Saturday morning we woke up and got ready for the day and finished packing up our luggage before walking over to Sagrada Familia. This is Barcelona’s most iconic landmark and we wanted to see it one more time before heading to the cruise ship.
Sagrada Família has been under construction since 1882 and was dreamed up by Antoni Gaudí. Gaudí was Barcelona’s resident genius of all things whimsical. It’s still not finished, so every time you go, you are getting a front-row seat to the world’s longest home renovation project.
They say the main structure will finally be finished by 2026… just in time for the 100th anniversary of Gaudí’s death, but knowing this place, you might still be able to catch scaffolding selfies well into the 2030s. That might be part of the allure, maybe it’ll never be truly be finished. Time will tell!
From our hotel, it was a nice 30 minute walk over to Sagrada Familia. As we walked over we saw Casa Batlló from last year and got a better exterior picture of that as well.
Another of Gaudí’s projects
Comparing pictures of Sagrada Familia from last year, it looks like the center tower is a bit taller. But honestly, it’s just incredible to look at – it’s so worth the walk to stare at.
You really need to walk around the whole thing- each side is SO unique
Afer we walked around to get a view of all the angles, we caught a cab over to the Gothic Quarter, which was another stop similar to last year. But there was a famous bridge we didn’t know about last year, called the Ponte del Bisbe.
It’s a cool looking bridge tucked away in the neighborhood, it looks like it’s original – but was actually built in 1928. Either way, it was a super cool stop. The Gothic Quarter has such a nice mix of old medieval feel with winding streets – and modern retailers. The centerpiece is definitely the Barcelona Cathedral, which after we walked past that we made our way back to our hotel.
We checked out and got into a taxi and our way to the ship. This was the newest ship in Celebrity’s fleet – the Ascent. (Their next enters the fleet in November). The line was flowing pretty smoothly as we boarded and we didn’t have any issues getting on board or to our room. After dropping our carry ons, we headed to the cafe and got lunch.
Our tradition is a celebratory cheers on the sundeck!
Once we wrapped up lunch we decided to do a quick tour of the ship to get more familiar with the space and amenities. One of our favorite parts of cruising is the ability to unpack and get settled in while being able to see a bunch of new cities/countries. Once our suitcases arrived we got settled in to the room and then had dinner.
First sunset from our room!Fully taking advantage of our infinite veranda, enjoying the moon’s reflection
We’re quite pleased so far with our room and the cruise! Our first day is a sea day, so I think we’ll skip writing about that – so you’ll hear from us next when we recap our first port: Malta!
All good things must come to an end, and our cruise returned back to Barcelona Thursday morning. We got up early and ate breakfast right away and then finished getting ready/packing.
Early in the trip we had made the joke about our trip having three parts – the first part was exploring Spain – the next was the cruise and all of that entailed – and the third “half” was Sitges (a beach community outside of Barcelona).
We picked up our car rental, and we were on our way to Sitges. One of the gals that I worked with had recommended Sitges because it is a nice beach community and it’s where her and her family/friends would vacation.
I was so happy that we were going to be outside of Barcelona. This was a much smaller community, and right on the water. We had done a lot of research months ago – and had landed on one hotel. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any ADA rooms – so we ended up switching to a different hotel.
Sometimes the universe gives us what we need, even when we don’t know we need it yet! We ended up at ME Sitges Terramar. It was a very beautiful hotel with a sheltered cove that made it easy to splash around in the water – or try your luck at stand up paddle boarding.
After we dropped our luggage we made our way to our first winery of the day – Juvé & Camps. We needed to rally after not getting a ton of sleep the night before – because we were excited for this tour.
Juvé & Camps is known for making top-quality Cava. Founded in 1921, they farm over 270 hectares of vineyards, focusing on organic practices. Their Cavas are distributed worldwide, so there’s a chance you may have even seen them in your local store! Jon had set up a tour for us – and it was very small. Just another couple from Wales. It was a great tour and fun to see their cellars. At the end they also gave us some characteurie boards.
While in the cave, our guide brought us to a little room pictured below to continue his lesson on making Cava, the disgorging process. We are quite familiar with the process with my love of quality sparkling wine and out tour through the Champagne region. The process is basically to pop the top of the bottle that has been aging and under extreme pressure (7 atmospheres of pressure vs the 4 atmospheres of pressure from the final product) and top it off with special ingredients and then re-cork before it’s ready to sell. Then he surprised us all, he dawned his PPE (face shield and an apron), he grabbed a bottle and actually did the process; a first for us! Instead of the standard process, he poured straight from the bottle so we could see the difference between a freshly disgorged bottle and the final product. What a fun treat to experience the process and taste the difference!
