Barcelona, Spain

We had been in Barcelona just a couple of weeks previous, click on this link to see what we did then. We'd also been here in 2012 and in 2016, so go to those pages (half way down on both) to see what we did then. What was unique this time around, was the rendezvous of the HAL Word Cruise (Zuiderdam) with the HAL Pole-to-Pole Cruise (Volendam). They basically offered 2 equally grand voyages in 2025. We knew several people on the Volendam from our previous HAL cruising.

The sunrise was behind us as we sailed into port.

We passed the huge cemetery on the hill.

We backed into the dock, so we'd be stern-to-stern with the Volendam.

A system was set up so passengers (& crew) could visit the other ship via a secured walkway. We did do this later to visit some old diving friends back on the 2012 World Cruise. The last time we'd been on the Volendam was in 2020.

The tug offered a celebration shower with a rainbow. This seemed a bit lame, but there would be more celebrations that evening.

We took the free shuttle to the waterfront area of the city.
This open sculpture is called "Onades" (Waves).

We walked by the Kapok trees (Ceiba pentandra) are native to South America. The fluffy fibers from the blooms were used to make life jackets and today are used to make "vegan" pillows.

We were headed up a hill and into a garden. There were several floating gardens in this pond.

Elderberry flowers (Sambucus sp.) had attracted a beetle.

 
There were some sculptures in the garden and of course, some nice flowers like this Mediterraean native, bear's breeches (Acanthus mollis).

From our perch here in the garden, we had a good view of the ships. The Zuiderdam is mostly behind a building.
Quite a large century plant (Agave sp.) was getting ready for its once in a lifetime bloom.

Swinging to the left to see the rest of the port.

And further left here is the view back to the city center. A little left of center is Gaudi's most famous building...

and with a telephoto, you can see it's his famous Sagrada Família, which is still under construction.
While we were up there, we had a nice chat with a couple we'd met on the 2023 World Cruise--they were on the Pole-to-Pole cruise on the Volendam.

We walked along the extensive fortification to get back to the ship via a different route.

 
The pink flower is some type of garlic.

The Olympic Torch

Back on the bottom lands again, there was an extensive formal garden with tidy trimmed hedges.

 
And guess what... Some well-established Ombú trees (Phytolacca dioica) which are native to South America and are not real trees with wood, but are huge pokeweed plants with mounds of fibrous tissue at the base to hold them upright.

Back on the ship as twilight set in, there was a festive mood on the back decks of both ships.

There would be a drone show with more than 300 drones.

The show was narrated by the two cruise directors on the ships. It celebrated the separate journeys of the ships and their meeting there in Barcelona.

The program explained about how the HAL motto went from "Savor the Journey" to
"Savour the Journey," because it wouldn't be possible without U.

After the show, all the drones landed on the jetty. The technology needed to put on a display like this is amazing. People were duly impressed. The next day we walked over to the Volendam for a visit with our friends and for a stroll around the ship.

The new president of Holland America Line, Beth Bodensteiner, spent the next sea day on the Zuiderdam where she took questions from the audience for one hour.