Mediterranean Iconic Shores Ocean Cruise

Day 32: Sunday, November 30, 2025 - Barcelona, Spain

The day's statistics:
-  Weather: low 60s
-  Steps: Linda: 14,056; Steve: 16,864

We had an early rise for breakfast - in the World Café - as our excursion this morning - Iconic Barcelona - began at 8:00. This was the final excursion that started from the ship.
As we passed through the port terminal to the bus we saw the sunrise.

We boarded the bus. Our guide was Manos, and our driver was Rafael.
First we had to drive out of the port, and into the city.
It was very overcast, and a few of the pictures didn't come out well.






There were a number of these characters - and similar ones - around the city as they are becoming part of the "street art scene".

This stack was from a former factory that was now housing.

This was an old bullfighting stadium - there were two in the city - that is now a footból / soccer stadium.

The main highlight of the city is Basílica de la Sagrada Família - the Basilica of the Holy Family - a massive, orante church. That was still under construction. As it has been since March 19, 1882, making it over 143 years old.
It IS expected to finally be completed in 2026. But it is so popular that supposedly one needs to get on line to go inside very early in the morning.
The bus dropped us off at a pull-out that was a few blocks from the church, and we had a little bit of a walk to get there - but it was flat and mostly on sidewalks, so that wasn't so bad.
Our focus was mostly on the church, but there were a couple other interesting sights along the way too.





We emerged on a street that was in the back of the basilica. The pictures don't completely do justice to the enormity, detail, and beauty of the artwork / sculpture work that adorns the outside.
Some of the highlights of the church without the construction equipment was pretty impressive as well.











The back side of the church had built into the facade, the stations of the cross, the last supper, all the Apostels, and more. Much more.











After the group traveled along the road in the back of the church, then turned right at the corner along the side, passing a café on the other side of the street too.



There was a large group of gawkers - that included us - at the front of the church.
Some of the highlights from here included the multicolored marble because it took so long to build the structure, the "tree of life", and the Holy Family for which the basilica is named.






We got a selfie while we were there too.

It was a remarkable looking church - and we didn't even go inside!
We left the plaza and headed to a rather large shop across the street - to see a model of proposed completed basilica, do some shopping if we so desired, and to use the facilities before we got back underway.


In the shop mentioned above, we acquired our final shot glass of the trip.

The group gathered at 9:35, and we headed back to the bus drop-off - which I guess would now make it the bus pick-up. We had a slightly different route, so we saw a few more and different sights.
In the first image, that isn't a yellow building. It is a construction curtain - a very large one - that just looks like a large yellow building. With some people on a couple balconies.

The egg shapes form on top of the arena - the same ones we saw earlier - represent the resurection of the country.

The bus was delayed a few minutes, but eventually arrived.
We boarded and headed back to the ship, driving through the city again.














This house was built on an entire block so a father could keep the family - with his three daughters - together.




We continued to pass interesting sights.

















The bus stopped at the end of the block in front of the train station. The group debussed, crossed street, and headed deeper into this section of the city.





There was a store that only sold statues of various sizes and characters (including the Pope, celebrities and musicians, and TV and movie characters) - that were... pooping. Yes, pooping. But apparently this is a tradition as it started with the concept of "leaving the bad 'behind'" (pun not intented). Sort of representing a cleansing of the body.



Onward.



There were ruins - like other cities in Europe - here and there, smack in the middle of the city, with the city built around (or over, in some cases) them. Across the street from this very old church was a highly recommended churro shop, though it was pointed out that any churro in the city is considered a local staple.





The route ended at, according to Google Maps®, the "placita de la seu" [sic] - "little square of the Seu". I bet it is supposed to be seul, which means sun as "little square of the sun" makes a LOT more sense.
There were booths set up for the Christmas market, and it was fairly busy as it was Sunday morning.


We stopped at the far end (based on our route) of the Christmas shop, Manos told us about the rest of the limited time left of the morning. We were to meet back at this spot at 11:50 in order to walk back to the bus stop for a noon pick-up. Anyone that wanted to stay in the city was welcome to, they just had to make their own way back to the ship and there was no complimentary shuttle like a number of other ports-of-call had.
We chose to stay nearby. First, we tried to get into the Cathedral of Barcelona, but it was closed until 1:00 due to services still taking place.


