Europe 2015- Mallorca

When I think of summertime family vacations, I think swimsuits filled with sand and shady palm trees. My childhood summers were spent on Maui, and the one time that we deviated from Hawaii, was to go to the Caribbean and Florida.

The last few summers, we did visit a seaside resort in Cornwall. Although the beaches in England are lovely, it's not the same as a tropical beach holiday. I missed the sunshine and heat. I wanted to wear my swim suit and get a tan, not goosebumps!

I was really looking forward to our stop at Palma de Mallorca, where we had booked an excursion to La Playa de Sitges for a day at the beach.

Our first views of Palma de Mallorca. Did I mention that one of my favorite parts of cruising is going to bed and waking up in a new city? I loved rushing over to our window and discovering a completely new view.

The Explorer of the Seas docked next to The World. Many years ago, I saw a documentary on The World and I was very thrilled to see it in person. As its name implies, The World, cruises around the earth, but it's unique, because it sells apartments and has permanent residents. Imagine living on a cruise ship? Sounds like the good life to me!

Here is our obligatory cheesy port picture.

There were a ton of buses ready to whisk passengers off on their excursions.

The bus ride was very short, only about twenty minutes. I took a few snaps as we drove out of the city.

The beach was perfect.

Perfect is not an overstatement.

I've been to plenty of nice beaches and La Playa de Sitges is the nicest that I've experienced.

The sand was soft and clean. I even saw several people picking up litter; never have I seen a beach kept so clean. Seriously, it was like Disney was in charge of beach maintenance. Scratch that, Disney should contract La Playa de Sitges maintenance to clean their parks. If the beach wasn't so darn sandy, I could have eaten off of it.

The water was calm, warm, shallow, and clear. It was ideal for Zoe and Felix, who are still honing their swimming skills. We were a short walk from plenty of food choices, clean bathrooms and shops. This is a tourist's paradise.

My favorite part was the lounge chairs under palm frond umbrellas. We rented four of them for six euros each. I was happy to park myself in the shade and read, while Dan played with the kids in the ocean. Vendors frequently made rounds near the umbrellas, so it was easy to purchase drinks and snacks.

If you'd rather play than lounge, the beach had plenty of water toys to rent. Look behind Felix in the picture below and you'll see a whole water playground.

Dan and the kids rented these pedalow boats with water slides.

But mostly, it was just fun to splash around in the water. There's no photographic evidence, but I also played in the ocean with the kids, while Dan snoozed on the lounge chairs. It was a team effort with those kids, who never-ever get bored of swimming.

Dan and I have quite an impressive fridge magnet collection and we needed to add one more. Before boarding the bus back to the ship. we stopped here to find a Mallorca magnet.

I'm mentioning the store, because the owner was the icing on the cake for our wonderful stop in Mallorca. We bought a few, very inexpensive souvenirs and she let us all have a Mallorca pen as a bonus gift. I know it's something small, but it was that little touch that just made our day even better. The kids loved it.

It was very tough to get back on the ship. I could have spent our whole holiday on that beach. Truthfully, it was one of the best days of the entire holiday and it's making us look towards a beach holiday for a future summer vacation.

Europe 2015- Gibraltar Part Two- Colorful Caves and City Sights

Gibraltar was hot. Crack an egg on the asphalt and watch it sizzle, hot. Unfortunately, our tour included a great deal of outdoor walking in the direct sun. Ocean vistas are hard to appreciate, when sweat clouds your vision. Although the walk was long, it was mercifully downhill.

The walk ended at St. Michael's Caves.

The cool of the limestone caves was a huge treat after our walk. It was a little tricky to navigate the slippery cave floor, as I was jittery from the heat. Sensible walking shoes is a must!

Our tour of the cave was brief, about twenty minutes. The main entrance of the cave has been turned into a performance space for concerts and theatrical events. I would love to have seen a show here, it's so unusual. We learned that people have gotten lost in the cave and were never found. How very Goonies!

