For our 31st Anniversary we embarked in Barcelona for a 14 night cruise on Azamara Journey. Ports of call were Gibraltar, La Coruna, St. Malo, Paris, Belgium, London, Amsterdam, Germany and cruising down the River Thames and Kiel Canal. Disembarkation was in Copenhagen where we spent two nights post cruise.
Highlights included a personal tour from friends who live in Gibraltar along with “friendly” greetings from the Barbary Apes at the summit of the Rock of Gibraltar, an inspiring visit to the tomb of St. James the Apostle at Santiago de Compostela in La Coruna, Spain, and wandering the narrow streets in St. Malo, France with a pastry shop on every corner!
Our brisk walk through the charming streets of Paris from the Eiffel Tower to the Arc de Triomphe just whet our appetite to definately go back again to explore more of the City of Lights, especially the Louve and Notre Dame.
The quaint medieval town of Bruges, Belgium with it’s horse drawn buggies and picturesque scenery was beautiful and romantic. Michaelangelo’s sculpture, Madonna (with Jesus at her knee) at Our Lady’s Church along with a visit to the Basilica of the Most Holy Blood which houses a venerated relic of Christ: his very blood, collected by Joseph of Arimathea were most memorable and made Bruges a definate “not to be missed” spot.
Seeing London’s famous landmarks Big Ben, the London Eye, Westminster Cathedral, the London Tower Bridge and St. Paul’s Cathedral (where Princess Diana and Prince Charles were wed), made for a perfect day. An added bonus was to step foot on the Prime Meridan Line in Greenwich which divides the Earth into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.
We leisurely strolled the streets of Amsterdam with it’s many bridges, canals, bikes, and street performers. Cruising down the Kiel Canal was as much fun as riding on a float on Mardi Gras Day. Onlookers, young and old, were excited to see our ship pass on by and greeted us with waves, smiles, whistles, hollers and banners! I only wished I had some beads to throw to them! It was a wonderful way to wind down our cruise.
Disembarkation was in Copenhagen where we spent two days seeing the overall city by HOHO bus. A quick hop off to the famous “Little Mermaid” statue by Hans Christian Anderson and a short visit to the Glyptotek Art Museum marked the ending of our 16 day adventure before heading back home to the Deep South in the USA.
As a final note…This was our first Azamara cruise and with it’s intimate 690 passenger capacity, appealing itinerary, personal service, fine dining, quality entertainment and casual yet elegant ambience made this one of our best cruise experiences ever! To top it off, the friends we met from Cruise Critic made this great cruise spectacular! Dining together, sharing excursions, and getting a taste of the “suite” life are what we will most fondly remember.
Does it get any better than this? Together with my better half, IT DOES!
1 Comment
Love this Trudy! You guys are so sweet together…XO