Barcelona & Alicante
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The ship docked very early this morning, about 5.30am and so after breakfast we took the opportunity
to go to shore straight away. The buildings of Barcelona are renowned for being so different with the work of Gaudi and others
doing the facades of many public buildings as well as churches. A hop on hop off bus was right at the dockside so we caught it
and toured this fascinating city. We passed the Gothic Cathedral which was under construction from 1298 to 1450. Its well
worth a visit as Santa Eulalia's tomb is in the crypt and there are 500 year old stained glass windows to be admired. It was
very busy with tourists and so we stayed on the bus hoping to get back later. Barcelona is a mix of modern and older architectural styles
and some of the work on the exteriors just has to be seen to be believed.
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Our aim was to visit the Familia Segara - an unfinished masterpiece of architect Antoni Gaudi.
We were not disappointed even though the interior is all under construction. The exterior is seen as the symbol of Barcelona.
There are surrealistic images and towers in just an endless cascade of sculptures adorning the exterior. It is very hard to appreciate the beauty
and the meaning of such an awesome creation but it does have to be seen to appreciate the skills of people many years ago. It is just an amazing work of art and the projected finish date is 2020 at this time.
Wiliar began the construction originally in 1882 so it has been a work in progress for a long time.
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Back on the bus again to see more of the city and it was certainly a beautiful day in Barcelona to be a tourist.
The open top bus certainly allows the views to be taken in from all angles and the only downside was the fact that the day had to end.
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Another day, another destination and today we have the chance to visit Alicante. This is another ship excursion
experience we have chosen to do. We will go out into the country and visit the Canolabre Caves and see the countryside. We drove through very dry, rocky and desolate country for about an hour and
noted this area is famous for growing Valencia oranges but we didn't see any orchards.
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We climbed the hills in our coach and then arrived at a nougat sweet factory for a tour on the way.
The factory only works for 3 months a year but employs the townspeople. We were shown a film of how the nougat is made and were amazed at the cleanliness and marble interior of the factory itself.
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The Canolobre Caves are 24kms from Alicante and have the highest vaults in Spain. There are coloured lights to
accentuate the formations and if you look closely you may see different animal shapes in the rock.
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