applebutter

Having been a care-giver in the past, I understand the stresses you've been under and I know you need this break. I hope you enjoy every moment of your upcoming cruise. Soon, DH and I and some dear friends will be on our way on a TA to Barcelona. Then, after exploring Spain for awhile, we will hop back on board and head to Rome. First TA for DH and I but we look forward to returning to Europe, especially Barcelona. Alaska is a wonderful place to visit but it might not be the right time for that with the ports struggling to find enough staff. May I ask why you aren't interested? Is it the cold? If the cold isn't a problem, maybe Vancouver would be a good place. Explore Whistler, Vancouver, etc. That's one area we're interested in pursuing next year.

We stayed 4 days prior to our cruise earlier this year at Iberostar Selection Paseo de Gracia that is located at the Placa Catalunya. It's a 4-star hotel close enough to Las Ramblas for easy access. There are lots of wonderful restaurants within a short walk and it's very close to many popular sites. It has a rooftop terrace with pool, a restaurant (wonderful breakfast though it does cost extra) and a fabulous staff who went above and beyond for us this past spring. Our room was comfortable and spacious. We were so impressed that we're going back there with some dear friends of ours for another 4-day stop before our cruise out of Barcelona in 2023. It's not cheap but we felt it was a good value for what we received.

Sorry I'm late to this, Bruin Steve, but I just now found the name of one restaurant that we really enjoyed on Rambla Catalunya. It's Pura Brasa, just down from Placa Catalunya. We did not try their paella but they have an interesting take on it: "Charcoal Cooked Paella" with what looks like 3 different versions. Might be worth a try. Pura Brasa is very casual and we had a wonderful waitress both times that we dined there. I think the best thing on their menu is the sea bass. If the paella is half as good, it should be outstanding. There is another Pura Brasa in Barcelona but it's in the Arenas bullring. Same company but not the restaurant I'm talking about. Don't let the few bad reviews on a certain website that I won't name scare you away. We ate at Pura last March and had no complaints about service or food. My only complaint now is that we never went back to try their delicious-looking desserts. We never had any room for them after our meals!

We stopped at Messina on our Princess cruise this past spring. It took ages for the port authority (or the local government?) to grant our ship permission to disembark passengers. Plus, the wind was bad as we sailed in so we arrived at port later than planned. The delays caused us to miss the mechanical clock tower performance at noon. Some of the figures move on the hour and we did get to see that at 1pm but it was a bit lackluster. We kept walking a few blocks and found a nice place to eat at an outside table at Comparello Bello. It's not very far from the port. They had very good pizza. I read later, after we were home, that they have a good coffee bar as well. We're supposed to return to Messina next year on Celebrity so I hope to stop in and try the coffee if we decide against going to Etna or Taormina.

We bought the 24-pack this past January for $44.95 on the Breakaway. It was a bit of a savings over the 12-pack. We thought it was expensive then but did it anyway.