Disgorging Room
From there, one of our wineries had cancelled. But one that Jon hadn’t heard back from confirmed our tasting. This time – we had the place to ourselves! It was just a tasting, but it was so fun!
This was a much smaller production – Cava Guilera. They had some older vintages as well – which was a great experience. One of them was even from the year I graduated high school. (Which as most of you know was just a few years ago!)
We made our way back to the hotel and took a quick nap before heading to downtown Sitges. The streets were tiny – and there were people everywhere! Parking was a challenge, but we found a spot and made it in time for our reservation.
Going to be combining a few days because we only had one port left, which was Tangier.
We woke up to a beautiful port in Tangier on Tuesday. We had an excursion booked with the cruise, Taste of Tangier. The excursion was advertised as a city tour of Tangier, in addition to a visit to Hercules Cave.
Our guide gave us a brief history on Tangier, and the different occupations of it over the centuries. One thing that was interesting, is that they seem very proud to point out all of the different buildings that belong to different countries. For example – here’s the palace for the King of Saudi Arabia- he comes here once every 20-30 years! And then the different mosques, the churches from the Christians, and the hotels owned by the Italians.
On our drive, we saw lots of camels, which wasn’t new to us – but they had a lot of baby camels! (Which was new). Tangier is also unique from the standpoint that it’s where the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean meet. There was a sign that showcased this, but our group didn’t want to stop for a quick picture there.
Baby camels!
Once we got to the cave, our group made their way down super quickly and we mostly had the cave to ourselves. As we walked in, one of the men that worked for the cave started to show us a cool photo opportunity. They said the hole kind of looked like the continent of Africa, I personally think you have to squint and turn your head to the side, but then you can see it.
There was a movie playing in one section, and we joined at the end of the English version. It had some incredible graphics, but we couldn’t tell what was being said.
The Cave of Hercules is located just outside of Tangier. According to legend, it is where the Greek hero Hercules rested after completing his twelve labors, and some say it is where he separated Europe from Africa. The cave has two openings—one facing the land and another, more famous one, resembling the shape of Africa, facing the Atlantic Ocean.
After we left the cave, we made our way to a lighthouse. Cape Spartel was built because of the number of shipwrecks in the area. In 1860, one ship carrying over 250 Brazilian cadets sank. It was because of this accident, that the Sultan agreed to have the lighthouse built at the urging of other countries that used this route for trade.
We hopped back into the bus and made our way to the Kasbah Museum. It was a short walk, but we got our first taste of walking through the winding streets in Tangier. The museum is perched on top of a hill, which means it has pretty stunning views.
This is when things took an annoying turn. Our tour guide said that we had 15 minutes to explore the museum, but didn’t really provide any highlights of things to see. Also, all of the panels and signs were in Arabic and French. (Which we understand that we are in a different country, hence the different languages… just made it harder to enjoy as we didn’t understand what we were looking at).
The architecture was incredible – and I’m definitely a sucker for mosaics. Andy found a staircase heading upstairs, and I didn’t really want to leave the main group. I had the sneaking suspicion that our tour guide wasn’t really paying too much attention to who was in our group and where we were all at. So reluctantly, I followed him upstairs and was quickly rewarded with a view of the mosaic floor from above.
We didn’t stick around for long, because the last place we wanted to be left behind were the windy streets of Tangier. We do think we saw some human remains in one of the displays, but because of the language barrier, we can’t confirm this.
There was a beautiful view from the museum down onto the water – and then we made our way on foot through the Medina. Lots of winding, teeny tiny streets, and a lot of shops. Similar to our experience in Egypt, it seems that every tour guide “knows a guy” and they bring us to their shop. This one was huge, but there wasn’t a lot that tourists would normally want to bring home. Big plates, vases, etc. that wouldn’t be easy to carry home.
We saw so many kitties all around. Black one, white ones, orange ones, they were so cute. We saw a lot of food left out for them, and even one dish with milk in it!
After shopping, we went to a cafe for coffee and tea and cookies. Honestly, we stayed at this place for far too long – there weren’t enough tables in the shade and it was hot. Some people in the group wanted to go shopping, and everyone was sort of wondering what was going on at that point.
We made it back to the ship and opted in to making the rest of the day a pool day.
As we were leaving Tangier, we went through the Straight of Gibraltar which is the waterway between Europe and Africa. As we were underway, we saw a large pod of dolphins following the ship.
We ended Tuesday with another silent disco on the ship.
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At Sea Days
I really enjoy the sea days because it means you can rest up, and the cruise line usually does a lot more activities. One of our favorites was Deal or No Deal, which we didn’t win big this time.
