August 10, 2023: Barcelona, Spain 🇪🇸

Mediterranean Odyssey aboard the Viking Sea July-August 2023

Note: whenever we were in port we asked that the divider be opened between our rooms for visiting

August 10, 2023: Barcelona, Spain 🇪🇸

La Familia Visita Barcelona

August 10, 2023

“Even the moon was embarrassed by the beauty of Barcelona.” - Andrew Barge

Our final port of call in the Mediterranean Odyssey, Barcelona immediately captured our hearts. What a beautiful city! We were eager to see the Sagrada Familia and so Syl, Jane and Julien joined the included tour of the city to get a view of the famed architectural dream. It is almost too much to take in. Everywhere you looked there was something else to see that was a discovery. To think that we were seeing it in progress was also pretty special as the next time we go back it may well be finished.

The bus parked several blocks away from the Basilica and so we were able to explore the streets of Barcelona. Our tour guide was a spicy personality that kept us all on our toes. We had an opportunity to do some shopping and enjoy the ambiance of the neighbourhood.

Julie, Amelia and Annie explored on their own and did some shopping.

Our last night on the ship was lovely. We spent time sitting on the balcony, out on the top deck and enjoyed a delicious final meal.

August 9, 2023: Marseille, France 🇫🇷

August 9, 2023: Marseille, France 🇫🇷

Check out how close to the City Centre our ship docked!

Cathédrale Basilique Sainte-Marie-Majeure, dit “La Major”

August 9, 2023: Marseille, France 🇫🇷

August 9, 2023: Marseille, France

Merveilleux Marseille!

August 9, 2023

The ship docked right in the heart of Marseille which allowed us ample access to walking along the waterfront. Julie’s Pandora radar took us to a beautiful local mall where we had fun choosing our souvenir charm. The walk was pleasant under a full blue sky for which southern France is famous. We passed cafés and musems, galleries and scooter rentals before arriving to our destination. Syl and Julien went for a walk to the cathedral while we were gone. We had a plan to meet for an afternoon bus tour of the city that was an included tour on the ship.

The blue of the water rivaled the sky. People hugged the rocky shore sunbathing and swimming in the Med. The city of Marseille is beautiful and clean. The architecture and public art installations are a feast for the eyes.

The local security guard on the dock looked just like a French Shayne Hartin. He was an enthusiastic advocate for the beauty of his city as he welcomed everyone leaving the ship to love Marseille and have a bonne journée.

Time in the spa once we returned to the ship included a pedicure for Annie and Jane with lots of fun chatter with our nail artists about life on the ship below deck.

August 8, 2023: Monte Carlo

August 8, 2023: Monte Carlo

August 8, 2023: Monte Carlo, Monaco

Casino Royale

August 8, 2023

Whoever said money can't buy happiness has clearly never been to Monaco. - Anonymous

We were sailing into the harbour when we awoke this morning. The sun was bright and the air was clear and all I could hear from the balcony was “Oh my God!” “This is incredible!” “Jane, you’ve got to see this!” On repeat. Syl was not exaggerating. The coast of Monaco is incredible. The mansions are stacked up the hills and are gleaming white. The hills themselves are beautiful as they meet the blue water and rocky islands protect the entrance to the harbour at Monte Carlo.

This is the day that we were anchored off-shore and the crew was able to get the tender off the boat and into the water in short order.

After breakfast, we set out to explore using the hop-on-hop-off bus that had a stop where are tender dropped us at the port. We did the entire loop so that we could learn about Monte Carlo and determine where we wanted to end up. Dad was feeling under the weather with a sore throat and cold, and so he stayed back on the ship. The tour was great. We got to see many beautiful parts of Monaco and learn about Prince Rainier’s goal of creating the beautiful city as a destination for visitors.

