Come With Me to Spain, France, Italy, and Monaco!

Friends! John and I have just returned from a whirlwind tour of four countries in less than fourteen days. More than once we had to ask ourselves, “Where are we again?” Or, “Where was that submarine we saw?” Or, “Which medieval town was that?”

Our trip started out extra fun in that we landed in Barcelona on John’s birthday. We had a “hot tip” of a restaurant for dinner from our oldest son and daughter-in-love who’d recently been there which helped as we’d never have found this place on our own. The restaurant is named Canete. It’s definitely a local favorite and thankfully we’d gotten reservations way ahead of time.

Mostly serving tapas, our server was extremely helpful in recommending various items we would not have tried otherwise. Tables were tucked in tightly to maximize the number of patrons. This made our experience even more entertaining as we could see what everyone was ordering and many times followed suit.

The following day our travel agent had arranged a tour with a charming tour guide named Cayetano, a/k/a “Tano.” He met us at the hotel and we hopped in a cab to see one of two nearby apartment buildings/condos Antoni Gaudi designed. We got out of the cab and Tano took us for a closer look at these most unique buildings. One was called La Pedrera and the other La Batilo.

I’m not sure our pictures do the buildings justice…but what was supremely brilliant on Tano’s part, these first buildings we saw were just a foretaste of even more spectacular works of Gaudi’s to come...(and by the way while making conversation, Tano was stunned we found Canete for dinner. He said it’s one of his favorite restaurants.)

Gaudi is considered “the most ingenious of all architects”. Stay with me and you’ll see why: Next, we headed up, up, up the hills of Barcelona to Park Guell. The view of the city plus seeing the water where we’d be catching our cruise ship the next day was breathtaking, as was the Park. The story, however, is a bit sad in that Gaudi was hired to design some sixty homes on this large stretch of land.

Incredibly, only two gatehouses were built at the time because it was too difficult for people to make the drive, (There were no cars back then, just horse-driven carriages—so what would normally take 15-20 minutes to drive a car up there, could take a carriage over 3 hours.) Thus no properties sold. I think it was the model house Gaudi designed for the project, along with several carved walkways, and a beautiful place for a market.

Gaudi was into recycling before recycling became a thing. He used broken pieces of tiles, pieces of glass bottles, many times the bottom of bottles, etc.

This house looks like a gingerbread house…

John with our tour guide Tano - note the tile mosaic.

Gaudi was fired for the failed project which then led him to his masterpiece our guide saved for last to show us: The Sagrada Familia. The Holy Church.

This was a perfect scenario of Romans 8:28 -

Upon entering the church, we were so overwhelmed by its’ unique beauty, tears immediately came to our eyes. Beautiful music was playing too which made the experience that much more overwhelming! Our guide showed us how to take panoramic photos of the ceiling and the different colored stained glass windows:

Gaudi’s story is also bittersweet in that he never saw the completion of the church. Architects have been hired to complete it with specific plans, etc. and we learned the church should be completed within the next five years. Outside of the church is a model of the finished project which is jaw-dropping and adds to the anticipation of the completion.

Gaudi wound up living at the church as he continued to work on his plans. Very much an introvert and recluse, he submerged himself into the church, his very strong faith, and his work. His details are exquisite. He devoted the last 43 years of his life to Sagrada Família, and the last 12 years of his life were spent solely on the church. Don’t miss his other projects tho’ as they’re worth researching!

Tragically, when Gaudi was only 74, he was struck by a street car and died. At first no one knew who he was until the mayor figured out who he was. Then they held services which included a funeral procession that wound its way from the Hospital de Santa Cruz in the old section of Barcelona, to the church of the Sagrada Família. It was a half mile long! For two and a half miles, thousands of people lined the streets to pay their respects and honor him for his many accomplishments. With the Pope’s approval, Gaudi was laid to rest in a crypt in Sagrada Família. Because his life was his work, he had no living relatives.

To say he was light years ahead of his time is an understatement! His creativity is off-the-chart fascinating and Barcelona is blessed to have these masterpieces in its’ city. Here’s a book I’m reading to learn more about him:

The next morning it was time to catch our ship. My left hip decided to act up and we nearly bailed on the trip, not being sure if I could handle it, but in the end decided we were already across the pond, we’d just make the best of the situation. My sweet husband quite literally held me up on a daily basis as I leaned on him for support.

Enter another guardian angel, an anesthesiologist we met right off the plane to our hotel. He could see I was having trouble walking, so when we arrived in St. Tropez a couple of days later, in a charming area called Port Grimaud (sorta of a “little Venice”), he marched me into a pharmacy and put together a steroid pack which did bring me some short term relief. Bless him. He was a visual of one of my favorite verses, Deuteronomy 31:6 and 8 that says,

“So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you.”

It’s not lost on me that “Dr. Jim” , and his sweet wife, Christine, “just-so-happened” to be on our bus on arrival day and on our same excursion in St. Tropez. Thank you, Lord!

That day we also drove up to the top of St. Tropez to a lovely medieval town known as Grimaud. It oozed with charm.

Nine, count ‘em nine, restaurants were available on our ship. We hit eight out of nine, and many of them more than once. Homemade pizzas were a hit for lunch and the Italian restaurant’s pastas were to die for.