It was also Jon and Yvonne’s anniversary, so it was cute to see what the cruise does to celebrate milestones.
Our last day on the ship was at sea, which meant we spent some of our time packing up. We were grateful that we brought an expandable duffle – that way we could bring even more stuff home! (Including the port we just purchased!)
The last day, the kitchen crew put together beautiful displays in the Oceanview Cafe. It was so pretty to look at!
Up Next: – Third half of the trip: Sitges & wine tasting!
We docked in Porto, Portugal on Sunday. Jon had found a tour company that was accessible – and private – to take us into the Douro Valley for some wine tasting.
Márcio was both our driver and our guide – he had been in communication with Jon before we left the USA – so we knew we were in good hands.
Marcio explained that in Portugal it was more common that the wine be paired with food. He was super mindful about all of my food preferences (no red meat or pork – also, hoping that there weren’t any faces attached to the fish, etc…) Our first stop was in a quaint little town, Amarante.
Amarante is a charming town in northern Portugal, nestled along the Tâmega River. It is a stop on the famous Camino de Santiago hiking trail, offering a picturesque stop for hikers. However, we were not hiking – we were there to eat and drink! They had some famous pastries, I’ll let you take a look at the picture and determine what you think they were supposed to be shaped like.
Márcio stopped at a local tavern that had plenty of smoked meats, and some local wines for us to try. It was a great way to kick off the start of our day.
From there, we started our drive to the first winery. The Douro Valley is stunning – it was absolutely beautiful. We’ve been to quite a few different wine regions in the world, and this was definitely one of the most beautiful as it followed along the river.
We saw quite a few river boats making their way through to the Spanish border
The Douro Valley in Portugal is an absolute dream for wine lovers and nature enthusiasts. With the rolling hills covered in terraced vineyards, the scenery is straight out of a postcard. This region is famous for producing Port wine, and visiting the local wineries for a tasting is a must. (This trip made me a convert! I think I’ve just been drinking the wrong Port wine!)
Our first winery was called Quinta Do Val Moreira, which had a stunning view overlooking the river and the valley. We enjoyed our tasting there – and the pastries that Márcio had picked out for us.
The winery’s tour down in their caveCork art hanging in the tasting room – it only took the artist 48 hours to design
The next stop was lunch, it was a beautiful outdoor setting. I’m not sure about the others, but I was already starting to feel full. The staff walked us through the traditional kitchen, and oh my goodness – the smells were heavenly! I suppose you can always find room for more when you’re on vacation.
The behind the scenes kitchen tour
We were seated outside under a beautiful tree, where we had another tasting and a lovely meal. They had prepared fish for me – and the others had their choice of lamb or pork dishes.
We moved onto the last winery, Quinta Seara Dordens. Where we were greeted by some lazy dogs, Typhoon, Ruby, and Tawny. Our host there was very friendly, and we enjoyed our time there. We bought a bottle of Tawny Port before heading back to Porto to hop back on the ship.
Márcio was Fantastic and would highly recommend him to anyone!Tawny, just being a silly goof
At the beginning of the day, I had asked if we could swing by a bookstore in Porto. It’s supposed to be Harry Potter related, but we realized we were short on time and wouldn’t be able to go. So instead he brought us around on a very quick city tour, which was pretty cool to see.
We will definitely have to come back at some point, because we didn’t even scratch the surface of Porto!
After dinner, we went to another show on board the ship. It was poorly marketed, but actually ended up being a great experience with plenty of songs and acrobatics.
Since the cruise had offered an overnight in Lisbon, we were able to do a walking tour on Saturday of Lisbon with Jon and Yvonne.
A longggg time ago when I still worked for AAA, our computers had rotating screensavers and I had seen this cool looking “castle” that I knew I would need to see at some point in my life.
Belém Tower is a must-see, sitting right on the edge of the Tagus River. This 16th-century fortress has some seriously cool stonework that shows off Portugal’s history during the Age of Discovery. It was just a quick cab ride over to Belem from the cruise port, with a few other attractions nearby.
We didn’t go inside, as I think most of the beauty is on the outside. From Belém Tower, it was a short walk to the Monument of the Discoveries. The Monument of the Discoveries is a massive, eye-catching tribute to Portugal’s Age of Exploration. Shaped like the front of a ship, it features statues of famous explorers, with Prince Henry the Navigator leading the way. You can head to the top for some awesome panoramic views of the city and the river, but we opted to stay on the ground for this one.
We got a cab over to the Rossio neighborhood next. Our first stop was to get a ginjinha. Ginjinha is a popular Portuguese liqueur made from sour cherries, known as “ginja,” that are soaked in alcohol and sweetened with sugar. It’s served in small shots, often with a cherry at the bottom of the glass.