We continued on the loop until we reached the Casino stop and got off to go and explore the shopping district and have some lunch. The shops were all high end: Chanel, Prada, Cartier. We did a little window shopping, some really shopping at the more affordable Zara (along with the other tourists) and had a lovely (if overly expensive) lunch at a restaurant recommended by the maître d at Cafe de Paris which had no room for us.

After lunch, mom and Julie went earring shopping, Syl and Julien went people watching at the Casino and the gorgeous park across the street and Jane, Amelia and Annie went shopping and exploring. We came upon the most gorgeous shopping mall any of us had ever seen - the picture does not do it justice. The girls went bathing suit shopping and both came out with suits that had nothing big about them, except the price tag.

We loved Monaco and Monte Carlo. It was lush, beautiful and clean. We met up at the HOHO bus with the intent to take it back to the harbour. Julie, Annie and Amelia got off at the top of the Rock near the palace and walked down to the port. We stayed on and learned that the bus did not return us to our original stop so instead we needed to walk through the port to our tender. It was a long walk for mom.

The ride back on/in the tender was rocky. The seas were rough. We tried to convince Dad to take the tender for a ride but he couldn’t be swayed. We enjoyed dinner all together and had another lovely evening aboard the ship.

August 7, 2023: Pisa

August 7, 2023: Livorno

Under the Tuscan Sun

August 7, 2023

Livorno was our port today but Pisa was our ultimate destination on this day of our cruise. We awoke to find ourselves entering the port city of Livorno. At first blush it was lovely and the port authority had a shuttle bus to take us into the city centre from the docks. Our trip to Pisa was planned for the afternoon and so we decided to go and explore Livorno. Julie, Julien, Sylvin and I arrived at the drop off point with very little knowledge of what to expect. We found a city that had some lovely surprises - a beautiful palace, an intricate series of canals, lively squares and a beautiful marketplace. It all fell apart when the information we received from our shuttle driver proved inaccurate and we found ourselves lost and stranded in Livorno - a city it turns out, without Uber or taxi cabs. We made the long trek back to the ship (almost 10,000 steps) just to arrive at the same time as the shuttle driver who had told us she was going on her lunch break from 11:30-1:30 (it was 12:30!).

We shook it off, had lunch and regrouped. Pisa was our destination in the afternoon and we were all very excited to see the Leaning Tower. The drive on the bus was lovely. We learned some interesting things about this part of Tuscany. Buses are not allowed close to the Tower and so it was a bit of a hike (15 mins) to get to the site. Again, the walk was quite lovely and we saw some really beautiful things along the way.

Once we moved through the gates to the cathedral we were not expecting to feel such excitement as we experienced. The entire site was quite beautiful and serene. We learned about the Baptistry, the Duomo (cathedral) and the tower and the meaning behind each of them. Our guide pointed out the design details and legends and we got to take pictures and marvel at the beauty.

We had 1 hour of free time, during which Julie and I went in a madcap search with Siri’s help through the streets of Pisa in search of our Pandora charm. We were down side streets and through squares and experienced a beautiful town. Once we settled on our charm, we realized that the Italians’ charming “it’s so close” description was not going to cut it if we were to make it back in time to rejoin our group and so we solicited the salesperson’s help to secure a taxi for us. She helped us to communicate with the taxi company and when she was all finished she looked at us and said the taxi was coming to meet us under the clock tower and that we should “RUN!” So we did, and then realized we had no idea where the clock tower was and so had to go back in the store to ask her to kindly point us in the general direction. Oh my! I still am chuckling remembering the look on her face.

While we were on our adventure the others were busy taking pictures, souvenir shopping and getting a Subway sandwich! That’s right - the first Subway restaurant of the entire trip was located a 12” bun from the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Our return walk to the bus seemed to be double the distance, but only because our legs were so worn out. We came back to the ship, had a bit of a rest before dinner and were in bed by 8:30 pm. It was that great of a day!! ❤️

August 6, 2023: Santa Marinella Beach (Civitavecchia)