We arrived in Rome from our amazing Egypt adventure and travelled by train to Civitavecchia, the cruise ship port that we were to sail from. The trains in the United Kingdom and Europe are truly wonderful.

We stayed in a lovely Airbnb for 2 layover nights before boarding our ship.

We had dinner at a couple of very good, relatively inexpensive restaurants and breakfasts at McDonalds. It was interesting trying to navigate the menu in Italian!

I did a little walking but Brian rested his very painful knee. He did so well in Egypt with the walking but now he is in need of a big rest. The ship will give him that.

We did walk from our Airbnb to the cruise ship terminals. We were very disappointed with the shuttle bus service from the terminal to the ship – no help with our luggage on and off the bus and very poor instructions for checking in and boarding the ship.

We boarded our ship, Celebrity Reflection, early and spent the rest of the day exploring the ship, eating lunch buffet, which was delicious, and relaxing. Then dinner (more delicious food) and to bed.

Celebrity Reflection is the fifth, final, and largest Solstice-class cruise ship, her sister ships being Celebrity Equinox, Celebrity Eclipse, Celebrity Solstice and Celebrity Silhouette. Solstice, Equinox, Eclipse and Silhouette entered service in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 respectively.  Reflection was launched in 2012.

Since October 2012, it has been owned and operated by Celebrity Cruises. It has one more deck than other Solstice-class cruise ships, has the first Aqua Class Suites and is the only ship to have Reflection Class Suites. The ship can accommodate over 3,609 passengers, more than any other Celebrity cruise ship.

My impression of this beautiful ship:

It was really, really, really big. The larger the ship, they say, the more amenities. The gym was as good as you could get. To me that was the best part of the ship. There were yoga classes every day that we were at Sean the classes were very reasonably priced and the instructor was excellent

We had an inside stateroom but it was roomy and well appointed and all that we needed.

The Sky Observation Deck was spectacular and was my favourite part of the ship. At the bow, and on one of the top decks with beautiful vistas and comfortable seating, I spent lots of time there reading and crocheting and just enjoying the view.

I can’t remember how many times I “got lost”. It is a good thing I like to walk!

The dining room was huge and the cafeteria had so many stations and was so large that I was perpetually disoriented when I was trying to get breakfast and lunch. I suspect Brian would have something else to say about this. How I describe it simply reflects how poor my sense of direction is!

And I could never find a bathroom! A friend of mine who does lots of cruising says that it is intentional to encourage people to use the bathrooms in their staterooms. Makes sense, I guess.

The bridge program for Brian was quite sparse and quite disappointing. There was no bridge director so no organized tournaments or really scheduled events. The bridge players had to organize themselves pretty much.

So my summary is that bigger isn’t necessarily better.

Another day of getting lost frequently. Yoga…Bridge…Crocheting….Reading…Elliptical Machine….and most important..EATING🥚🧀🥞🍗🍕🍔🍟🌮🥮🥧🧁🍦.

We are heading for our three stops in Spain followed by a trip through the Straits of Gibraltar and hen on to Tenerife, Canary Islands which technically is still Spain.

This is the first of our four stops in Spain.

Today, we took an organized tour, something we don’t often do. We were glad we did. Barcelona is a very beautiful city, best known, I think, for its architecture and culture. Our guide was fantastic.

Many of our photos had to be taken from the tour bus so quality is not perfect. Taking these tours gives a flavour of the city but so much in Barcelona really requires a few days to see it properly….as with so many day bus tours!

Barcelona is the capital and largest city of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain, with a population of 1.6 million within city limits. It was founded as a Roman city. Barcelona is located on the northeast coast of the Iberian Peninsula, facing the Mediterranean Sea.

Barcelona has a rich cultural heritage and is today an important cultural centre and a major tourist destination. Particularly renowned are the architectural works of Antoni Gaudí and Lluís Domènech i Montaner, which have been designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

La Sagrada Família is one of Antoni Gaudí’s most famous works in Barcelona. It’s a giant Basilica that has been under construction since 1882 (that’s not a typing error) and it’s not expected to be completed for some time yet. Much controversy surrounds the building of the Sagrada Família. Today new construction materials are being used which, some feel, Gaudí himself would not have used.