We opted to walk around from there, looking at the different shops. We picked up a few souvenirs before heading to a local festival, where there were other crafts and also some sangria. We opted to take a quick break and enjoy that before continuing our stroll.
Our last stop was the Praça do Comércio – Praça do Comércio is one of Lisbon’s most iconic squares settled right by the Tagus River. Surrounded by beautiful, yellow-painted buildings and an impressive archway. It was a fun spot to soak in Lisbon.
We made our way back to the ship and watched as we sailed underneath the “other” Golden Gate Bridge – and waved by to their Christ the Redeemer.
That evening we went to a show in the ship’s theater – Oli Nez. He was a very talented saxophone player, who also happened to be quite the comedian. It was a great time.
Our next stop was Lisbon for two days – we were excited that we had an overnight here, because it meant we could go to nearby Sintra and not have to rush back to the ship.
One of my girlfriends had gone to Spain and Portugal a few years back and raved about the beauty of Sintra. We knew that we needed to see it for ourselves. The ship has many of their own excursions, but none of them quite fit the bill for what we wanted to see. I was able to secure a private tour that was set up in a choose your own adventure format, our priority was Pena Palace, but there were other activities that we could choose from.
We had seen pictures of an ancient looking well – we didn’t know entirely what it was, but thought that could make a good stop. We also opted to do a famous bakery/factory in Belem.
As pulled into Lisbon, we went under a copy-cat of the Golden Gate Bridge – and Christ the Redeemer welcomed us to port with open arms.
We got off the ship pretty early, and met our guide outside of the cruise terminal. He said we were doing good on time, so he wanted to bring us up a tall hill in Lisbon to give us a great view of the city. The views were incredible – we could already tell that Lisbon was going to remind us a lot of California.
From there, we made our way to Pastéis de Belém, which is known for its iconic custard tarts, known as pastéis de nata. These have been made using a secret recipe since 1837.
These heavenly pastries feature a buttery crust filled with a creamy, sweet custard. You can choose to dust them with cinnamon and/or powdered sugar. The bakery is located in the Belém district of Lisbon and is the birthplace of this beloved Portuguese treat. I had seen pictures, and knew that I needed to have one. Growing up, my grandmother made custard pies and they were always my favorite!
After the bakery, we made our way to Quinta da Regaleira. The place with the really cool well. Quinta da Regaleira is like stepping into a real-life fairy tale, filled with mysterious gardens, hidden tunnels, and unique architecture. It was built in the early 20th century with lots of nods to secret societies like the Freemasons and the Knights Templar. The highlight for many is the Initiation Well—a spiral staircase that winds deep into the ground, offering a symbolic journey of discovery. Wandering through the palace, chapel, and gardens, you’ll find grottoes, fountains, and secret paths, making it a place where every turn reveals something new and magical.
We walked to downtown Sintra from there, and stopped for lunch at a cute Italian place with great pizza and lemon cello spritz. We continued to stroll through downtown, before getting picked up to head to Pena Palace with our guide.
Pena Palace sits atop a hill in Sintra and it is a striking blend of architectural styles, and is highlighted in bright colors. Originally a medieval monastery, it was transformed by King Ferdinand II into a whimsical royal residence, that was used as more of a summer house for royalty. The palace has beautiful fairy-tale towers and ornate details throughout. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage site, Pena Palace is a masterpiece of artistic imagination and natural beauty.
Unfortunately for us, it was incredibly foggy that day and we weren’t able to see the views from its high perch. Just gray clouds, but it was still an amazing visit!
Our guide took us to the most western point in all of Europe next. We drove through sunshine to get there, but within a few miles we were already covered in fog again. It was incredibly windy, but we took a quick picture before hopping back in the car.
Most western point in Europe
He drove us to Cascais next, what used to be a small fishing village but has become incredibly popular for locals and tourists alike. Each corner we came around we saw a new sandy beach. He offered to stop for us to get out and walk around, but we were already exhausted from all of the walking. So we made our way back to Lisbon.
Our first stop on the cruise was Cadiz, Spain. This is viewed as the gateway to Seville – but it was an hour and a half one way to get there. Andy and I opted to do a flamenco show in Cadiz, and Jon and Yvonne went nearby to do a sherry tasting outside of the city.
A lot of people had signed up for this excursion, so many in fact that there were three charter buses waiting. Our group had flipped the original itinerary and we were doing the walking tour first, then the flamenco show, and ending with the bus tour of Cadiz.
