We took a walk down the old streets in Cuenca and found ourselves along a pathway which brought us down towards a river.
Pathway downwards toward the river
The path brought us to the river’s edge where a trail followed the riverbank throughout the city. We took the path and enjoyed a nice walk along the Júcar and Huécar rivers.
Path along the river in Cuenca, Spain
We headed down the trail and admired the different views. Stopping along the way to take photos and enjoy the moment.
Louise taking a moment to take a photo and enjoy the viewTrail along the river edge in Cuenca, SpainBuildings along the edge of the cliffs of Cuenca
As we walked along the path we came across some of the buildings perched precariously on the cliffs. It is amazing that these buildings have withstood the test of time.
Building on the edge of the cliff in CuencaView of building on edge of cliff from the river bank in CuencaShelley, Louise, and Brad on the path in Cuenca Spain
We walked approximately 3 hours all along the walkway. We saw some beautiful scenery and amazing buildings perched precariously on the cliffs of Cuenca.
View along the walkway in CuencaBuildings on the edge of the cliffs in Cuenca
We came across some buildings which had sewer pipes exposed down the side of the cliffs which connected with the main sewer system.
sewer plumbing exposed on the outside of the cliffs of Cuenca
Along the way, we enjoyed the sights and sounds which almost made you forget that you were in the heart of the City of Cuenca.
View along the walkway in Cuenca
The walk along the pathway was very enjoyable, the sights and sounds were amazing and we had a wonderful time.
Friday evening we went to a beach party in El Campello, which is a short distance from Alicante. There are miles of beautiful white sand beaches and a gorgeous view of the coastline. We went with friends and arrived at around 8pm. The small beach pub was quaint and a perfect spot to watch the sunset.
InterNations Beach party
The theme of the beach party was for everyone to wear something white including funny t-shirts etc. We mingled with people from all areas of the world, including Sweden, Holland and other areas of Europe.
Ray wearing Norwegian Bingo T-shirt
The music and ambience were great and we enjoyed assorted tapas throughout the evening. It was a nice way to spend the evening and unwind after studying for the driver exam.
We took a tour of the Vatican when we were in Rome. To say it was amazing would be an understatement. The Vatican is the smallest State in the world and its official language is Latin. The Vatican is so full of history, art, and architecture that it is almost surreal.
We arrived outside of the Vatican and could see the large 30 feet high stone wall which surrounds the entire Vatican. The walls which were built-in the 15th and 16th century to protect the Vatican are quite impressive. There was a major lineup of people waiting to get into the Vatican.
Line up to enter the Vatican30 feet high walls surrounding the Vatican City
The tour allowed us to by-pass the lineup and gain entry through a separate entrance. As we were walking to our entrance area we came across a very impressive gate in the Vatican wall made with stone and marble.
One of the gates into the VaticanOur Tour guide preparing to enter into the Vatican
Once we entered the entrance area we went through a security check. There were a lot of people at the Vatican and it was very busy.
Heading through the security before going into the Vatican
Once we were through security we began our tour at the “Cortile della pigna” outdoor garden area. There we learned from the tour guide, what the tour would contain including The Basilica of St. Peter, The Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel and finishing in the St Peter Square. We will blog about each section in a separate blog entry because there is just so much to see and talk about.
The Vatican Museums
The Vatican museum is actually several museums in different buildings and they are very large. One of the first things we saw when entering the museum courtyard area was the large niche by Pirro Logori. The bronze pinecone on display was once in the Constantinian Basilica.
Bronze pinecone monument with peacock birds in outside area of the Vatican Museums
We were truly amazed when we went inside the Museum, the art and architecture were beautiful. Some of the stunning and incredible things we saw were statues from the first century. One, statue, in particular, was the “Belvedere Torso” which is a fragment of a statue made of marble. This torso was found in Rome in the 15th century and it has been in the Vatican since then.
The Belvedere Torso in the Vatican Museum from the 1st century
There were numerous statues throughout the museum some dating back centuries. It was fascinating seeing the ancient statues from as far back as the first century.
The “Laocoon” is an original Hellenistic work of the 1st century BCA Hellenistic statue, A roman work from the 1st century BC
We went to the Vatican gallery of maps and saw the stunning paintings on the ceiling and tapestries on the walls. The view was marvelous and almost took your breath away. The Gallery of Maps contained paintings and tapestries. The long hall had numerous different artist over the centuries paint and do the art.
The gallery of maps LibraryImage of map in Gallery of maps
The ceiling was painted with different images and filled the entire ceiling area. Some of the images were beautiful.
Gallery of maps ceilingCeiling in the Gallery of Maps library
The tapestries on the walls were of the different maps of the world at the time they were created. The tapestries were hand crafted and stitched with gold thread throughout the designs. We went to the upper floor of the Gregorian Etruscan museum and saw the “round room” which was designed by Simonetti. In the middle of the round room is a large monolithic porphyry basin which is more than 4 meters in diameter.
A large monolithic porphyry basin in the Round room of the Vatican
There is also the sarcophagus of St. Helen, the Emperor Constantine’s mother.
The porphyry sarcophagus of St Helen, the Emperor of Constantine;s mother
We walked throughout the museums for approximately two hours exploring the numerous museums. Ray took video and was trying to see it all.
