A Trip on the Costa NeoRomantica :D

This trip was quite different from all the others I'm doing for my internship. 

This trip was a cruise around Southern Spain, all the way up to France, England and the Netherlands.

This trip consisted of being a accompanier (?) - escort thing in the innocent sense of the word, instead of an actual guide. Which meant all the responsibilities and pre-work of looking up all the destinations, plus checking in and showing the way around on the ship, minus the actual city trip tours at the different destinations.

Which is sometimes the funnest thing to do, so I missed that. 

On the other hand, it leaves you with much more time for yourself, especially when you're in the port. (Unless you have your desk hours then. Because then you're screwed. And stuck on board even when no one else is.) -- I got a break, big deal, considering.  Cause the guide I was with gave me those desk hours when we were in port off. Which meant I could play tourist all I wanted. Pretty neat. 

So what do you do in the desk hours? You explain what your group can be doing at the next port. 

This includes "How to get there?" - "What does it cost?" - "The main highlights and mustsees?" and "What will the weather be like?", and basically being able to answer any of their questions. On any topic. (Destination or ship, anyway). 

At the end of every day, you pass by every single individual of your group (this group was 98 pax) -- and ask them how their day was. If they had any problems. And whether they had any questions. 

Only then is your own dinner time. Usually 22:00 ish. 

Warning: Lots of pictures ahead! 

This was my birthday, mainly.
Bus, bus, bus and more bus.
Through Belgium, Luxembourgh, France, Switzerland and northern Italy.

They did sing for me, though. The 50 peeps on my bus. 

I got a reggea-key. :) It made me laugh.

Big ship. Many floors. 

My room. 

Suite. 

Something luxurious. 

One of the first things we did on board?
Right. Emergency drill. 

This was the top deck with good weather. 

This was the same topdeck  (from the other side) when it got windy an hour later..

Let us not forget the jacuzzis on board. 

 

And the breathtaking views on board. 

From Genua, our first stop was Barcelona! 

And Cristobel Colón ((Columbus)) might or might not be pointing to Genua, his birthplace.

He is not, at any rate, pointing to the United States. Cause then he utterly fails at topography.

YES! YES!

JOHNNY DEPP!

Or the Mad Hatter, in any case. 

Just like that. On Las Ramblas, Barca. 

Sagrada Familia, by Gaudí. 

A work still in progress. (It might or might not be done in 2029) 

Our second stop? Palma de Mallorca!

Which looked different. 

Yet so familiar. 

That's the Cathedral of Palma de Mallorca :D 

And the street entertainers there were original, too. 

Third stop: MALAGA! :DDD 

I think this is my favourite.

I need to plan my own trip to southern Spain soon.

Specifically: Malaga, Granada and Sevilla. 

And soon soon. As in, as soon as possible! :D 

Only in Malaga! 

(Or maybe in Spain) 

La Alcazaba - Malaga! :D 

Cadiz.

The phoenicians started this city. 

Then it became a trading point, called Gadir. 

Then they spanified it = Cadiz. 

Market time. 

Huge lock.

Just like that. 

Random.

Tower of Belem! Lisbon's icon. 

That was our next stop: Liboa, Portugal. 

Then you have this ship-like statue. 

And behind it? Exactly. A bridge (named 25th of April bridge)  built exactly like the one in San Francisco!

Then you have the cutest little trams. 

It's tram 28 that you need, by the way. 

It passes by all your must-see typical highlights. 

Lisbon's highlights are too far apart to walk in half a day. 

And we're back in Spain!

Vigo, to be exact!

Now, what I really wanted was to take the ship's excursion to Santiago de Compostella. 

BUT. That costed something like €150. Which I didn't really have to spend. 

Hence, I was very pleasantly surprised when Vigo turned out to be such a lovely place. 

All green and sights that're worth the climb. 

We had an Italian night on board. 

Which meant, as you can see, lots of dancing :D 

In Le Havre, France. 

An ugly town. 

With a few pretty highlights. 

Now... Why are all those Dutch flags sideways?

Modernist churches and all. 

Besides the Italian night, we had two cocktail nights. 

Which meant dressing up! :D 

Last stop, before IJmuiden: Dover, England! :D 

Went to visit the castle of Dover: Also known as the OLDEST castle in England. :D 

Huge grounds. 

Poor ground keeper, whoever it was. 

Halle Berry! 

Okay, maybe not really. But hey. I made friends.

Yes, plural. Friends. :D 

Xx 

The Gypsy