We arrived in Barcelona, the embarkment port of our Christmas MSC Mediterranean Cruise, on December 22nd, a day before we sailed off towards Italy!

On our way from the airport to our hotel, we passed what looks to be a cemetery on a hill.

After checking into our hotel, it was time to eat!  We went to a local pub style restaurant, located across the street from our hotel, recommenced by the receptionist who checked us in!

Chilled by the colder temperatures, we warmed up with green tea!

We were given an appetizer of prosciutto and a salami style meat with toasted and buttered bread!  This was delicious!!!

Michael ordered a ham soup – this was a bit bland.

I ordered a goat cheese salad.  The lettuce was mostly iceberg, with water in the bottom of the bowl from (I think) the lettuce just being washed!  The dressing was delicious!

Michael ordered spaghetti. This was ok.

My mussels were the surprise hit!!!  The tomato sauce looked and tasted freshly made, and the mussels were large and fresh!!!!

With full bellies and warmed up…we were off to wander around…

Some graffiti on construction boards.

The buildings were beautiful, reminding us of Prague and Paris…with ornate apartments above little shops. The yellow ribbons on the balconies, however are unique to Spain as these represent a stand in a political unrest happening at this time.

Gold colored pigs feet are the decoration outside a restaurant!!

One of the many gargoyles decorating the buildings!

A cute little pet shop called Barkcelona!!

One of many fruit and vegetable grocery stores.

What we noticed was the many Christmas decorations and the lack of Christmas Markets….well, that we could find in the area we were walking in.

 

Its was a full moon evening! The full moon is located on the right, just past the church steeple.

 

Michael and I on The Rambla!

It was getting late…time to rest and be up and out for our morning tour of the Sagrada Familia before we checked in on the cruise ship!

S, xo