Trip Report September Mediterranean Magic DCL

Welcome along to a journey I hope that I will be able to complete for you all We adventured to Europe this past fall for a 7 night cruise on the Disney Magic. We did a few nights pre-cruise in Barcelona to acclimate and explore!

The Who: Myself (Maci) and my mom (Teri) embarked on this adventure!

She is my ultimate travel partner and has done one Disney cruise before with me. We did the Western Caribbean on the Disney Fantasy back in 2012 for my college graduation trip! I have been on the Disney Wonder one time before that myself when I finished my Disney College Program in 2010! This makes us both Silver Castaway Club members but I'm striving for that Gold status one day!

We have also done countless trips to WDW together as well as an Adventures by Disney (England and France) back in 2014! She is a photo-taker extraordinaire so you know if I get through a TR for this trip there will be a lot to look at!

My favorite Disney movies are Peter Pan and Sleeping Beauty with my favorite characters being the main characters in both of those I love Epcot and travel in general and it has always been a dream of mine to see more of Italy after a day-trip on a high school study abroad to France. I have 2 little kitties whom my boyfriend lovingly watches while I'm gone and my hobbies include Netflix marathons, cooking and planning Disney trips for myself, family and wonderful clients.

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Mom's favorite Disney movie is probably Pirates of the Caribbean because she loooves Johnny Depp! She also loves meeting the Pooh characters! Her favorite park is also Epcot and she's excited anytime she can get a new stamp on her (real) passport! She 2 wonderful cats and her hobbies include photography and gardening which I took advantage of last time she visited me and had her plant all my flowers in the backyard

We both love good food and good wine so we travel really well together (when we aren’t getting on each others nerves) and these types of trips are perfect for us!

I spent every other day the week or so leading up to the cruise trying to get everything squared away for the trip. Running to the store to look for cruise-appropriate attire AND church appropriate attire since several tours would require knees and shoulders covered. Naturally I overshopped, overbought, and overexhausted myself. But I felt like I had some great new pieces for the trip and had a good idea of what I was going to want to pack!

Up Next: Day 0!

 

[MagicalMaci]

These buildings are fairy-tale esque, can you guess which was the inspiration?

Hearing all the wonderful information in the shade

there's what would have been a marketplace down here

I'm sure I was trying to catch a Pokemon

these icons on the ceiling would symbolize what merchants would sell underneath!

 

[MagicalMaci]

This lizard/dragon is a pretty famous icon for the park

Refreshed with some hydration in hand!

 

[MagicalMaci]

At the end of the tour there was a bit of free time to get a beverage and browse the gift shop. We got two bottles of water and a coloring book based on Gaudi’s designs. I haven’t used it yet I was definitely catching Pokemon throughout the park too... but the screenshots save last in my photos so I'm not sure the timing on the Snapchats/Pokemon sightings...

We headed back to the van and onto our next stop of the day!

The bus parking is even nice

Up Next: Day 2 - More to see!

 

[MagicalMaci]

Day 2 - More to See!

After our tour of the park we headed back into the city to somewhere familiar, back to La Sagrada Familia Basilica! The tour today also didn’t go inside, but having a tour guide be able to explain everything to us made it so much easier to appreciate the beauty of the craftsmanship and the timeline that is has taken to build it.

If I were to go back, I would certainly make a point to go inside. For me it’s so cool to think that this building has been under construction for so long!

We started with a great photo spot across the park before heading closer to admire some of the details.

This was along the way from where we were dropped off…

Keeping up the area

Our tour guide was great at making sure we got photos together!

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After everyone got their photos we moved closer to admire the details of this stunning building.

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I was able to appreciate so much more today as the differences in architecture and style were pointed out. The intricate details shine through the cranes and construction all around.

 

[MagicalMaci]

Now here comes a photo heavy section as there is just so much to take in here!

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[MagicalMaci]

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[MagicalMaci]

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Whew! Sorry for the photo overload, there's just so many wonderful details we both went a little picture crazy ​

Up Next: Day 2 - Heading back out of the city

 

[MomofPrincessGrace]

I LOVE your dress from day 2. So pretty!

 

[MagicalMaci]

Day 2 - Heading back out of the city

The next part of this tour was mostly via the van. We drove over to the Olympic Site and I’ll be honest it was just the exterior of a bunch of buildings and wasn’t that interesting to me. What is interesting is that this is up on somewhat of another hill and after the Olympic interest we stopped off for a fantastic view of the city below.

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[MagicalMaci]

We got out and it was an absolutely gorgeous afternoon with a nice breeze going. We really enjoyed the break to stretch our legs and take some photos. Mom got really into her fish eye lens up here too. You could also see the cruise ships from here but our wonderful Disney Magic wasn’t quite back to Barcelona yet!

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[MagicalMaci]

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We took some photos and I caved and grabbed a quick snack here from a little food truck type thing as it was already 1pm and there was no lunch break in sight as of yet. It was a cheesy foccacia and soo delicious! I was much happier after my snack and finished it as we got back into the van for the 45 minute drive to Montserrat.

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Up Next: Day 2 - Monsterrat

 

[Mrhappyplace]

Thanks for all the pics of Barcelona, I visited the city in the 90s during my Navy years and didn't get to do much sightseeing and have always regretted that. Can't wait to see the ship and what other ports you visited. I spent two years in the med so I'm looking forward to seeing if you visited any other cities I've been too.

 

[MagicalMaci]

I LOVE your dress from day 2. So pretty!

Aww thank you so much!

Thanks for all the pics of Barcelona, I visited the city in the 90s during my Navy years and didn't get to do much sightseeing and have always regretted that. Can't wait to see the ship and what other ports you visited. I spent two years in the med so I'm looking forward to seeing if you visited any other cities I've been too.

