If it's Friday, this must be France!

We arrived at Cannes, France, on Friday morning. This was the only "tender" port that we would visit -- the ship anchored out away from shore and we had to take tenders in to land. Evidently the harbor is not deep enough for cruise ships to come in to port.

Our view as we had breakfast at The Great Outdoors...

... the area near Cannes.

Boarding the tender

Inside the tender

Looking forward in the tender -- they were using lifeboats of the Gem for tendering.

Tender at the pier in Cannes

We did not have specific plans on what we wanted to do in Cannes - figured we would pick up a map at the port area and hope that there may be someone there who would share some touring ideas. On the tender ride, we talked with another couple and they shared that they planned to do the hop-on hop-off bus - we thought that sounded like a good idea and looked for the busses... but I guess that Cannes does not have hop-on hop-off busses. We did find a map, and it had a tourist walking route marked, so we decided to do that.

We started in old town... which was straight up a hill...

Another couple was also walking up - a bit in front of us - they were taking a picture at this building, so we stopped to offer to take a picture of them, and they returned the favor, offering to take a picture of us. Nothing particularly special about the building that we know of!

We got to a view point and could see over Cannes...

... and the harbor area.

 

There was a sign at the top so we did a selfie in front of it (we were actually on the "wrong" side of the sign, but used the function of a selfie that makes it like a mirror, so it turned the sign to make it read correctly!).

We also found a part of the city wall that we could walk up on and got some pictures.

Carl took a picture of me at the bottom of the wall...

... while I got a picture of him on top.

There was a church nearby so we went inside the Church of Our Lady of Hope.

Interior of the church

Statue of Our Lady of Hope on the altar

Stained glass windows of the Annunciation

Clock tower at the church

From there, we walked down the hill through curving narrow streets. The cafes were setting up their outside tables.

We decided to visit the market...

Big open area -- all sort of things for sale!

Large display of spices...

... beautiful colors...

Strawberry season

Zucchini flowers for sale (https://www.oliveandmango.com/stuffed-zucchini-blossoms-kolokythanthoi-yemistoi/) -- to my knowledge, I've never eaten a zucchini blossom!

Cheeses

Fish

Eggs

All kinds of dried mushrooms (including some that indicated origin in USA)

Back walking in the streets - we were looking for a cafe...

... Carl wanted to have a coffee on the street in France, so we stopped and he got a cappuccino...

Another patron offered to take our picture

We continued walking in the shopping area, and then turned toward the harbor...

We could see the Gem anchored out

We think this is the location of the Cannes Film Festival.

Hotels along the harbor front

As we were walking back, our route took us along an area where large yachts were tied up...

... we were walking right along behind them - no restrictions on our access to this area.

This one had a dinghy with "Williams" on the cover - we figured that means that we could own it! (Maybe just the dinghy?)

This one appeared to have the lines of a 1940s (?) car to me!

Many of them had "garages" for the storage of the dinghy (or dinghies).

This boat was from Fort Lauderdale.

Some more yachts -- access to the area behind these was restricted.

The clock tower near the church where we had visited a couple of hours earlier.

A funny story -- when we went into the church, Carl had removed his cap. When sitting in a pew, he had put it down beside himself on the pew. 

After we left the church, as we were walking in the streets, he realized he did not have his cap. We were trying to remember if he had even brought one with us, and we looked at some of the pictures and realized it had been left at the church.

So... before heading back to the ship, we went back up the hill, and into the church, but the cap was not on the pew. There was a closed office at the back of the church that had a window in the door and a sliding window, through which we could see the lost cap on a desk.

We waited for a few minutes to see if the custodian would return... but when he did not, Carl tried sliding the sliding window, and was able to open it to retrieve his cap.

So... if you hear about Interpol searching for cap-thieves for stealing from a church in Cannes, you'll know why!

We headed back to the tender pier ...

Boarding the tender

After we re-boarded, we saw a tender arriving at the Gem...

... one tender arriving, one leaving...

There was also a passenger ferry providing tendering functions from the shore.

