Monaco, Eze & Barcelona

Hi!

We have had several nice days in a row on the cruise, seeing Monaco, Eze, Toulon, France & today Barcelona!

Monaco was interesting - we saw the cathedral where Grace Kelly married Prince Ranier, the houses where her daughters still live (was that a Princess we saw getting into a dark car with a hunky bodyguard in the following car?!?!), her grave, a lovely garden and many high-end cars!






After Monaco was ancient Eze - this was a quaint little town on a hill.  Lots of shops, a garden - with a lot of cacti - this was surprising! and a castle ruin.



Small change of plans in the ship's itinerary - we were supposed to stop at Marseille, but there was a workers' strike so we stopped at Toulon instead.  This town is a major place of the Royal French Navy - there were all sorts of battleships, aircraft carriers, etc in the waters right near our ship.

We did a short walking tour of the city.  mostly they saved big doors before the German army could come destroy them in the war and now have restored them to newer buildings.


Obligatory church


Quaint walking area


Freedom square


OK - enough messing around - TODAY was the best day!!! Barcelona was in my top 5 because ..... well, Barcelona! duh!

There was no excursion that insured entrance to Sagrada Familia so we planned our own tour of the city.  We bought our tickets for the Basillica and tower climb before we left home.

Our tour guide said it best  - the fascade of SF is a power point for a priest.  It tells the Nativity story on one side and the Passion story on the other.  

The inside creates the feeling of being in a forest - you can pray to God anywhere - with 52 "tree" columns representing the 52 weeks of the year - you can talk to God anytime.

The stained-glass inside is blues and greens on one side for sunrise, orange/yellow/red on the other for sunset.

Simply (or rather complexly) amazing!

Nativity fascade:



The door looks like plants, complete with ladybugs, butterflies, etc.



The inside of SF:


There are 12 towers representing the disciples, each has a basket of fruit on top.

this door with the names of Jesus


more inside



The Passion fascade even had the Bible verses to indicate what the sculpture depicted.

last supper

Peter's betrayal (see the Rooster in the corner)


Four towers for the Gospel writers - Luke is the "bull".


After we were done with Sagrada Familia (including the Nativity tower) we left to explore the city.

These pictures are from the market - it was overwhelming and mostly yummy looking!  We were not hungry because we had had Tapas, Sangria and Ice Cream already!




The architecture is amazing - my head was on a swivel! This was just on what seemed to be an apartment building.


Cathedral de Barcelona


the Opera/ Theatre house



Houses designed by Gaudi



Barcelona was in my (Sheri) top 5 and it did not disappoint !

We will come back here for at least a week - we know where to stay now!

More adventures to come!

Sheri & Carsten

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