Carnival Liberty Trasatlantic Crossing

Well after finishing the season of Carnival Liberty in europe, the travel to America for the first time began. It was gonna be a 16 days crossing to finally arrive into mainland US Florida. So we departed from Civitevechia, Rome with the passangers of the trasatlantic trip and arrived two days later into Barcelona for the last time among other things to pick up the food supplies and all sort of supplies needed for the long crossing. What nobody expected was that there was a strike by the fishermen in Barcelona because of the high prices of oil, so they blocked the way to the different ports with their small boats and didn't allowed any cruise ship and cargo ship to dock into Barcelona. So we went instead to "La Palma de Mallorca", a beautiful tropical island of Spain and spent the day there. Me and some of my panamenian friends went out and visited this fortress that belongs to perhaps 700 years ago and among the main things to see, there was this cathedral that took 600 years to build. It was huge and georgous. So we walked and watched the stores for couple of hours and then I went inside the cathedral with Nuris. Definitely I walked way back in the time, the moment I stepped inside that building. It was a shame I didn't had with me my tripod for my camara, so almost all the pictures I managed to take are blurred because of the very dimmed light there. Almost everything inside was pure, real aged gold. After some more walking and photography session we went back to the ship and said good-bye to Mallorca. So next day finally we arrived and we were allowed to dock in Barcelona late in that afternoon, so we could load up all our supplies. It was a bummer for the guests who couldn't enjoy of Barcelona, as all the touristics trips were cancelled due to the late time we were allowed out of the ship. Couple of days later we arrived into the excellent place of Malaga, Spain. I went out with my old friend from Peru and some others who dissapeard after we hit downtown. Malaga is a very old place. It has probably more than two thousands years. As a matter of fact, it was conquered first by the Muslims after a long battle and was inhabited by the arabs for a long while. And the evidence that proves it, you can see it on the castle and fortress that is on the top of the highest hill of Malaga. There on the top there is a magestic Castle built by the muslim arabs probably more than 1500 years ago. It is made of stone above stone. Huge is not enough to describe how big it is. There are coconut palm trees inside and outside and sand everywhere. It was just like if you were walking suddenly into the middle east, where sand, palm trees and stone castles are common of their past history. So once again me and my friends walked way back into the time of the human history while walking inside the walls of that Castle. The funny thing about it was that, in order to get there, either you walked or you took a 90 euro cent bus. So my friend who was tired of spending money during the european season, decided for us to walk up the hill (we didnt know it was only 90 cents until we reached the top of the hill). My friend, you have no idea, how high was that hill. It was really high. It was a real steep upway. By the time we reached the top I was steping on my draging tongue. But it worthed. It was a must-to-see place. Right after we spent some time in the museum upthere and some pictures we started our way down which in turn was pleasent and nice. (I wonder why) Anyway, after so much physical stress we went back to the ship, of course right after we made a few buyings and then right to take a shower and bed. It was an exhaustive day. So then one more day at sea and then we reached the excellent beautiful and colorful island of Funchal, Madeira that belongs to Portugal. I was amazed to know that such island is real far away from mainland continent. It is practically in the middle of nowhere. But the people there is amazing. Portuguese people and a bunch of other european citizens living in that so away from mainland island, where probably potable water is more expensive than a beer. I went out with my friend Alexis and we took this touristic sightseeing bus that took us all over the interesting and historic places of the island and then took us to a very high point of the mountain where we were delighted to see such an amazing view of that side of the island plus the 3 cruise ship docked on the port that at such altitude rather looked like toys. Of course I didn's spare the memory of my camera. After the 2 hours tour we went to get some souvenirs and then tried an apple pie from mac donald which in turn was real good. Now you could feel that you were not in europe zone anymore, as the hot temperatures were typical of the caribbean. And then 5 days at sea on our way to the caribbean island of St. Marteen. Each of those 5 sea days some got to sleep an hour extra and some of us got to work an hour extra, as we had to put our watches an hour back to adjust to the international zone time. I didnt got off in St. Marteen, cuz I had already been there in the past plus the heat is real intense there. So instead I decided to take a good rest. And finally after 2 more days we arrived to Miami. Continental american territory. There was a party on the ship with celebrities and the big boys of the company and all that crap and then next day we sailed to our new home port, Ft. Lauderdele, Florida from which we are sailing to San Juan, Puerto Rico and then other caribbean countries. I am really looking forward to go in San Juan, cuz there is a friend of mine from Panama, that is living there now. So I am excited about it.