It's such a beautiful part of the world to explore!

 

[MagicalMaci]

Day 2 - Montserrat


After our scenic drive to Montserrat we had a limited time to explore the area to still make it back to Barcelona on time (this is where the late start really became apparent unfortunately). Our time here was only a 2-4pm window. First we had a short tour and then we finally had some free time to explore. Unfortunately the amount of time didn’t allow for everything there was to do here. You could visit the Black Madonna, hike around for more stunning views, ride this terrifying elevator up to the top, or shop along the market, and this was when we were suppose to get a lunch break as well with both a restaurant and a cafeteria here.

There was a restaurant and viewing area when you arrive, that's where this photo is taken. I hope you can see the long walkway in the bottom right- that's where the shop and market are and at the other end is the church at the base of the next mountain peak somewhat.

The views from here were breathtaking !

This track in the mountain is the "scary elevator"

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[MagicalMaci]

One couple vanished before the tour, choosing to fend off their hunger in the restaurant and skip the guided tour. Another quickly skirted off to hike to the little church. We decided to take it easy and just go look around the main church and go from there. It was a really neat experience to see monks wandering around and there was a wedding going on as we arrived! I was also of course working on becoming a master Pokemon trainer while we ventured.

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Everything at the site is beautiful but the church has some stunning detail and wonderful stained glass windows. It’s pretty small so it was a quick walk through for us and it’s an active church so you need to be quiet and respectful inside, but they do allow photos!

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We didn't know at the time but this would be for the bride and groom!​

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Mom loves a good doorway photo!​

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[MagicalMaci]

We decided to skip the Black Madonna and just shop around a bit before relaxing in the cafeteria where we ran into our new friends and sat and enjoyed a glass of wine while chatting with them.

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We did come home with a bottle of this!​

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I was so intrigued by the offerings at the little shop!​

 

[MagicalMaci]

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resting in the cafeteria​

We were tired and ready for the once again beautifully scenic drive back to Barcelona and were dropped off around 5:30 for the short walk back to our hotel. During the trip a map of suggested tapas places was passed around to help everyone get ideas for dinner! Ultimately this all-day tour was a really great way to see the highlights with our limited time in the city and we were really glad we picked one that included Montserrat!

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Up Next: Day 2 - Exhaustion!

 

[MagicalMaci]

Day 2 - Exhaustion!

We made our way back to the hotel via the same short walk we had taken this morning. But this time, the Disney Store was open so I did of course pop on in! No purchases made though, just didn’t love anything.

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When we arrived back at the hotel, we got our free welcome cava that came with the package I booked (which we had skipped the day earlier but they were very accommodating) and then the inevitable happened… I fell asleep Mom spent some time taking photos while I rested.

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It was a short nap in our room but jet lag, it gets you! We woke up and it was still very much in the Barcelona-dinner time range so we looked into Tapas options nearby. We knew we didn’t want to venture too far! We picked Babia based on good reviews and the fact that it was super close - on the street right behind our hotel!

We freshened up and headed out for our dinner at Babia around 8:30. We found a table but the restaurant was small and busy! At home, whenever we go to tapas restaurants it’s always about getting several things and trying a few and sharing but here we each just picked one thing. We were tired and not overly hungry but knew we had to eat. Of course we had some sangria again too!

Sangrias!

green tomato and cheese toast

potato croquettes
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Dinner was tasty and the place was still very full when we left! We walked out around the other side of the hotel and saw a lovely place called Chocolate-Box was delightful looking gelato in the window. There’s always room for ice cream, right? RIGHT! We each picked our flavors and enjoyed it the rest of the way home.

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Pretty shortly after returning we were sound asleep! We had a big day ahead of us tomorrow

Day 2
Location: Barcelona
Activities: Barcelona Highlights Tour, Monstraat, Dinner
Weather: Stunning!
Highlight: Monstraat

Up Next: Day 3

 

[MagicalMaci]

I have a little blog on the side and decided it would be easier just to watermark all my photos rather than do the editing twice. Just FYI the Maci Mouse Club is me (Maci) - I know it doesn't match my screenname but it's just a way to get through the TR a bit faster!

Day 3 - Getting on board!

We woke up and packed everything up since we’d be saying goodbye to the Hotel Colon today! Mom got a few last photos outside while I finished getting ready. When all was set, we headed downstairs for our wonderful breakfast buffet when we were ready to go and had another delicious meal here. Fueled up, we were ready for the day ahead!

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[MagicalMaci]

The hotel got us a taxi and helped us with our luggage and soon we were heading out of the old part of the city and towards the sea! It was another beautiful morning in Barcelona and a pretty easy drive over to the port.

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So when I booked this cruise I knew that I had booked a VGT and that meant we could end up having a white wall verandah. Low and behold when our room got assigned a few weeks prior, that was exactly what we got. Mom was NOT fond of this idea so after we checked in we asked about upgrade potential and were sent off to another line.

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We were able to upgrade to a Deluxe Family Stateroom with Veranda - so we’d get the clear veranda and extra space. I will tell you, this was NOT cheap. We didn’t need the extra space but this was the last upgrade they had available so it’s what we went with. This also moved us up to Deck 8. Having just gone on a cruise on the Wonder with a white wall veranda, I do now have to say that I prefer the clear and I think I would pay a bit more for it. (But the Wonder cruise we didn’t have great weather so we didn’t get much use out of it either way)

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Catching lots of Pokemon along the way!​

There was very minimal waiting here which was nice and in no time we were getting ready to board the ship!

Up Next: Day 3 - All to ourselves!