Our favorite discovery while on board happened one day for lunch. Earlier, it was announced there would be a seafood buffet. Not a big fan of buffets, we still decided to give it a whirl. Lo, and behold in the back corner, far away from the buffet, a maitre d’ we’d gotten to know tipped us off that the Head Chef was posted up behind a ginormous sixty pound wheel of Parmesan cheese making fresh pasta dishes.

Here’s what he did: First, he had a fork in each hand and scraped around the sides of the inside of the wheel to get some cheese “ready” for the incoming hot pasta. He’d then take some pasta from the boiling water, drop it into the cheese wheel, drizzle some olive oil over it, all the while stirring the pasta into the melting Parmesan cheese, adding mushrooms, and voila! We had the best, mouth-watering bowl of pasta we’ve ever had.

We told as many people as we could find about this delectable offering because most folks didn’t see the chef in that back corner. The pasta was creamy, sorta Alfredo-like, and he didn’t use any cream. Makes my mouth water just to reminisce!

This particular ship we were on, The Silver Ray, had a neat phrase they used with some of their restaurants and excursions: “S.A.L.T” which stands for Sea and Land Taste. They were really big on providing food from wherever we were that was from that particular area or region.

One night we had dinner in the “S.A.L.T.” Lab where they prepared an eleven course meal for us, each course a huge treat (albeit the portions were small on purpose since there were so many!).

Another medieval town we just saw a snippet of was Eze, near Nice in France. We docked in Monaco and drove past the Grand Prix raceway, and on up to Eze and then Nice. The drive was breathtaking.

Our visit to Pompeii was not exactly what we’d imagined. We’d been nearby last year but were unable to go as we’d opted to go to Capri instead. That day, four other groups went to Pompeii, many of which had seen it before, but because they’re constantly making new discoveries, folks wanted to go again, so for this trip, we opted to go see what everyone was raving about.

While it is a fascinating place, and huge (!!!) and hugely crowded (!!!), we’re still glad we went in spite of the fact our guide got into a shouting match with another guide (what a show!) plus we were about 25 of fifteen thousand people who arrived that morning all at once. Just use your imagination. We came back wiped out and my hip said, “I quit,” after all that.

Another highlight while on the ship is during one of our two days at sea, we signed up for a Bridge Tour. This meant we got to go up to where the Captain is captaining (one wouldn’t say “driving”, would one?) the ship. At least thirty of us got to go and we were there for an hour that flew by like mere minutes.

Our captain is from Italy, speaks six different languages, and is hysterical funny. That morning, he was not “in charge” as he was showing us around. The two very young men at the helm were performing their shift as well as another man who served as the “lookout.” They all three had sets of binoculars. (I asked the youngest one how old he was and he replied, “Twenty-four.” Of course then I thought, “and YOU are captaining this ship????”. Then I asked how much schooling he’d had and he said, “Five years.” Alrighty then.)

No longer is there a large, wooden wheel to steer the boat, there’s a “Tesla-Like” steering wheel (comical!), while on either side of the ship (port and starboard) there are also areas jutting out from the ship with windows where one or more personnel can help guide the ship as well. The Captain told us it takes fifty or more men to dock the ship and/or to set sail.

Compared to say some larger Royal Caribbean ships or Norwegian Cruise Line ships that have several thousand passengers, our was considered relatively small as we only had seven hundred passengers. (Silver Sea is owned by Royal Caribbean.)

Note the clear “window” on the floor the Captain is standing on. He said it comes in quite handy as a trap door should there be any ill-behaved passengers. I’m telling you, he’s a funny one!

He also shared his Grandfather was a Captain as was his Father. He did not want to be a Captain, however, his Father sorta coerced him into it. The Silver Ray is currently the largest ship in Silver Sea’s fleet, so he’s clearly done quite well.

Early on, one of our “S.A.L.T.” Excursions took us to a Family Farm and Winery near Palma de Mallorca in Spain. A super cute chef and her assistant cooked for us and showed us a plethora of beautiful fresh ingredients, all from the region where we were. They prepared the dish in a large, antiquated looking bowl over fire. While the dish cooked, we took a tour of the Winery.

The finished product was delicious and to us seemed like “comfort food.” The chef called it “peasant food” which didn’t sound as gourmet as we’d have hoped!

An interesting aside re: the two family farms we visited. Each had its’ own quaint little chapel within the home. The family had chapels not only for their family to worship in, but for the farmhands and their families to worship in as some of the farms were in remote locations. How sweet and special would it be to have your very own chapel?!

Our second day in Naples, Italy had us departing after dinner. The Captain took the scenic route, steering us near the famous Fraglioni rocks of Capri. What a treat to see! If you look at the one rock that has an arch in it, four of our six kids have taken a boat ride inside that rock!

These tidbits are just a snippet of our daily packed agenda. We are tired, but a good tired, and thankful for the fun experiences we still only scratched the surface of. As we bid our new friends farewell, many were scattering all over the world.

We are flying home as I type from Munich into Chicago. (We started our journey from Rome.) We will be glad to arrive back into the good ole’ U.S. of A. Praises be for a safe, educational, and fun trip along with new friends who are not too far away we hope to connect with again soon. Amen and Amen.

P.S. We learned this morning our checked bag is now in San Diego, California???!!!! Yes, one must maintain a sense of humor while traveling…

P.S. one more time: Later into the cruise, we discovered a hidden library—look at the ceiling!

‘TIL next time!

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