Our holiday resort Kibbutz. English model holiday camp.. We say goodbye.












Next stop Tsafed ot Zafat. A center for Jewish Kabbala study
. Now also an artists colony. Very very picturesque.

















Then off to Acre for visit top the underground crusader castle that they are excavating. At this pont I had camera issues and we have only video for the remainder of this day!










One of the muslim towers built over the crusader fort.












So we’re now in Barcelona. We’re tired, we had a terrible time at Ben Gurion Airport (read as airport from hell). We had one security screening after another. That was to be expected it was the Air Baltic folks that deserve the booby prize this time. At the check in we were informed that there is an ABSOLUTE maximum of 20 kilos per person for checked baggage! That is 44 lbs,, not very much. We had to scramble a bit to make that happen. We’re not quite sure how we did it but we ended up under and did not have to jettison anything, but I can sure you it was close. I am 100 % sure that we exceeded their carry-on limits but by some miracle we managed.

We were unable to leave the Riga international airport. It might have been a moot point after our trip so far that night. We did not have the choice in any case. An interesting visit. All announcements were given in Latvian, English and Russian. The English and Russian I am familiar with but the Latvian was very interesting. It had a few similarities with Russian but was the most unusual language I have ever heard spoken. It was musical and sort of, well, burbled. The Latvians are mostly tall and blond. I have never in my life seen so many blue-eyed, blondes in one place. From what we could see from the airport and the plane taking off it is still quite heavily forested here. Taking off we flew over Riga bay and along the Baltic for a while. I think it would be very interesting to take one of those Baltic cruises.

So we finally reached Barcelona!. I have to give credit where credit is due. The Air Baltic flights (after the Ben Gurion incident, (as it will be known ever hence) were not bad. A no-frills airline to be sure as even water needs to be purchased. Taxi ride to the hotel that we reached at around 2 pm. So we started traveling at 930 am, and ended at 2 pm the next day. We were a little tired. We met Rosemarie and Ernie and went to have Paella for dinner! We then went for a walk in Barcelona. What an amazing city! The entire old city and downtown are transformed into pedestrian streets filled with Tapas bars, restaurants, coffee shops, food stands, souvenir shops, ice cream places, small shops and anything else you can imagine! It was filled with thousands of people having a wonderful time! There was a fantastic produce/meat/candy/nut/ice cream/fruit market in a square between some of the buildings!


This morning we got up and had a Barcelona breakfast, coffee and whatever you want. Did a little walking around and sightseeing. At 12, we checked out and went to the ship. In a few minutes it will be time for the lifeboat drill. A day at sea tomorrow so perhaps there may not be an update. One recurring theme, internet access is expensive anywhere when you travel.