Day 8 28 August 2022 Return to Barcelona Port and Transfer to Hilton Barcelona

After a most enjoyable night with a superb meal and then entertainment in the Theatre with everyone on their feet singing, dancing and clapping and the ship’s crew and officers doing a fantastic walk through, we slept well and the next thing we remember was hearing the sounds of arrival at Barcelona Port, with the racket of forklifts etc.

It was still early morning and daylight was just beginning to stram in.

We had a full breakfast and related and reflected upon the cruise and our 7 ports and the whole experience. Positive but we believe we have transitio0ned away from the biggest ships. The total number of 4,200 passengers and 2,000 staff makes it just too big.

But we got exactly what we wanted a means of visiting these ports in good condition, with quality food and great entertainment. we even got used to the somewhat unusual cabin layout. All in all a good experience. We are very pleased.

Now to depart with the second last group at 8.30am. We had left our checked luggage outsdide the cabin last night.

We had two small cases and walked to a lounge to await the call of our Colour and number. It worked pretty well.

We were off the ship by 8.50 am, through Immigration and customs by 9.10 am and we had a car awaiting us at 9.15 am. He called and messaged us. Drove very clodse and we were in the car without any queue. The thought to book a car prior to arrival worked well.

After a short drive of 20 minutes we pulled up into the arrival area of Hilton Barcelona, lodged our luggage and then caught a cab into the Centre of Barcelona where we had a coffee and baguette at a cafe named Cafe Zurich at La Placa de Catalunya, which is a central square in the middle of Barcelona.

We enjoyed watching the people, took photos of a Hop on Hop off Bus with Leon Messi photo of the “Messi Burger” on the back. We then walked down the famous La Rambla and also the other way along Passeig de Gracia, one of the major avenues and promenades in Barcelona. This took us by many of the high end fashion stores. We had a superb Salad luncheon at MOKA Barcelona a quiet restaurant on La Rambles.

After lunch we walked back up La Rambles had an ice cream. We then caught the Hop on Hop off Bus and did about 2 hours riding the Bus and enjoying the sights. Barcelona is just one of our favourite cities. It is a beautiful Autumn day with clear blue skies..

Then a taxi back to Hilton Barcelona on the beautiful Avinguda Diagonal boulevard and a gateway to central Barcelona. The Hilton Barcelona is perfectly located with tramcars, buses and taxi. Our luggage had been taken to our suite which consists of a separate lounge, large Bedroom and a full Bathroom. All very comfortable. The hotel itself is ideally located and today there is a football match with FCBarcelona at home at Cape Nou some 2 km from the hotel. Dinner is light with a cold drink.

We have an early pick up tomorrow morning to fly from Barcelona to Frankfurt with an hour stopover and then a flight to Oslo, Norway. Each flight is with Lufthansa.

Another very successful, albeit different cruise , as we progress this holiday.

So we decide to pack before going to sleep and leave out only toiletries and our clothes.

This worked well. We set the alarm for 5.45 am.

Our taxi arrived at 6.30 am and we were driven the 30 minutes to Barcelona International Airport arriving at 7.05 am and we were checked in at 7.30 am for our 10.30 am flight Barcelona to Frankfurt. We still had some lingering doubts as to the short transit time of 1 hour at Frnkfurt given the size of the airport and the length of time required to get to the various terminals. We hoped that there might only be a short distance between the gates.

Alas, that proved incorrect, and we had a 20-minute quick walk from the first terminal to the second terminal and our gate and this increased our concern. We inquired of the staff, and we were advised that it should be okay, and our luggage should make the transfer from the first to second flight. We were uneasy. we will see.