Sample Photos of Mediterranean Cruise Vacation

We just returned - and our luggage finally returned also - from our Spring Break vacation with the kids in Barcelona and then on a Mediterranean cruise.  I spent most of the day today doing laundry and transferring photos from my camera, so here is a small sampling of my photos, which feature a lot of statues and other architectural decorations.

I assume this sculptural detail in the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona Spain is Saint George, since he is shown conquering a dragon.

This beautiful stained glass window is from the Sagrat Cor cathedral in the Tibidabo area of Barcelona Spain.  It looks to be the story where the devil is tempting Jesus, and Jesus is saying "Away from me Satan!" (Matthew 4:10 - No, I don't have this memorized, I just know how to look it up.)  This very decorative church also features a beautiful statue of Jesus at the very top, with outstretched arms, something similar to the famous statue in Rio de Janeiro.

This is another view from that same cathedral, looking out from the terraza (terrace), with this statue (I don't recognize, but I assume he is one of the saints) looking onto the amusement park of Tibidabo, and into the city of Barcelona beyond.  The ocean in the distance is faded out, since it was a bit overcast that day, and rained later that evening.

Since this is a gardening blog, I have to include a photo of this plant (some sort of yucca?), in which people have carved their names along with those of their "true love".  There were many such graffiti'd plants along the very long pathway which ascended to Tibidabo.

This little gargoyle (I haven't seen a grasshopper gargoyle before!) was also in Barcelona, in the upper part of the city (where there were a number of beautiful embassy buildings), where we started hiking up toward Tibidabo.

I discovered this very large thorny tree in Palermo Silicily.  It seems to be a Ceiba tree, but I'm not sure if Ceiba Speciosa or Ceiba Pentandra.  It had some dried up fruits hanging in its bare branches also, which is what first caught my attention :

It will sound funny, but I took quite a lot of photos of the statuary in the Staglieno Cemetery in Genoa Italy.  Although I was careful to avoid taking photos of names, and also tried not to look too much like a tourist to the people visiting the cemetery to pay respects to their departed relatives.  Here are a few more photos from Staglieno :

...and...

...and...

And my final photo for tonight, a photo from inside a beautiful Christian church in Tunis, Tunisia.  By God's grace we had convinced our taxi driver to start on the other side of town at Carthage, and not in Medina and the Bardo Museum, which was the site of a terrible terrorist attack that morning, resulting in 23 dead : the 2 perpetrators and 21 victims, most of them from our cruise ship and the other ship in harbour that day.  Very tragic for all involved, and a sad day also for our taxi driver and others whose livelihood depends on tourism, as I believe both cruise lines have already changed their route to bypass Tunis.

No, the final photo will end on a fun note.  I never expected I would actually have an opportunity in my lifetime to ride on a camel, but I was very happy to be welcomed from our ship with that opportunity.  What fun!  Here I am, looking rather awkward, but enjoying my ride along with my 16-year-old (what lucky kids I have!) :