Tomorrow - another day at sea then the Canary Islands!

Cadiz and the Mediterranean Sea. There was a very nice promenade that went along the Sea. A great place to walk or jog.

A street by the harbor.

A plaza with outdoor restaurants. Love them!

Interior shots of one of the cathedrals. They are elaborate beyond measure.

For you non-Formula 1 fans, this is Fernando Alonzo. He drives for Ferrari and is from Spain. His photo is in every Santander bank I saw (and there are LOTS of branches all over Spain). Since he is my second favorite driver (next to Lewis Hamilton) he gets his photo in my blog. ;-)

This is one of my favorite photos. We were walking down this cobblestone street near one of the cathedrals and I looked up and saw Barb walking ahead of me and thought it'd make a nice photo.

I couldn't get far enough away to get the entire cathedral in the photo. There were two towers - it was very symmetrical.

Another cathedral on a plaza.

Cadiz street scenes.

Since it is early Sunday morning it is pretty quiet. Some of the shops will open later - some not at all. Barb and I decided to stay in town and shop (did I mention that Barb owns a women's clothing shop?) instead of going on a tour to Seville.

Cadiz, Spain (Sun, Nov 6). Last night we sailed through the Straight of Gibraltar. It was quite rough - lots of bouncing around.

Not sure what the statue is commemorating. It about 9:00 Sunday morning.

And what would a Spanish city be without several cathedrals? This was a particularly pretty one I thought.

After a wonderful day shopping (what else?) it was back to the ship and off to Cadiz, Spain tomorrow. So far I am totally loving Spain.

Motorcycles and small cars are the preferred methods of transportation in the cities we visited. Not like in America - where gas guzzlers reign supreme...

A little street market near the park - probably set up for the cruise ship passengers. I didn't see anything that I couldn't live without...

This is a park that was near the harbor.

An example of the wonderful Spanish architecture.

Here we are in Malaga, Spain (Nov 5 - Saturday). It is around 9:00 am so it is pretty quiet. This seems to be the main shopping area for upscale shops. The sidewalks are beautiful - they look like they've been polished.

I didn't take a picture of our ship but this is our sister ship - so it gives you an idea of what ours looks like. Pretty small and unremarkable as ships go... It holds 1,266 passengers and probably 500 crew? Not sure about the crew numbers.

Okay - here we are, day 1 of the cruise (November 4, 2011). We left Barcelona at 5:00 pm the evening before - sailing in the Mediterranean Sea. I took this photo our from our cabin window. I think the waves were about 5'? Hard to tell. It was a little bouncy - but not bad. As you can tell, our cabin was in the bottom level (what I like to call "steerage"). Actually, it ended up being a good place (middle of the ship, low down) because there were a couple of days and nights when it got pretty rough so the lower down in the ship you are the smoother it is. :-)

We are at sea all day and will arrive at Malaga, Spain tomorrow morning at 8:00 am.

Fun in the snow! Miss Phaedra and Ron came to visit for 3 days. We had lots of fun. It snowed while they were here so Phaedra got lots of time in the snow.

Plumbing store in Spain.

I came across these bronze plaque in the sidewalks outside of some of the buildings. Not sure if they are talking about the buildings or the various streets. They are all the same except for the gold part in the middle.

We had to get the the cruise ship by 2:00, so the hotel called a taxi and we were off to the next part of our adventure. Our hotel was only a few blocks from the waterfront so it was a short taxi ride. I was reallllly sad to be leaving Barcelona, but excited to begin the cruise.

The Barcelona Cathedral. I copied some info about it from the internet:

Its origins

The earliest origins of Barcelona Cathedral date back to a basilica with three naves, destroyed by Al-Mansur in 925. The remains of this basilica can be seen at the City History Museum. Around 1046, Bishop Guislabert pushed for the construction of a new cathedral. There are hardly any references to this cathedral. It is believed to have occupied part of the Gothic building but all that has been preserved is Romanesque.

The basilica today

Building work began in 1298, when Bernat Pelegrí was Bishop and Jaume II, known as "The Just", was on the throne. The Santa Llúcia Chapel, built in a late Romanesque style, already existed. Construction was very slow: the Crypt of Saint Eulalia and the choir-stall are from the end of the 14th century; the cloister from the 15th century and the retrochoir and the organ from the 16th century. The façade was finally finished in the early 20th century, by the architects Josep Oriol Mestres and August Font i Carreras, based on an early 15th century design by the French architect Mestre Carlí. Rather than Catalan Gothic, the style is Nordic Gothic The façade is 70 metres high and crowned with an image of Saint Helena, by the sculptor Eduard Alentorn.

In the cloisters, for Corpus Christi, there is a typically Barcelonian custom, l'ou com balla: an egg (ou) is put into the jet of water in the cloister garden fountain to make it "dance". There is also a pond with thirteen white geese. Always thirteen, because that is how old Saint Eulalia was when, according to legend, she was martyred.

Another plaza with outdoor seating for a couple of restaurants.

Here is a government building of some sort on a plaza. I love the Spanish architecture!

Day three in Barcelona. It is raining this morning. I got up early and went for a walk while Barb stayed in bed (I guess; I was out exploring so I'm not sure what she was doing!). ;-)

There was so much other beautiful Gaudi buildings, etc. I didn't have a chance to see them all, or to photograph all the ones I saw. They are truly unique, and to my mind, beautiful. Barcelona is so beautiful. Everywhere you turn the architecture is stunning. There is lots of open space, in the form of plazas... outdoor dining, wide tree-lined streets, tiny narrow streets and a beautiful waterfront.

A detail of the iron work on the gate.

The gates at the entrance to Guell Park.

Detail of ceiling.

This was a sort of "plaza", with beautiful stone work on the floor and mosaics on the ceiling.

A view out over the entire city of Barcelona, out to the Mediterranean.

Here I am at Guell Park, which was also designed by Gaudi.

Here I am on what I call the "gothic" side.

Each of the 4 sides has a different style.

Temple de la Sagrada Familia. Construction was started in, I believe, 1888 (or something like that). They are projecting that it will be done in about 26 years... hummm, we'll see. It is Gaudi's masterwork.

A close-up of the iron work on the balconies.

La Pedrera