Spain/Scotland

Today we took the hop-on/hop-off bus through Edinburgh.  Our main goal was to see the Edinburgh Castle.   The castle stands on castle rock.  There has been a royal castle on the rock since at least the reign of David I in the 12th century, and the site continued to be a royal residence until 1633. From the 15th century, the castle's residential role declined, and by the 17th century it was principally used as military barracks with a large garrison.  As one of the most important strongholds in the Kingdom of Scotland, Edinburgh Castle was involved in many historical conflicts from the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century to the Jacobite rising of 1745. There have been 26 sieges in its 1,100-year history, giving it a claim to having been "the most besieged place in Great Britain and one of the most attacked in the world". As we stepped through the gate to the castle, we were in awe thinking about how many other people have entered through these gates...

Today was a travel day.  We left Barcelona via RyanAir airlines and 2-1/2 hours later the plane dropped us off in Edinburgh, Scotland.  It was sunny and in the mid 60's when we left Barcelona.  It was somewhere in the upper 30's with sleet when we got off the plane in Edinburgh. We took a taxi to the Old Waverly Hotel where we will be staying for 3 nights.  The Hotel has a history dating back to 1848.  It is situated on Edinburgh's famous Princes Street in the heart of the city center.  It is near the Edinburgh Castle and the Scott Monument The Old Waverly Hotel You can see the Edinburgh Castle up on the hill from our hotel window. The Scott Monument is a Victorian Gothic monument to Scottish author Sir Walter Scott. It is the second largest monument to a writer in the world.  The construction was started in 1840 and it was completed in 1844. A short walk around our hotel revealed lots of historic buildings, the Waverly Train Station, lots of shop...

Today was Sant Jordi day in Barcelona.  The streets of Barcelona were filled with roses to celebrate what many consider the most beautiful day of the year.  Legend has it that near a village lived a fearsome dragon that devoured everything it found.  In exchange for not devastating their village they decided to hold a raffle and give the person who came out to satisfy his hunger. One day, chance decided that it would be the King's daughter.  Although they accepted her fate, the knight Sant Jordi would not allow it and wielding his lance on his horse, he defeated the dragon.  His wound left a stream of blood from which a rose bush was born, and Sant Jordi gave one of the roses to the princess declaring his love.  It seemed like every street corner had someone selling roses and every sidewalk was packed with people. People walking and shopping everywhere Spain hosted the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.  We visited the stadium today and they were ...

We ended our cruise today by disembarking in Barcelona, Spain.  After getting off the ship we took a taxi to our hotel, called the Andante Hotel.  It was too early in the day to get into our room, so we put our luggage in locked lockers and headed into town.  Barcelona is a huge city.  It has a population of 1.6 million within city limits, and its urban area extends to numerous neighboring municipalities within the Province of Barcelona and is home to around 4.8 million people.  We figured the best way to see a huge city is to ride a "hop on/hop off" bus.  There is both a red line and a green line that winds throughout the city.  We rode both lines and it took almost the entire day.  The only time we got off the bus was for lunch. I didn't take too many pictures today since we were in a moving bus, but I plan on taking more tomorrow.  Picture of Barcelona from the rooftop of our hotel A monument of Columbus We did see a wedding in front ...

Today we visited Alicante, another historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 as of 2020.  It is similar to the other cities we have visited in Spain.  There is a lot of historic buildings and the many of the streets are just for pedestrians and are lined with restaurants and shops.  It was another perfect weather day.  In the mid 70's and sunny.  This is our last full day on the ship.  Tomorrow morning we will be in Barcelona and will be debarking the ship.  We took a tour today, but it wasn't focused on the city.  Instead, we drove about 35 miles north and the tour highlighted medieval castles.  The first castle was called La Mola's Castle.  It was sitting next to a more modern church called Santa Maria Magdalena.  The second castle was called Castle de la Atalaya and it was in Villena, Spain.  As we drove to Villena, we passed several other castles on the top of hills.  Our guide told us that th...