Our third European country (Portugal, Spain, and France)!

Thursday in Barcelona

In Barcelona, we again did a "Maria Tour" -- a route suggested by my college roommate.

Harbor area at Barcelona -- the bridge in the foreground is the way into the city from the pier where we were tied up.

Forward part of the Gem as we were leaving

Maria recommended that we take a taxi to Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família (or la Sagrada Familia - the Holy Family) church and walk back -- we decided to take a cruise terminal bus into the city and find a taxi there... unfortunately, no taxis were to be found when we got to the drop off point for the cruise bus. So we ended up walking (about 2 miles) at a pretty fast pace, because we had 10am entry tickets for the church.

From Wikipedia:

It is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world. Designed by architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926), his work on Sagrada Família is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On 7 November 2010, Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the church and proclaimed it a minor basilica. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia)

A picture at the front of the church as we finally arrived (at 10:01am) -- the entry for tickets was on the other side.

We got in easily - they require prepaid tickets, and though there was a line, it went quickly.

We knew that the church was still under construction...

Our audioguide told us that the "Tower of Our Lady" was recently completed - it is the one topped by a 12-pointed glass star that is lit at night.

We came first to the Nativity Façade.

I have to say, looking at pictures of the church, I don't particularly like it... it looks like dripping candle wax to me... but... with the audioguide, we were made aware of a lot more than I initially saw.

On the Nativity Façade - the Nativity or Birth of Jesus - with Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and an ox and donkey.

To the right of the Nativity are the shepherds who have come to adore the Christ Child...

... on the left are three Wise Men bearing gifts.

Musical angels were shown above.

The left portal shows the Holy Family's flight into Egypt.

The right portal shows an image of Jesus with long hair as he helps with a carpentry project in his father's workshop.

We proceeded inside and were taken with the beautiful colors in the stained glass...

The stained glass does not provide pictures of Bible stories, but light pours into the space.

The central part of the church looking toward the high altar

Looking across the church toward the Nativity Façade doors

Another view of the stained glass

We left the church on the side opposite the Nativity Façade -- the Passion Façade.

The image of the crucified Christ on the Passion Façade.

According to the audioguide: Gaudi drew what he wanted this façade to look like. He wanted to reflect Christ's Passion in all its cruelty, to capture his pain. Look at the enormous leaning columns that frame the entrance. They look a bit like tensed muscles, don't they? And the ones just above, don't they look like ribs? In the words of the architect himself, this façade should be "hard, bare, as if made of bones."

Another view from outside the Nativity Façade

Obligatory selfie

A final view from outside the Passion Façade

From La Sagrada Familia, we followed a walking route recommended by Maria...

Going by another Gaudi designed building, Casa Mila

From the website (https://www.lapedrera.com/en/la-pedrera):

Casa Mila (1906-1912) is Antoni Gaudi’s most iconic work of civic architecture due to both its constructional and functional innovations, as well as its ornamental and decorative solutions. It is a total work of art.

Known as La Pedrera (stone quarry) because it resembles an open quarry in appearance, the building features forms drawn from nature.

It was Gaudi’s last work of civic architecture and represented a break with the conventions of his day.

 

Along the way, we saw other interesting architecture...

... and a UPS delivery truck too!

We stopped in Plaza de Catalunya...

Iberostar hotel fronting on the square

Then we headed down Las Ramblas, a large boulevard which runs through the heart of the city center.

We were getting thirsty so this display of big glasses of cold beverages was tempting!

Some statue buskers -- this was a large winged creature...

... and Galileo.

Down near the harbor, another selfie at the statue of Christopher Columbus...

His statue here is still safe!

We made our way to the cruise bus and got back to the ship.

Our evening's entertainment was by Mike Sterling -- known for playing the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera and Jean Valjean in Les Miserables in London.

After the show, we headed outside to see the sunset -- beautiful!

A last selfie for the evening.

A couple more sunset pictures...

... this is off the back of the ship in The Great Outdoors -- a grill and bar area -- that has become our favorite place for breakfast and snack time.

Our next port will be in France!