My Favorite Cruise Vacation

Our plane landed in Barcelona, Spain and a bus took us to meet our cruise ship(Royal Caribbean's-Legend of the Seas) in the harbor. Since it was morning and we could not board the ship yet, the bus gave us a two hour tour of Barcelona. Our bus stopped at the La Sagrad Familia for about an hour and we were able to walk around the structure. I was awed by it's size. It is a very interesting piece of architecture.

The La Sagrada Familia Cathedral is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Barcelona. It has been under contruction for 128 years and is not expected to be completed for several more years until 2026-2028. The cathedral's original architect was Antoni Gaudi.





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Our next stop was in Livorno, Italy. At this port we took a tour to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It was one of those places that we had always heard about and wanted to see. It was very special to actually see it in person.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is the most famous landmark in a city of beautiful architecture. The tower is located at the Piazza del Duomo where we also saw also houses the Cathedral, the Baptistry and the Camposanto Monumentale (the monumental cemetery). The inside of the cathedral was breathtaking with all of it's columns and arches and an intricately carved ceiling.

The town of Sorrento overlooks the Bay of Naples. It is a wonderful little down set on a hillside. There are lots of little shops and here I stopped and bought some Limoncello, a special lemon liqueur and some inlaid wood gifts.




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Our stop in Sicily was at Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, Italy. Here we did not take a tour but got off the boat and walking around the town enjoying the architecture and fountains.





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At the port of Civitavecchia we took a tour bus into Rome, Italy. We really just touched the main sights in Rome in the 6 hours we were in the city but it definitely was a great experience.

We stopped at St. Peter's Basilica and where we had a guided tour inside the basilica. The enormous size and the beauty of the basilica is humbling. It is truly a work of art. I especially felt moved seeing Michelangelo's Pieta. After touring the basilica we had time to wander around in St. Peter's Square.

Next we were let out in downtown Rome to explore the city on our own. We saw the Spanish Steps and many of the fountains of Rome including the Trevi fountain, where we threw a coin over our shoulder into the fountain.

The bus also had a brief stop at the Colosseum where we could get out and take photos but did not have time to go inside.





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