Ray taking video and enjoying the tour
Everywhere we looked there was gorgeous paintings and artwork. Even the floors were done in mosaics that displayed religious scenes.
Mosaic artwork on the floor of the Vatican MuseumMosaics floor area in Vatican museumMosaic tile artwork on the floor of the VaticanArtwork on the floor of the Vatican museumMosaic artwork on floor of Vatican museum
The ceilings had different artwork and designs throughout the museums.
Ceiling in the hallway of Vatican museum
We saw so many different and amazing pieces of art, architecture, and religious artifacts that it was almost impossible to take it all in. We will do separate blogs for the Sistine Chapel and Basilica of St. Peter.
The only drawback was the fact that there were so many tourists that the museum was very crowded. It made it difficult to see everything and the take your time to view the beautiful artwork.
Below are some of the pictures we took when in the museum sections of the Vatican.
Statue in Vatican museum
Statue in Vatican museum
Artwork in Vatican museum
One of the many unique ceilings in Vatican museums
Mosaic tile floor
Mosaic tile floor
Various statues in Vatican museum
Statue in Vatican museum
Ceiling in Vatican
Room of animal statues in Vatican museum
Statue in Vatican museum
Ticket for Vatican tour
Sarcophagus in Vatican museum
ceiling ornate design
view of one of the Vatican museums
Ceiling in Vatican museum
Room of statues
Ceiling in Vatican museum
Tapestry in gallery of Maps
Ceiling with painting
Tapestry detail
Image of map in Gallery of maps
Hallway of maps
Ceiling paintings
Image of map on tapestry
Tapestry in Vatican museum
ceiling with windows in Vatican
windows in Vatican museum
hallway in Vatican
Statue in Vatican museum
Ornate hallway in Vatican museum
Ceiling painting in Vatican museum
Ornate pillar in Vatican museum
“bene vale , et postea videbo vos” (Latin) for good bye and see you later
We have been thinking about taking a cruise for quite some time now. We finally decided to take a cruise and selected the Norwegian cruise line with a 7-day Mediterranean cruise. The cruise took us from Barcelona to Naples, Rome, Florence, Cannes, Marseille and back to Barcelona.
This was our first cruise and we were not sure what to expect when we arrived to board the ship. We arrived early and found a lineup of people with suitcases in tow getting ready to board the ship. We Got in line and managed to board the ship easily with a few stops to fill out paperwork.
Checking into the Norwegian Epic cruise ship in Barcelona
We walked a long gangway to the cruise ship called the Epic.
View of the side of the Norwegian Epic ship from the gangway
The ship is the very impressive and it has the longest water slide on any cruise ship.
The Epic claims they have the largest slide on any cruise shipThe waterside goes right around the top section of the deck
We walked through the ship checking it out. On one of the decks, there is a section with several different restaurants and shops. In the centre of the floor area was an opening with a large crystal chandelier hanging down to the floor area below. It was quite impressive and a nice feature for the restaurant below us.
The Epic crystal chandelier claimed to be the largest of any cruise ship
Our first evening on the cruise we went up to the top deck area and enjoyed a relaxing beverage and watched the sun set over the Mediterranean sea.
Sunset viewed from the upper deck of the Epic
On one of the lower decks, there was an outdoor track where we could walk and look out over the side of the ship.
Walking and running track on the Epic cruise ship.view from the walking/running track on the Epic ship
We took several excursions when the ship was docked. We tried to explore as many places along the trip as possible. On one excursion we could not dock on shore and had to take a boat to ferry us to shore.
Leaving the cruise ship by boat to head to shore.View of the Epic ship from our boatView of one of the boats used to bring people to shore
The cruise was different from what we are accustomed to for travelling, the pace is relaxed, the downtime is full of things to do and the food was extremely good. We enjoyed the change of pace by travelling via a cruise ship.
Here is a short video of some of the highlights of the cruise ship “The Norwegian Epic”.
We went to Barcelona for a few days to check out the city before heading out on our Mediterranean cruise. We took the high-speed train from Alicante and arrived in just over five hours to downtown Barcelona. The train ride was very relaxing and there were some beautiful views of the Mediterranean along the way.
View on the train ride to Barcelona.
The city is beautiful with numerous architectural features and historic buildings. The city is quite large with a population of approximately 1.8 million.
View of Barcelona from the hilltop of the National Art Gallery
We walked through the downtown core area and in the old quarter of the city. Some of the buildings were unique and old.
Building in BarcelonaStatue in square of BarcelonaTypical walkway in old quarter of Barcelona
One building, we particular liked was the art centre.
Unique art centre building in Barcelona
There was a statue that was very neat and you could look at it from different angles and it would change its shape.
unique statue that changed depending on where you looked at it
We took a break and stopped at a restaurant in a large plaza that had numerous restaurants. The food was very good and the salads were very tasty.
unique Salad from a spanish restaurant
After lunch, we did more exploring and came across a store that had miniature characters of famous people. Below are a few pictures of some famous people. Can you figure out who they are? We found over 10 people we recognised.
caractures in store in BarcelonaCharacters in store in Barcelona
We walked about 12 kilometres throughout the day and finished the evening sitting on the rooftop terrace of our hotel admiring the skyline. It was a long day but very enjoyable.
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