London to Barcelona 2018

Gibraltar, United Kingdom - Almaria and Valencia, Spain: Day 13-16

From Lisbon, we sailed the Atlantic. There was only one day early on where there was any rocking of the ship to speak of. The tell-tail was the strategic placement of barf bags around the ship. They were most noticeable in the elevators where there was no place for them to hide. So a few people were having difficulties with the rocking but most did not notice it unless you spotted someone swaggering down a hall-way. We sailed south mostly overnight and arrived at the entrance to the Straight of Gibraltar. It is the only way in and out of the Mediterranean Sea so there is lots of ship traffice. And we even saw some folks heading to their fishing spots - - - in small boats. It is narrow enough that you can see both Europe (Spain) and African (Morroco) a the same time. We landed in Gibraltar and spent the better part of our time on a tour of The Rock of GIbraltar. It contains old tunnels built to protect the location from invaders. The first tunnels date to the 1700s and the more recent parts date to World War II. And then there are those monkeys. And as our guide, Tommy, said you cannot get enough pictures of them. They own the place and clearly control what happens there. Our guide made this a very enjoyable tour - part riding up in the gondola, walking some of the trails and tunnels, then bussing back to the ship. We left Gibraltar just at sunset and sailed overnight to Almeria, Spain. We took a side trip along the coast for some sea views, then to Nijar one of the few older cities left in the area. We passed many "greenhouses" where much of the winter vegetables for Europe are grown under hundres of acres of plastic houses. Our next to last stop was Valencia, Spain. We spent the better part of the day wandering around this wonderful city. We returned to the ship middle of the afternoon and about an hour later the rain kicked in and turned a beautiful day into one of the ugliest of the trip. We departed Valencia in the late afternoon and arrived in Barcelona well before sunrise the next day. We departed the ship one last time and headed for the airport for our almost on-time flight to Columbus via Atlanta. This time - - - I'm happy to report my luggage made it on the same flights that I took. Two years prior my bag showed up 4 days after I did but not until it took a side trip to Casablanca and New York. Travel is always full of some kind of suprise. Until the next time this is the end.