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Grand Voyage--2012:  << Part 1 << Part 2 << Part 3 << Part 4 << Part 5 << Part 6 << Part 7 << Part 8
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We sail into Ajaccio on the island of Corsica, our only French port.  

The town looks interesting as we sail in, but the weather doesn't look like it will cooperate. We bring umbrellas with us and go to the Saturday morning market not far from our docking space.

    
This is a weekly market, which is more like our typical farmers markets. Except for the wheels of Brie, the French pasteries and the olives... Oooh-la-la.

 
Corsica's claim to fame is that Napolean Bonaparte was born here.

 
The fort on the shore has donkeys and goats in its moat.

 
This is definitely a fishing community. An old fisherman mends his nets.

 
Springtime cherry blossoms decorate the downtown streets.

 
We asked this woman (in our best French) about the gardens, but did not understand her answer. We thanked her for her time and continued walking.

 
Lavender and other flowers are planted everywhere. Meanwhile, the rain continues...

Election posters are only posted here; and in such an orderly manner.

When the weather became less pleasant, we walked along the shoreline and called it a short day. Tomorrow is Barcelona, Spain.

~ ~ ~

   
Barcelona's World Trade Center's interesting curved shape helps orient us later as we looked back toward the port from other parts of the city. We can see this hillside graveyard from the ship. It's similar to those that we saw in Hong Kong.

 
We have today and tomorrow to explore this very walkable and bikable city.

  
There's a city shuttle bus from the port to the Columbus Plaza, but most of the time we walked over the bridge (the white one shown above) to get to and from the ship.

 
"Las Rambles," the broad pedestrian way that runs for a couple of miles through the city, starts at Columbus Plaza. We found the metro station on Las Rambles a little way from the plaza. We bought two-day passes, which can be used on trains and city buses. 

 
Our first stop is the Antoni Gaudi designed church called La Sagrada Familia, which was begun in 1882--this was the last building he designed, but only one facade was finished when he died. The original portions, which are unbelieavably elaborate, gave rise to the word "gaudy."  The new portions, which were begun in the 1990s, are much less busy, but still depict many Biblical scenes.

 
The photo above left shows the transition from old to new, which carries around to the other side of the church.

   
But from whatever vantage point you see it, this is certainly unique.

   
The next morning we start our day at a full-service market, St. Joseph's Boqueria. 

 
The Egg Woman??

 
And right behind the market is a hospital with this interesting portal decoration.

The morning light is just wonderful and the designs of the buildings' facades varies widely. 

    
We were surprised to see the Bruce Springsteen posters on many of the buses. Our next stop is a garden, Jardin de la Tamarita. It's lovely, but not very large and appears to be a former estate.

   
Our next destination is the top of a mountain where there is a set of biking and hiking trails farther up. 

 
Don't you just love this stone work?

   
We thought we could get to this church, but its gate is closed. Beyond the gate we saw this office built into the hill like a hobbit home. 

 
The views from up here are great. This row of houses looks like they could be on the Rhine River in Germany.

 
We headed back down to one of plazas and then to another garden.

 
Next to this garden is an olympic stadium and the main olympic torch for the Barcelona games held here in the summer 2004. We think this bird amongst the wildflowers is a type of magpie, but don't know for sure. 

 
This stone sculpture is a gift from the Japanese.

 
From there we head down a walkway to an enormous building that we thought must be a church, but no...

 
A bubble artist plies his trade in front of the museum.

The blue and yellow-tiled water falls border this wide staircase.

The museum spaces merge with the Plaza Espanya down the hill. Very pleasant...

On the opposite side of the Plaza Espanya is a former bullring--it's now been transformed into a modern shopping mall. Once you walk inside you might think you are in Baltimore's Galleria. From here we head back to ship. We have a sea day tomorrow as we head to Cadiz, Spain on the Atlantic shore. Unfortunately, we'll sail through the Straits of Gibraltar in the middle of the night.

Dean's Log: Days 98-100

Itinerary graphic    Now on to Cadiz >>

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