MAGIC - Our Photo Review of the Inaugural Sailing of the Magic

[Fighterone]

On page 6 of your review and I am absolutely hooked! Your photos are fabulous and I am living the moments with you through them and through your fantastic review! Thank you

[cruisinskier]

We continued down Las Ramblas...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And back to the Columbus statue at the bottom of Las Ramblas

 

 

We had walked a few miles so decided to head back to our hotel (about 10 minutes from Las Ramblas) and spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool area on the roof. We swam for a while and may have had a cocktail or two. Dinner later was on one of the patios just down the street from the hotel. Overall it was another great day in Barcelona. We ended up watching FC Barcelona win the Spanish scoccer championship that evening which led to parting in the streets. Tomorrow was our last full day here and it would be a jam packed day.....

[Peddler&Tass]

CRUISINSKIER;

 

Thanks so much for the review and pics. I saw where you posted the card sizes you used, but (and I may have missed it) I am courious as to what camera and lenses (if any) you were using. The pics are fab.

 

We are booked on the Magic in Dec to key West and the Bahamas.

 

Thanks again

 

Jim

[cruisinskier]

CRUISINSKIER;

 

Thanks so much for the review and pics. I saw where you posted the card sizes you used, but (and I may have missed it) I am courious as to what camera and lenses (if any) you were using. The pics are fab.

 

We are booked on the Magic in Dec to key West and the Bahamas.

 

Thanks again

 

Jim

 

 

Hi Jim. Glad you enjoyed the review. My pics were taken with a Sony Cybershot DSC-HX7V which is basically a higher end point & shoot camera. No interchangeable lens...but it does have a 10 times optical zoom. I had bought the camera for this trip as our old Canon Powershot died. I am happy with the camera but had some issues along the way, mostly because it was new and I was still getting used to it :) I wanted something that I cold just throw in my pocket and go and it worked great for that....and enjoy your cruise on the Magic!!!

Edited May 29, 2011 by cruisinskier
spelling/ omission

[rlyans]

CRUISINSKIER, I am loving Barcelona more and more. I am taking notes on places to visit and really getting excited about our 4 days in Barcelona and then the Magic cruise. You said it was easy useing the subway. Did you use the T-10 pass? I have read that is the way to go. We are staying up by the hospital clinic station at the U-232 hotel. So we plan to use the subways a lot. The sky tram looked beautiful. Was it very expensive? Thanks again for your review and I can hardly wait for you last full day.....rlyans

[cruisinskier]

CRUISINSKIER, I am loving Barcelona more and more. I am taking notes on places to visit and really getting excited about our 4 days in Barcelona and then the Magic cruise. You said it was easy useing the subway. Did you use the T-10 pass? I have read that is the way to go. We are staying up by the hospital clinic station at the U-232 hotel. So we plan to use the subways a lot. The sky tram looked beautiful. Was it very expensive? Thanks again for your review and I can hardly wait for you last full day.....rlyans

 

Hi rlyans. Yes we really enjoyed our time in Barcelona. U-232 is owned and operated by the same hotel chain as the hotel we stayed at so standards should be similar and you should enjoy your stay. I have heard good things about that hotel....enjoy your time in Barcelona.

 

For the subway we did a 2 day pass which was 11.50 euros pp. Not sure if this ended up being the best deal but we used it 4-5 times so it was convenient and we feel it was a good way to get around town. Fares are by "zone" in Barcelona so it all depends upon where you want to go as to pricing. Here is a link to their website: http://www.tmb.cat/en/bitllets-i-tarifes

 

For the goldola, it was 9 euros one way which took us from the beach area to Montjuic. There is another cable car system which I will get to shortly in my review which is solely to get to the top of Montjuic so careful not to confuse them.

 

Have a great trip and the 3 days we had in Barcelona only made us want to go back and see more. Enjoy your cruise!!!

[btorlv]

You're pictures are great. I am really getting excited for our cruise. We leave on Tues. and will have 2 days in Barcelona pre-cruise and 1 day post cruise. If we buy the T-10 pass, can 2 people use this or do we each need to buy our own pass? How did you get to the cruise port from your hotel? Is there any good (not too expensive) restaurants that you remember that you would recommend?

Edited May 29, 2011 by btorlv

[cruisinskier]

You're pictures are great. I am really getting excited for our cruise. We leave on Tues. and will have 2 days in Barcelona pre-cruise and 1 day post cruise. If we buy the T-10 pass, can 2 people use this or do we each need to buy our own pass? How did you get to the cruise port from your hotel? Is there any good (not too expensive) restaurants that you remember that you would recommend?

 

Hi btorlv, we did not purchase the T-10 so not entirely sure. I think the intent is that they are for one person. The first person would have to go through the automated gate and then hand the ticket card back to the other person....you can try this, not sure how it will go over (we did something similar to this for the people mover in Venice).

 

Our cruise started in Venice so I cannot make recommendations to get to the Barcelona cruise port. When we arrived in Barcelona we did an all day tour with Barcelona Day Tours who we would recommend. As far as favorite restaurants go, our favorite place was Los Cachitos which was right around the corner from our hotel....great food, drinks and very reasonable http://loscachitos.com/portada/en

 

Have a great trip and I look forward to reading your cruise review :D

[rlyans]

Hi Btorlv, from a friend and reading online yes you can share a t-10 pass. What criusinskier said you can just hand it to the person behind you. When you have used 10 scans you need a new card....rlyans

[btorlv]

Thanks for the quick reply. Only have 2 more days til we leave. I can't wait.

[loltastic]

Thank you for your review! The pictures are beautiful and I want to go now too.

