Our Mediterranean Cruise!

 My husband and I took our older daughter, Dina and her two daughters on a Mediterranean Cruise.

We flew over a couple of days early to spend some days in Rome.

The first day we walked 9 miles, the second day 7 miles.  We had a private guide to take us to the highlights and tell us about everything...

From Rome we drove for about an hour to go to the Civitavecchia Port
In this picture we climbed up the Castel Sant'Angelo and took a picture with Rome in the background.

 

The first excursion of the trip was to Florence and Pisa.

Here is Lily holding up the tower of Pisa!  Ellie learned about 'forced perspective' in her photography class this year, so we put it to good use!

 

 Our second day brought us to the Island of Corsica, France at Ajaccio.  We strolled through the town, had some crepes and of course we had to swim in the Sea!  It was very salty, warm and amazing!

The third excursion we took a boat ride to Cinque Terre.  There are five cities, but only access is from boat or train, you cannot walk between the cities.  We had a wonderful time strolling through a very quaint village, we had some gelato and walked up steep steps to get a view of the harbor while locals were swimming right where the boat docked!  This picture was taken from the boat and the typical picture you often see on postcards of Cinque Terre!

 Our 5th day brought us to Monaco, Nice and Eze village.  This picture was taken from the bus on our way down from Eze village.  Isn't the sea a glorious color?

 I couldn't resist an evening picture of the two granddaughters dressed for dinner.

We were on a Seven Seas Cruise ship and their policy is to be casual elegant every day after 6 PM.  NO shorts, tennis shoes, or jeans are allowed after 6 pm.

 Here we are in Marseille, I didn't mention that Dina's luggage never made it the whole trip, so by the time we got to Marseille we decided to make it a shopping day!  Up until that time she was sharing clothes with her two daughters.  She did pick up a few undergarments while in Italy, but really needed some other clothing, especially for the dinner hours on board the ship.

 Our next stop was Palamos Spain and we visited the Famous Costa Bravo cities of Tossa De Mar and Lloret de Mar.  This picture was taken at Tossa de Mar, we walked up high above the city and took a selfie!  Ha, I needed lots of instruction on taking selfies from the selfie masters (granddaughters!! LOL)

 

  Palma de Mallorca, has the Cathedral of Santa Maria, it was first built in 1229 and finished in 1601. It features a large stained glass in the shape of a rose.

They really know how to build churches over there...they are all massive beyond belief and so ornate, filled with gold and statues, paintings, tapestries, everything to bring honor and glory to our Lord.

 Valencia was our last stop with an excursion. Lily and Ellie in front of a fountain

 Our last night on the cruise ship before dinner.  Scott and I had a cabin that was at the back of the ship, we had a little deck with two chairs, a table and a lounge chair...lots of windows to look out and view the city and ports and we arrived and left.

 We disembarked in Barcelona, Spain and we all LOVED that city!

This a picture of the Alter at the Sagrada Familia Church (Holy Family)

This church is breathtakingly beautiful and the pictures just do NOT do it justice.  You must see it in person to appreciate the workmanship and understand the reason for all the fine detail.

Here is a picture taken from the internet:

Right now it has 8 bell towers, when this project is completed (which they are hoping it will be done in 9 more years) there will be a total of 18 bell towers .  Each Bell Tower is going to have something like 7 or 8 bells and all have different octaves so when they are all going it will truly be like a symphony playing! this church has been under construction for 150 years...it is about 75% complete and they hope in 9 years it will be all done.  Gaudi is the famous architect who did NOT start the project but he took it over and most of it is his work and his vision. there is a second story for the choir...1200 seats for the choir!

 The east side of the church was all green and blue stained glass, with darker shades at the bottom getting lighter as it went up higher. (ombre!)

 The west side of the church was done in yellow, oranges and red stained glass...stunning when the sun shines through!

 The Holy Family. The Sagrada Familia. The entire outside of the church has statues like this and very few inside the church.

Loved sharing this trip of a lifetime with my daughter Dina.

 Still in Barcelona, high on a hill where the Barcelona Olympics were held.  The divers had quite a view!

Now you know why I have been missing from blogland and where I have been.

It was a wonderful trip and I think I can see myself seeing more of the world from a cruise ship!

Heart Hugs, friends!