We were relieved that we got the walking tour over first, as it was already getting hot and humid. Prior to this tour, we didn’t know much about Spain – except that they “discovered” a lot of the world. It was interesting to learn more about the country, and also Cadiz. Cadiz is one of the oldest cities in Western Europe is situated on a narrow strip of land surrounded by the sea. It really was quite beautiful!
From there, we walked to a flamenco bar. We got there as the place was opening, and it was only our group. We met a lovely duo from Canada, but originally from India. They were very interested in US politics, so we had a fun chat about what’s going on south of their border.
As we all got settled, they offered us all a drink, we of course chose sangria (when in Spain…), and a potato omelette with a cheese and meat plate.
But the political conversation came to a screeching halt once the dancers came out. We had one sassy Spanish woman – and a gentleman accompanying her. In addition, there was one singer and a guitarist. The music, the lyrics, the dancing… they were electric!
A flamenco show is a powerful expression of passion and cultural heritage, combining expressive dance, soulful singing, and intricate guitar playing. The performance features a singer and guitarist creating a deep, emotional backdrop, while the dancer(s) responds with intense footwork and graceful movements. The result is a captivating, dynamic experience that immerses the audience in the heart of Spain’s vibrant traditions. Unfortunately, no videos were allowed – so we had to work with still pictures only. Ole!
She was so sassy – and fierce – and incredible
If you get the chance to attend a flamenco show – do it! We enjoyed it – I wish we knew enough Spanish to understand the lyrics, but our guide translated some of the lyrics to us later. The stories in the songs varied about the Spanish’s hate for the French – to a woman wondering where her husband was (probably drinking wine)… it was a lot of fun.
We were there for about an hour – and after the show was over. We went to a local market – it had a lot of fish and produce. It was fun to see – but we didn’t have time to do any shopping. We walked by a few more historic buildings before hopping on our bus.
Cathedral de Cadiz
The bus took us around Cadiz – we got to see a few beaches and a former fort. It then dropped us off at the cruise terminal.
Us with our ship
We had dinner with Jon and Yvonne on the ship and shared stories from the day. We did a pub quiz that evening with a charming Aussie as host.
Working for a global company offers the ability to connect with colleagues around the world – a year ago I met Chester in the Philippines and he recently moved to Spain.
We were able to connect and meet up for breakfast. It was so nice to see a friendly face in Barcelona before we got on the cruise ship. He picked a place close to his apartment and our hotel, which was really nice!
Thanks for meeting up with me, Chester!
After coffee, I made my way back to the hotel to finish packing. We were now leaving our hotel and boarding the cruise ship. We asked the hotel to help us hail a larger cab for us (+ Jon/Yvonne) and all of our luggage.
Once on board we opted to have a casual lunch at the Oceanview Cafe. We knew it would be a few hours before our luggage would be delivered, so we sat around with Jon and Yvonne for a while and just relaxed.
Eventually, we went to check, and our luggage had been delivered (well, at least mine – and let’s be honest… I’m the over packer!) so I started to unpack. Once it got closer to leaving the harbor, we went up to the rooftop to watch us sail away, which is always magical.
After that we finished unpacking and then went to dinner. It was fun to be back on the ship, and this time with Jon and Yvonne. We opted for Anytime Dining, which always a lot more flexibility based off of your plans for the day.
One of our first sunsets
After dinner, we went to the Pub Quiz. It was a good day to be back on a cruise!
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Wednesday, August 28th
At sea days are a nice way to break up the trip – and because we had flown in early and already done so much in Barcelona. It was a great day for us to relax.
Andy and I started the morning off by using the fitness center for a quick workout. After freshening up for the day, and having a more leisurely morning we joined Bingo in the afternoon.
It’s sort of funny, because they’ve never had Bingo on a cruise that we’ve been on before. You had to pay for your cards, and each of us (Jon and Yvonne included) decided to split the cards up. (Each card did have a unique identifier). Well, as soon as we got into the theater for Bingo the activity manager let us know that we weren’t supposed to do that… and that we “should have been told we couldn’t do that.”
The infamous bingo card that got us into trouble
Unfortunately for us, no one did. He was really condescending in his approach about it, which was really unfortunate… because we haven’t had bad service while cruising with Celebrity.
Suffice to say, neither couple won. But it did seem like they were giving out good prizes if you did!
We had an early dinner, and then made our way to one of the production shows. It was pretty cheesy, but they are a fun way to enjoy different facets of the cruise.
We ended the night with one of our favorite activities – the Silent Disco! This time there was only one DJ, and the other stations were Latino music and more 70s/80s music. We all had a blast rotating between the different stations, since the DJ refused to play the Britney Spears music that I requested until the very end.
Scribbles and Snapshots 