We made our way, again, to the far side of the Christmas market to sit in a small café to enjoy a cup of coffee Americano (which is just an espresso with a lot more water).
As is typical in Europe, the wait staff was not in a hurry for us to leave. We flagged down our waiter for our bill, then literally paid the bill on the way out as we headed back to the meeting point.
After the group was gathered - three decided to stay behind - we started the trek back to the bus stop, taking a slightly different path - this time on the other side of the church - than we did to get here (which was nice as we got to see a few different sights).











The route took us through Plaçe de Sant Jaume.







Many years ago, this church in the Plaçe was expanded. And to keep retain the symmetry of the design, the arch above one of the doors was continued on the expansion piece.







The group continued on our way to the pick-up spot.




The route circled back to a spot near the pooping statues store. Essentially across the street was Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar. We had passed by this massive church earlier. But this time Manos took the group inside for the shortest visit to a church we've ever had as there was a service going on and we were also pressed for time. We entered in the back, turned right, went around the corner, and exited on the side.
When we initially got inside, I told Manos that our VOX was picking up the signal from another probably-Viking tour guide, and we had missed the last three minutes of what he said.








Right outside the church was this memorial at "Plaça del Fossar de les Moreres". The main red arch / swoop and the eternal flame is better seen above, but from this angle, the text - written in Catalan - across the marble is clearly visible and reads (as translated): "No traitor is buried in the moat of the mulberry trees: if our flags are raised, it will be a sign of honor. To the martyrs of 1714." This flame and its memorial is built over a cemetery to the defenders that died during the seige of Barcelona.

As we crossed the street to the bus stop side, I got a decent shot of this statue in the fountain (also in a shot from the bus above) - though this is the back of it. And down the street beyond it, a statue of Columbus (this is the best I could do without switching lenses - but we were getting on the bus, so I was out of luck).


After boarding, we headed back to the ship, taking some of the same route as getting into the city - so some of the pictures are "duplicate", but from a different angle and or side of the bus. Rather than go through them all and try to figure out which one may be better than the other - and then renumbering everything too - I'm just posting them here again where applicable.










The bus arrived at the port, we debussed, embarked, and dropped our excursion items. That's when I realized that I no longer had my hat in my possession. Another cruise, another lost hat.
I walked rapidly through the ship, security, and the port terminal to the buses. Our bus was already gone. I talked to the a Viking employee that was out in the lot area about the situation, and they checked the lost and found to no avail. I think I took it off on the bus, but rather than put it in my pocket like I usually do, I had it on my lap and when I stood to debus, it didn't come with me. 😢

I headed back to the ship and met Linda in the World Café for lunch, which was the usual light buffet. And our last lunch on the ship.

Our after-lunch routine frequently consisted of heading to the Explorer's Lounge for some relaxing and cards.
Today, however, since we are disembarking for the last time on this trip, we trip to finish as much of our packing as possible - again, trying to make it such that we could live tomorrow (after the morning) and the two days after it out of our carry-ons so we don't have to dig into the large suitcase. OK, so I don't have to try to lift the full, stuffed check bags too many times.

We did finish packing and it was still early enough before dinner, so we DID go to the Lounge to relax a little.

Our last dinner onboard, at The Restaurant, table 53.

Linda had the Destination Menu of Andalusian Gazpacho, Albóndigas Con Patatas Fritta, and Quesada Pasiega.



I had Lapskaus, Paella Catalunya, and Fancy Brownie and Crème Brûlée (because I can - and I like Crème Brûlée [and I only had it once so far {and the choclate one doesn't count either}]).




After dinner, we took our wine to the atrium for a couple last songs by the duet.

We stopped by the cabin for a little bit to continue and try to finalize the packing, before we headed to the Star Theater.

They don't usually have a show on the last night as some of passengers have to get up very early for flights or whatever. Tonight was an exception. A performance group came aboard to do a show for us called "La Rumba Catalana".
This was yes another 45-or-so minute show.

This is a small collection of short videos - the last getting the passengers involved in the show too.

The show was really good.

We returned to the cabin for the evening.

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