Last December we took our first ocean cruise. It was with Viking on one of their new ships and was called “Christmas in the Mediterranean”. Viking Star is  small for an ocean ship, holding just 900 passengers.

We departed Phoenix on December 11 and flew to Venice where we cruised to eleven ports over the next fourteen days. The fact that we spent Christmas as sea, somewhere in the Mediterranean, did not go over well with our girls and grandchildren. That may not happen again! We were fortunate though to cruise with our good friends John and Nancy from our community who are excellent photographers.

The cruise ended in Barcelona where Mare and I spent the next five days including New Year’ Eve. We then took a train to Granada for three days with a visit to the Alhambra and walks around the churches and squares.

From there it was another high speed train to Madrid. Our hotel was an easy walk to the Prado and parks and churches and food.

Almost a month away from home is a bit long, but we had a blast visiting places we had never seen before.

My past travelogues have been many words and fewer photos, but his time, I decided to do a slideshow.

Hope you enjoy it!

Bob

(Click on triangle button first to start video and then the four arrows for full screen).

(Clicking on the “Journeys” button on the website menu will show all of our trips).

Europe 2016