[rnvattes]

Jerry

 

I am still way back in Sicily :p (just catching back up after a little break). And OMW the photos are just breathtaking! Earlier on in the review, I said for sure I'd go to Venice and skip Sicily (if I ever had the good fortune to be forced into making such a choice, that is!). But my word it is just amazing there too!

 

Pooh-pooh to the person who criticized your airport pics. Those of us who love reviews love them from soup to nuts :D

 

Can't wait to read more ... but will have to until tomorrow!

[cruisinskier]

Well, the final full day of our trip was upon us...and there was still lots we wanted to do in Barcelona. So we were up early to take full advantage of this day. After the buffet breakfast at the hotel, we headed out to the subway station. Our goal this morning was to go to Montserrat. We were following directions as detailed on the Barcelona Toursit Guide website: http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/tour/barcelona-montserrat.html

 

 

We took the subway to the Espanya station where we would catch the train to Montserrat. This train (R5 - Manresa) is not part of the subway system and you require a separate ticket for this. The hardest part of this trip was finding the R5 line at the Espanya station which is large and has numerous interconnected lines. After asking a few people we were pointed in the right direction, we bought our tickets and headed to wait for the train which arrived a few minutes later.

 

I do want to point out that there are 2 different tickets and 2 different train stations where you can get off to go to Montserrat, depending upon which option you choose to get up tp Montserrat. Both are on the R5 line and one allows you to take a cable car up to Montserrat while the second type of ticket is for the funicular rail up to Montserrat. We specifically asked for the cable car tickets otherwise they were defaulting to selling the funicular tickets. When we got off at the Montserrat station, we noticed numerous people were being declined access to the cable car as they had purchased tickets for the funicular which meant they should have stayed on the train. Given the train only runs so often (every 30 minutes?), they either had to pay now for a cable car ticket or stand around for another 30 minutes to take the train to the next station to get the funicular.

 

Anyhow, we had no issues as we had the correct tickets and the cable car runs every 10 minutes or so....in no time we were on the cable car headed up to Montserrat.

 

R5 train

 

 

Sign tells you which train is in the station

 

 

Montserrat station...where you get off for the cable car but not for the funicular

 

 

Prices for the cable car if purchased alone

 

 

Details of the cable car

 

 

The cable car

[cruisinskier]

Jerry

 

I am still way back in Sicily :p (just catching back up after a little break). And OMW the photos are just breathtaking! Earlier on in the review, I said for sure I'd go to Venice and skip Sicily (if I ever had the good fortune to be forced into making such a choice, that is!). But my word it is just amazing there too!

 

Pooh-pooh to the person who criticized your airport pics. Those of us who love reviews love them from soup to nuts :D

 

Can't wait to read more ... but will have to until tomorrow!

 

 

Glad you are enjoying and I can honestly say that we totally enjoyed everywhere we went. Each port was unique from the next and we cannot pick a favorite among them all. And there just might be another airport picture coming....:D

 

Jerry

[cruisinskier]

The cable car trip up....

 

 

Our shadow on the ground below

 

 

Almost there

 

 

They were celebrating Barcelona FC's win of the Spanish soccer league

 

 

Looking back down

 

 

We made it to the top

[cruisinskier]

We wandered around on Montserrat, a monestary built high in the mountains about an hour outside Barcelona. There are also 2 other funiculars which can take you higher and up to various trails however we did not have time to do that this trip. We did see the boy's choir perform at 1:00 pm and it really was something not to be missed....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

After about 4 hours at Montserrat, we decided to head back to Barcelona as there were just too many things we still wanted to do. We took the subway back down towards the beach area and hung out on the beach for an hour or so.....

 

Panoramic of the beach

 

 

The 2 towers housed the Olympic athletes in 1992...the statue was a donation from Canada for the Olympics and was designed and built by Frank Geary

 

 

Walkway along the beach

 

 

Bicycles are a serious mode of transport here....these rentals were everywhere. You pay, take a bike, and drop it at any of these depots around the city.

 

 

And they had bikes lanes everywhere...

[cruisinskier]

We walked back to our hotel to meet up with the rest of our group and to see if they were intereste din joining us as we wanted to go back up Montjuic to see the rest of what we had missed before....

 

More sites from our walk back....

 

 

 

 

The Columbus Statue again...

 

 

 

 

A table tennis park....

[cruisinskier]

From our hotel, we then went down into the subway again as there was a separate line that was a funicular going part way up Montjuic

 

On the Funicular

 

 

We then took the cable car to the top of Montjuic

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Fort at the top of Montjuic

 

 

[cruisinskier]

The view of Barcelona

 

 

Zoomed in on Sagrada Familia

 

 

More of the Fort

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

The view of the Port

 

 

 

 

And this is where the Magic had been docked....

[cruisinskier]

Next we took the cable car back down from the top of Montjuic and from there walked over to the Olympic Stadium.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They had various footprints out front including Alberto Tomba, the famous Italian ski racer

 

 

And Seve Ballesteros, the spanish golfer who had just passed away.

[cruisinskier]

Next we walked over to the Palace which was nearby...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The round building in the back was a bullring which has now been converted to a shopping mall

 

 

[cruisinskier]

We had hoped to see the famous fountains at Montjuic however there was an auto show going on and all of the area was blocked off so we could not get close enough to see the fountains. We gave up, got back on the subway and went out for dinner again on one of the patios near the hotel. A very full day had come to an end and our trip was almost over.....

 

And of course the beer of the day

 

 

We had to try the Sangria!!

 

 

This is where we ended our night....