Another first was our first Polish airport and we didn't know what to expect when we landed in Warsaw but the airport there is top notch. The Warsaw airport is a spotless, modern and efficient piece of infrastructure. Gym was very impressed.
If you are reading this you realize that Gym and Mrs. Gym are on another adventure. Is it eastern Europe? Is it a Baltic cruise? Are we are we going on a river boat? And what is with the one way tickets? Could it be a suicide mission into the Crimea?
Nah, we are going back to Barcelona. We would only spend a few hours in Poland and thanks to a fantastic connection in Warsaw, we are quickly headed back west towards the city we discovered one year ago. You may recall last year we were in Barcelona to start a cruise that ended in Rome.
Why are we flying through Poland? The answer lies in the fact that LOT is a Star Alliance carrier, allied with Air Canada and it offered the lowest one-way tickets to Barcelona. So all of this begs the question; how are Gym an Mrs. Gym getting home? Are they retiring in Spain?
No, the big surprise is that Gym and Mrs. Gym are sailing home! Yes, a transatlantic voyage was in the offing. The intrepid couple is retracing the voyage of Christopher Columbus and sailing to the New World.
But first, there is unfinished business in Barcelona before we get on a ship that Mr. Columbus would have preferred over the Nina, the Pinta or the Santa Maria. We were in Barcelona last year but missed a whole bunch of stuff, including Gaudi's Sagrada Familia. So before beginning our voyage of discovery, we had a few days where we would bop around Barcelona.
The third leg of the unusual flight plan was nearing completion when the second LOT flight started to descend over the Mediterranean Sea and land at the beautiful Barcelona airport. A car was there to pick us up, arranged by the same company we had used on the last trip (www.pressicat.com). We were booked into the Eurostars Grand Marina Hotel. This hotel was located within walking distance of the pier where the Oceania Sirena would be docked in a few days time.
As this article is being written, we are in the midst of our stay at the Grand Marina and the hotel has some good and some bad but it will be an excellent base camp to continue our exploration of Barcelona and then make our way over to the pier where our transatlantic voyage will begin.
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| After leaving Calgary on September 30, 2016 we arrive at the Barcelona Airport on October 1, 2016 at 1400 hrs. |
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| We check-in to the Eurostats Grand Marina Hotel and there you can see Montjuic from the rooftop deck next to the pool |
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| Looking out from the rooftop you can see the causeway leading up to the hotel and on the right is a tower that holds up the middle of the cable-car line that runs from Montjuic to the beach. |
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| Mrs. Gym showing us the way to the New World just like Christopher Columbus in the background |
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| The dock right next to the hotel was where the Crystal Symphony was parked until it left on the night we checked in. |
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