Casa Milà, popularly known as La Pedrera or “The stone quarry”, a reference to its unconventional rough-hewn appearance, is a modernist building in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was the last private residence designed by architect Antoni Gaudí and was built between 1906 and 1912. 

Casa Batlló is a building in the center of Barcelona. It was designed by Antoni Gaudí, and is considered one of his masterpieces. A remodel of a previously built house, it was redesigned in 1904 by Gaudí and has been refurbished several times after that. The local name for the building is Casa dels ossos (House of Bones), as it has a visceral, skeletal organic quality. I stole this photo because we weren’t able to take a photo from our tour bus but it was so cool that I had to include one.

The Torre Akbar, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel and completed in 2005, is a slender, conical building that has become a symbol of the contemporary city.

The Columbus Monument is a 60 m (197 ft) tall monument to Christopher Columbus. It was constructed for the Exposición Universal de Barcelona (1888) in honor of Columbus’ first voyage to the Americas. The monument serves as a reminder that Christopher Columbus reported to Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand V in Barcelona after his first trip to the new continent.

The Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya ( English: “National Art Museum of Catalonia”), abbreviated as MNAC, is the national museum of Catalan visual art located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Situated on Montjuïc hill, the museum is especially notable for its outstanding collection of romanesque church paintings, and for Catalan art and design from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including modernisme and noucentisme. The museum is housed in the Palau Nacional, a huge, Italian-style building dating to 1929.

We didn’t have time to see the museum but the vistas were amazing.

It was the last place in Catalonia where bullfights were held, since the Parliament of Catalonia passed a law banning bullfighting events on 28 July 2010 that came into force in 2012.

The plaza is currently used for sporting, musical and circus events.manages

The building was originally built in the noucentista architectural style, the work of Manuel Joaquim Raspall i Mayol. The expansion work was done by Ignasi Mas i Morell and Domènec Sugrañes i Gras to give it its current facade, strongly influenced by Mudéjar and Byzantine architecture. It is one of the larger public arenas in Barcelona, with a capacity of 19,582 for bullfights or about 25,000 for events such as rock concerts (using part of the ring for spectators).

We took a lot of photos of the bullring from every angle we could because we thought it was such a beautiful building. to me it just looks so Spanish, even North African.

Montjuïc Communications Tower on the right

Montjuïc Communications Tower from a different perspective

The Montjuïc Communications Tower, popularly known as Torre Calatrava and Torre Telefónica, is a telecommunication tower in the Montjuïc neighbourhood, was designed by Santiago Calatrava, with construction taking place from 1989 to 1992. The white tower was built for Telefónica to transmit television coverage of the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona. The 136-metre (446 ft) tower is located in the Olympic park and represents an athlete holding the Olympic Flame.

The base is covered with trencadís, Gaudí’s mosaic technique created from broken tile shard. Because of the tower’s orientation, it works also as a giant sundial, which uses the Europa square to indicate the hour.

Estació de França (“France Station”) is a major railway station in  Barcelona. It is generally seen as the city’s most beautiful station. It is worth seeing in its own right for the restrained mix of classical and more modern style that is complete with decoration in marble, bronze and crystal and its modernista and art déco motifs. 

We took a few photos of the Barcelona harbour from the ship.

Then back to the ship for more🍤🥟🥘🍲🍮🥧🥮🍷🍺.

What a beautiful city! It is small and very walkable. We didn’t take an organized tour because nothing caught our interest. We had a wonderful time just walking it on our own. We didn’t do a huge amount of walking because Brian’s knee is now “less than perfect”. There is a lovely central plaza with plenty to see.

Cartagena is a major naval station located in the Region of Murcia. As of January 2018, it has a population of 213,943 inhabitants,[2] being the Region’s second largest municipality and the country’s 6th non-Province capital city. The metropolitan area of Cartagena, known as Campo de Cartagena, has a population of 409,586 inhabitants.

