All Ears® Guest Blog

August 19, 2007

Barcelona & Codorniu Cellars

That wake up call is LOUD at 7:30 in the morning!! Today we’re doing a bus tour of the city and then going to Codorniu Cellars for a tour and tasting. We had rain last night and today is very overcast. After breakfast we’re meeting Vickie & Mike in Diversions where our tour group in assembling. It was about half full when we got there so we grabbed a table and Vickie & Mike came in right after us. Our guides got us organized, gave us stickers that identify us as a Disney tour group and we headed out to our bus.

First up was a stop at an overlook, you could see a lot of Barcelona but not too well since it was so cloudy, I didn’t get any good pictures but I enjoyed walking around looking out over the city.

Our second stop on the tour was Temple de la Familia, a huge ornate temple started in 1882 that is still in progress. The statuary on the outside depicts the life of Christ on one side and his death on the other. We had about 30 minutes to look around outside and in a few shops, while we were here it started to rain pretty good. Our guide Anthony did part of his talk from inside the bus so we wouldn’t get too wet.

On the rest of our drive through the city one thing that struck me is that all of the city streets are lined with trees, and the building all have rounded corners to help with airflow. We drove past Olympic park and out of the city to the vineyards in the countryside. During our 45 minute drive, we passed Montserrat but you couldn’t see if for the cloud cover.
Deb's May 2007 Montsterrat Photo Blog One and Photo Blog Two.

We arrive at Codorniu Cellars to more rain but it was a short walk inside and from building to building. We hardly got wet. They have a museum where our guide told us their history; it’s housed in a beautiful old red brick building, with arched brick ceilings that I loved. We saw the processing area, and then went into the cellars. They have miles of cellars and take you through on a little train. At the end of out train ride we went to the tasting room.

Codorniu Cellars makes sparkling wine called cava, which would be called champagne if it were from France. We had their Non plus Extra Brut, it was really good, light, not sweet since it’s Brut but not too dry. We considered sneaking back up to the bar with the next tour group to get a second glass but opted to go to the gift shop instead. We all bought something to drink during the cruise and something to bring home. As we were leaving they gave us a three pack of single serving bottles as a gift, all right! souvenirs for people back home!

On the way back to the ship the bus offered to, drop us off at Las Ramblas Paul & I took them up on it, I wanted to pick up a pair of earrings I should have bought when I saw them the first time. On our way back to the port bus we stopped at the Take Away to have a Damm Beer, while we were in there it started to rain again, by the time we got to the bus stop it was pouring ! And the roof of the bus stop was leaking, I sure am glad Vickie insisted I take her umbrella!

The Gothic Quarter where Las Ramblas is located is very pedestrian friendly and has beautiful and ornate architecture, I took lots of pictures.

When we got back to the ship we were both freezing from being out in the rain, we heard the temperature was 72, but didn’t confirm that. We decided this was the perfect time to go to the Rainforest Room at the Vista Spa, some time in the saunas and a quick snooze in a tile lounger and we were happy people. The Rainforest room is the best money you can spend on the Disney Magic.

The sail away party was moved to the Atrium because of the weather but it had stopped raining so we chose to go up to Deck 10 to watch the Magic sail out of Barcelona for the last time in 2007. I love sail away no matter what port you’re in, it’s too bad the rain ran the party inside. The Disney Magic slipped quietly out of Barcelona, very different from the fanfare of her arrival. I’m hoping for a great sail away party when we leave Tenerife to head back home.

After sail away we went to the Walt Disney Theater to see Illusionist Phil Keller, then to dinner at Parrot Cay the most casual of the three regular dinning rooms. Since we had eaten in Barcelona the night before instead of in the dinning room we were meeting our table companions for the first time. They are Kasey & Kevin and they’re from Florida. Sometime around dessert Minnie Mouse and two dancers came in and did a song that Kasey recognized, as he had performed it at Tokyo Disneyland when he worked there as a singer.

After dinner we went to Diversions to watch the NASCAR race on ESPN but it had been rained out so we turned in early. Tomorrow is a sea day and we get to sleep in!

Lynn