May 7-10, 2018: Three Days in Madrid (Spain)
	May 4, 2018: A Day in Chania on the Isle of Crete (Greece)
	Return to the Index for 2018

We have been at sea for the last two days, but this morning we are docking here in Barcelona. This will bring our two, back-to-back cruises to an end, but it will also mark the beginning of another short trip to Madrid, Spain.

We left Chania, Crete, on the afternoon of May 4, and then spent that night and the next two full days and nights at sea, steaming via a circuitous route first west along the north coast of Crete and south of Greece itself.

Then it was west across the open Mediterranean, south of Italy and south of Malta, and the northwest through the sea between Tunisia and Sicily.

We steamed further west north of Africa and south of Sardinia, and then turned northwest again to pass well north of the island of Malorca and on into Barcelona.

This will be our third visit to Barcelona and its port, so we will be a bit more on familiar ground.

The Barcelona port is kind of neat, and it accommodates a great many cruise ships. Most of them come into the long harbor west of the breakwater and then head north to the cruise ship terminals.

We came into a berth fairly far north in the harbor; and I believe this was the same berth that we used when took the Celebrity Century from here to Miami some years ago. We had gotten up quite early so that we could depart the ship individually, rather than wait for some specified time. We needed to make our trains to Madrid. Steven was meeting his partner here in Barcelona, so he wouldn't get off the ship until later. Richard and Zoran would be doing something in Europe together, so they, too, were going to wait a while to get off the ship.

But Greg was in the departure line by six-fifteen, and we joined him at about six-thirty. John and John were late, so after we left the ship we waited for them downstairs outside the terminal building. Fred took the opportunity of having to wait for John and John to take a couple of pictures of the Mariner of the Seas at her berth:

Presently, the large taxi-van that Greg had arranged for arrived, but he had to wait a little while for the two Johns to finally get off the ship with their luggage. We all piled into the taxi and headed off out of the cruise ship port and over the bridge into Barcelona itself. As we were going over that bridge, Fred took one final picture of what had been our home for a month- the Mariner of the Seas:

Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas

Well, I guess the cruise part of our round-the-world trip is done, now that we are on dry land again (for good), but I'll arbitrarily make the official end of the cruise portion our arrival at the central train station in Barcelona. While Fred took a great many pictures from the taxi, it was so early in the morning and we were moving so quickly, that hardly any of them turned out. I will include one, though, showing that Barcelona, like most European and many American cities is really into bicycle sharing.

So with our arrival at the Barcelona Central Station, our trip from Singapore to Barcelona is finished. You are, of course, more than welcome to come on along with us to Madrid. I can promise you- its a beautiful city!

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	May 7-10, 2018: Three Days in Madrid (Spain)
	May 4, 2018: A Day in Chania on the Isle of Crete (Greece)
	Return to the Index for 2018