Cartagena has been inhabited for over two millennia, being founded around 227 BC. The city had its heyday during the Roman Empire. The confluence of civilizations as well as its strategic harbour, together with the rise of the local mining industry is manifested by a unique artistic heritage, with a number of landmarks such as the Roman Theatre, the second largest of the Iberian Peninsula after the one in Mérida, an abundance of Phoenician, Roman, Byzantine and Moorish remains, and a plethora of Art Nouveau buildings, a result of the bourgeoisie from the early 20th century.

The Castillo San Felipe de Barajas is a fortress in the city of Cartagena, Colombia. The castle is located on the Hill of San Lázaro in a strategic location, dominating approaches to the city by land or sea. It was built by the Spanish during the colonial era. Construction began in the year 1536, and it was originally known as the Castillo de San Lázaro, It was expanded in 1657.

We didn’t visit the fortress but, of course, have added one for place to our bucket list!

We walked for a long ways along the plaza. It was lined with very beautiful facades, since the buildings are essentially “cheek to jowl”. There were several facades that were being supported and behind was new construction. Many of the very, very old buildings are completely residential and some with shops on the first level.

Then it was back to the ship for the rest of the day for R&R and 🍕🌮🥮🍦🍰🧁. Then more R&R then 🍺🍷🍤🥘🍗🍝🥗🍰🥧and more🍦🍦. Then to bed.

At some point during the night we passed through the Strait of Gibraltar. Although we didn’t see the rock, it is still an important landmark worth noting.

The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar and Peninsular Spain in Europe from Morocco and Ceuta (Spain) in Africa. The name comes from the Rock of Gibraltar, which is also known as the Straits of Gibraltar. Europe and Africa are separated by 7.7 nautical miles (14.3 km; 8.9 mi) of ocean at the strait’s narrowest point. 

Our day was spent doing pretty much nothing – the usual yoga, elliptical machine, bridge, crocheting, eating and drinking.

Tenerife  is the largest and most populated island of the seven Canary Islands. It is also the most populated island of Spain, with 904,713 inhabitants, 43 percent of the total population of the Canary Islands.

Approximately five million tourists visit Tenerife each year, the most visited island of the archipelago.  It is one of the most important tourist destinations in Spain and the world. Tenerife hosts one of the world’s largest carnivals and the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife is working to be designated UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of the World.

The capital of the island, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, is also the seat of the island council (cabildo insular).

The earliest known human settlement in the islands date to around 200 BC, by Berbers known as the Guanches.

We did not visit Santa Cruz de Tenerife because we had arranged for a tour up the mountain. Again, though, lots to come back for!

These photos are from the ship before we went ashore.

We took an organized tour to the Pyramides de Güímar. Having just come from Egypt, it seemed like a neat place to visit. Unfortunately, as is apparent from our photos, the day was very cloudy, cool and rainy. The tour bus took us up the mountain. Unfortunately, we were at the back of the bus and we were completely unable to hear our tour guide on the ride up. However it is very beautiful.

The Pyramids of Güímar are six rectangular pyramid-shaped, terraced structures built from lava stone without the use of mortar. They are located in the district of Chacona, part of the town of Güímar. The structures have been dated to the 19th century AD and they may originally have been a byproduct of contemporary agricultural techniques.

Other pyramids employing the same methods and materials of construction can be found in various sites on Tenerife. In Güímar itself there were nine pyramids, only six of which survive.

In 1990, adventurer and publisher, Thor Heyerdahl, became aware of the “Canarian Pyramids” by reading an article written by Francisco Padrón in the Tenerife newspaper “Diario de Avisos” detailing “real pyramids on the Canaries”.  As Heyerdahl had hypothesized a transatlantic link between Egyptand Central America, he became intrigued by the Güímar pyramids and relocated to Tenerife. There Heyerdahl researched possible parallels between the Canarian terrace structures and pyramid structures in Egypt and Central America in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica as ceremonial areas.

Heyerdahl hypothesised that the Canarian pyramids formed a temporal and geographic stopping point on voyages between ancient Egypt and the Maya civilization, initiating a controversy in which historians, esoterics, archaeologists, astronomers, and those with a general interest in history took part.

