the sites. We walked by the famous hairpin turn of Monaco's F1 track that will now forever remain etched in our memory... sort of.

The famous hairpin turn in the background :-) Tourists in foreground.

Next on our walkabout was the famous Monte-Carlo Casino but we decided not to go in! 10 Euro to see inside... hey they are rich enough!!!

Casino

My car was parked out front :-)

We continued the walk and found a nice French Pastry store so we naturally loaded up on some croissants and other items and ate them in the park. Very romantic I will say:-) Back to the bus for our return drive back to the ship. We went through the tunnel that the F1 guys blaze through... we were much slower. The route was different as we went the high road with views of Nice and other sites before returning to Villefranche. A quick look around the shops near the dock and we jumped on a tender and returned to the ship. Sail-away drinks and then dinner and some Blackjack... then we were done!

Tomorrow is an early get up as we go to Rome and Vatican City!

Barcelona

Day 10

Cruise Day #6 - Barcelona. Spain

We awoke early at 6:00 am to watch the ship gently pass through the entrance to the huge shipping port of Barcelona. I fetched some coffees as Kelly hit the shower in anticipation of our day ahead. We grabbed a nice healthy breakfast and headed out of the docking area and walked to the World Trade Center about 25 minutes away. There we walked up and almost like magic, we climbed aboard the hop on, hop off (HOHO) Bus of Barcelona City Tours (Greyline). Kelly had pre-booked us so all we had to do was show the printed receipt and we were on.

View as we leave the ship towards town.

They do two routes of the city... Orange that took you west and Green that took you east. You can hop on or off at any of several stops. You had an audio tour as the bus moved through the various sections of town as well as free WiFi access (although the sign in was in Spanish!) so we didn't bother:-) We grabbed the Orange bus to start with and went along for about an hour and a half before getting of at La Rambia to do some sightseeing and look some for lunch. Amazing views as we traversed the city, the Olympic Stadium, Placa' Espanya and the Barcelona Football Club!

The Venetian Towers and the entrance to the 1929 Worlds Fair.

At Placa Catalonya

Antoni Gaudi lived here!

 We settled on a small restaurant called La Boqueria that served up Tapas and enjoyed various cuts of meats and cheeses. We even had a bottle of red wine to go along with the traditional food. Fantastic! Right across the street from the restaurant was the St Josep Market that had amazing displays of products for sale. Kelly would have spent the day there but after six candy shops, eight meat shops and seven seafood shops I was pretty much done!

Entrance to the Market

Amazing colors... and candy!

One one many Seafood vendors.

Meat shop with an amazing selection.

Back on the HOHO bus for a ride on the Green line that took us to our primary destination the Sagrada Familia. This incredible structure, still under construction since 1882, is an eclectic collection of designs from various people. It all comes together in this ongoing masterpiece of design and art. We were simply amazed.

We walked back to the main street and caught our HOHO bus down to the Trade Center. We hoofed it along and arrived at our ship with a few minutes to spare. Yes a full day for sure! Even watched a small yacht sail in... that needed a pilot on board!! Go ahead... google "Lady Moura" and see what 200 million can buy you! The name on the side is 24K Gold!! Read and see more pictures about this mega yacht here

Lady Moura cruises by us.

We made our way back on board our ship at 16:26... four minutes to spare then it was up to the Sky Bar for a sail away drink before dinner.

We relaxed and then entered a roulette tournament in the casino. Buy in was 10 dollars and we had a great time. For several rounds Kelly was the chip leader but was knocked out at the end. Great fun and entertaining as well.

We watched a great show of lighting of to the Northeast from our balcony before retiring to our beds.... we are done! The storm raged on and our ship was engulfed in cloud, lightning and rain for several hours.