On The Sea Again, I Just Can't Wait To Get On The Sea Again: Alicante and Barcelona

Wednesday marked our return to Alicante, Spain. Last year when we were here, we climbed up to the Santa Barbara castle.

This time, we decided to do a wander through the old town. We started by working our way to the city hall.

The inside was a nice surprise.

Our wander eventually brought us quite accidentally to one of our favorite destinations - the central market.

At the market, we found the highly recommended golden kiwi. So sweet and delicious, much better than the typical kiwi.

After the market, it was time for lunch. We found that Alicante had an almost unlimited selection of restaurants, cafes and bars lining the streets. We ultimately settled on a restaurant called Amber where we had a nice meal of fried eggplant and mussels.

We then continued our wander until we had accumulated about 7 miles.

Alicante is indeed a wonderful city. We highly recommend it.

Thursday was disembarkation day in Barcelona. After some emotional farewells, especially to the Elite Team of GM Marck and Executive Concierge, Marlenia, the morning took a crazy turn. As we were about to walk off the ship, I received a phone call from a Florida number. Figuring it was spam, I rejected it. Then, as we were picking up our luggage in the terminal, I received another call from the same number. I figured that I should answer it. It was a woman from the cruise telling me that her husband had accidentally picked up my suitcase and that they were at the airport! I was, needless to say, irate. She tried to explain that our suitcases looked alike but when I found his, I saw that other than being black, it looked nothing like mine. Eventually, I agreed that we would go to the airport to exchange the suitcases and she would pay our fare both ways. When we got to the airport, I was in no mood to accept her apology. I just took her $100 and our suitcase, and we headed for our hotel.

At the hotel, we dropped our luggage (our room wasn't ready) and we hit the town. Apparently, they haven't gotten the message about Christopher Columbus here yet.

We headed up La Rambla and detoured over to Placa Reial for a coffee stop.

Then we went for the obligatory stop at La Boqueria market.

It didn't take long before the crowds got too much for us and we went back to the other side of La Rambla to just wander in the Gothic Quarter. We did that until it became lunch time. We walked back to Placa Reial to a restaurant we had eaten at almost exactly one year ago - GreenCo, an organic restaurant. Here are a couple of pics from last year.

And here is this year:

The more things change, the more they stay the same. More on that later.

After lunch, we continued our wander and then over to La Barcelonetta.

And then, after accumulating about another 7 miles, it was back to the hotel - the terrific Eurostar Grand Marina with its wonderful view.

After a good rest, it was time for dinner - a long awaited return to our favorite tapas restaurant in Barcelona - Sensi. We have a history there that goes back to 2014. I booked reservations there for both nights of our stay. Well, let's just say that sometimes, the more things change, the more they change. First, the location of the restaurant had changed, just 2 doors down. But, that gave it a whole different feel. And we were told that our old friend and manager/owner, Hans, had moved to Columbia. And our favorite waiter, Pietro, had moved to Canada. And the crowded, larger surroundings totally changed the vibe. The menu had changed, of course, and, while the food was good, it just wasn't the same. And don't ask about the nearly disastrous truffle ravioli.

And really, what kind of clientele eat mussels out of a shell using a fork and knife?

So, gripped by disappointment, I cancelled the reservation for tonight. In this case, change was definitely not for the better. When we left Sensi, we walked 2 doors down to the old location, now called Petit Tapas. Just looking at their menu and stepping inside, brought back that old, warm feeling. So, we booked a table for tonight and hope for the best.