Between 1991 and 1998, with the agreement of Thor Heyerdahl, Furthermore, under the border edge of one of the pyramids, a natural lava cave was discovered. It had been walled up and yielded artefacts from the time of the Guanches. Since the pyramids lie stratigraphically above the cave, the Guanche finds from between 600 and 1000 AD can only support conclusions on the date of human use of the cave. The above survey indicates that the pyramids themselves cannot be older than the 19th century.Between 1991 and 1998, with the agreement of Thor Heyerdahl, multiple excavations of the site by archaeologists of the University of La Laguna took place.

The archaeologists involved maintain that the creation of the terrace structures followed from the practices of the 19th century rural population, who created these structures while clearing cultivatable land of stones, as they piled the stones into these terrace shapes. The excavations and subsequent research support a date for the construction of the structures no earlier than the 19th century.

However, under the border edge of one of the pyramids, a natural lava cave was discovered. It had been walled up and yielded artefacts from the time of the Guanches. Since the pyramids lie stratigraphically above the cave, the Guanche finds from between 600 and 1000 AD can only support conclusions on the date of human use of the cave. The above survey indicates that the pyramids themselves cannot be older than the 19th century.

Heyerdahl suggested that the structures were not haphazardly piled-up stones. Heyerdahl maintained a belief in the hypothesis that the pyramids were connected with Guanches until his death. The association of the Guanches and the pyramids continues to be elaborated upon both in “Pyramid park” and on its official website.

Aparicio and Esteban’s theory connects the facts that the pyramids were built in the 19th century with the acknowledgement that they are not simply piles of stones.

However, they are like other tiered pyramids in that:

·         All this type of pyramid has these steps which lead to the highest part;

·         The stones with which the pyramids were made are different from those which are found in the surrounding land, as they are volcanic rock and less rounded;

·         All the stones have been put in the walls with the smooth side facing outwards, so that the walls are completely straight;

·         The corner stones have been carved to have straight angles;

·         In pyramid number 4 an excavation was made and inside you don’t find large stacked stones (as you might expect in a pile of rocks) but rather very small stones and sand.

Following the completion of the excavations in 1998, the 65,000 m² area surrounding the pyramids was made accessible to the public. An information centre provides visitors with information about Heyerdahl’s research trips and his previous ideas regarding the pyramids. Two pavilions contain exhibits relating to Heyerdahl along with models of his boats; a replica of the Ra II in its original size, amongst others. In spite of the conclusions regarding the age of the pyramids outlined above, Heyerdahl continued to maintain a belief “in a possible relationship between the existence of the pyramids and the pre Hispanic civilisation on Tenerife”.T

The objects found in the Guanche cave are shown in the “museum” in heavily enlarged photos, whilst the imported ceramics from the 19th century are mentioned only briefly on an information board – without illustration.

Another study was done by the Instituto Astrofísico de Canarias thinks to be a micro calendar to indicate the solstices (the start of the summer and the winter). If a person positions themselves in the center of the north section of the Güimar Pyramids on 21st June, they can observe a double sunset, or if they position themselves in the center of pyramid 2 and create an imaginary line towards the horizon on 21st December, the sun rises exactly in the middle of it. 

There appears to be a connection between Easter Island and Tenerife but I couldn’t decipher it.

Another unknown connection is with the Komodo Dragon. Thus our photos with a couple of them.

There were very pretty water lilies which we couldn’t resist taking photos of.

We visited an Aloe Vera boutique after the Pyramids where we learned about the plant and its uses. No photos though.

Lunch was at the Pyramids. We were back to the ship by late afternoon. When we sailed lots of passengers gathered on the bow to say good bye to land. From Tenerife we sailed out to cross the Atlantic.

Then another evening of the same thing. 🍺🍷🧀🍞🥮

The best thing about crossing the Atlantic over a week compared to overnight is the gradual time change. The worst thing is there is nothing to do but eat!!.and eat!!..and eat!!

We did see a few shows. One particular performer was excellent and in fact he was in 3 different performances. A couple of them were in the afternoon and I attended but Brian was playing bridge. Unfortunately, I don’t remember his name.

And that is all I have to say about that….except I was a very good girl and did yoga and the elliptical trainer every day…and then I ate some more🙃.