Our tour came to an end after the St. Michael's Caves. We didn't have to walk back up the hill to meet our bus, it came down to the caves and we made our return to the ship. We snapped this flag picture as we left "the rock".

The bus made a quick stop at Grand Casemates Square, the center of town and a shopping area. The kids had enough of Gibraltar, so Dan took them back to the ship, while I hopped off to explore the town.

I was giddy. The only other time that I've explored a foreign city alone, was two years ago, in London. Being alone, in a foreign city without my phone or passport, was probably stupid, but it was also exciting. The ship was leaving in less than an hour and it was a mile walk back, so I raced around, soaking in the atmosphere and snapping pictures.

It was the late afternoon and Grand Casemates Square was winding down for the day. The network of alleys behind the square are filled with clothing, jewelry and perfume shops, many with staff beckoning passerbys to come inside. There are dozens of cafes and bars. I can imagine taking my notebook, writing and drinking a latte at an outdoor cafe, as I observed life in the square. Grand Casemates Square is filled with so much action, energy and life.

I power-walked back to the ship, wishing that I had more time to explore Gibraltar.

And lastly, I think Dwayne Johnson needs to come here for a photo-op.

Europe 2015- Gibraltar Part One: Don't Feed the Monkeys!

Our first port stop was in the British territory of Gibraltar. Gibraltar is located right at the entrance of the Mediterranean, close to Spain and Morocco.

Explorer of the Seas had many family activities on the ship, but it lacked family friendly excursions. We booked a tour of Gibraltar that was specifically noted as family friendly and good for young children, but it proved to be a bit of a miss. I guess like anything, it depends on the individual family.

Our first look at Gibraltar as we pulled into port.

Port days are my favorite part of cruises. I love waking up in new cities and having an excursion booked. Here I am, bright and early, ready to go. Let's do this.

All of the excursions started with a gathering in the Palace Theatre. We were checked-in and given a colored sticker to note our excursion group and then we were led off of the ship and on to a bus. Royal Caribbean was very organized with every excursion. The process was super easy.

Our first stop was Bomb House Lane.

Bomb House Lane houses the Gibraltar Museum, a small space dedicated to the history of the country.

I love museums, but this part of our excursion frustrated me. The Gibraltar Museum is small, but had I visited alone, I could have easily spend a couple of hours here. Our tour guide breezed us through the exhibits in about 20-30 minutes. We were given a few fast facts, which I've since forgotten, but we were not given a chance to really explore the exhibits. The result: I looked at a bunch of artifacts, but didn't get the significance. Here are some pictures that we took, that are now virtually meaningless. I'm posting them to give readers an idea of what to expect, if they planning a visit.

A memorable part of the museum was the Moorish baths, an on-going archaeological dig site, that is right in the heart of the museum. I didn't expect to see something like this at the Gibraltar Museum.

Having visited Gibraltar before, Dan gave us plenty of warning about the Barbary Macaques that roam freely at our next stop, the rock. On his last visit, they were extremely aggressive. I'm fairly fearless when it comes to animal encounters, but I heeded the warning. Here is a Barbary Macaque skull that was at the museum. Look at those teeth!

To get to the "Top of the Rock" where the macaques live, we took an arial tram ride.

The views from the top were absolutely stunning. The coolest thing, is that from one spot, we could see two continents ( Europe and Africa) and three countries ( Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco). This was my first glimpse of Africa, very exciting. We could also see our cruise ship in the harbor.

So, those Barbary Macaques ( also know as Barbary Apes)...there was no shortage of warning signage regarding the primates. The warnings were more aggressive than the actual monkeys!

One thing is made very clear, the inmates are running the asylum. This is Barbary Ape territory, so keep those ice cream cones guarded!

Our first macaque sighting was two large adults that scampered on a roof, just feet above Dan, who was taking a scenery picture. This shot was taken seconds after the event, as we were yelling at Dan to "watch out".

Pretty soon, the macaques out-numbered us. Quite honestly, they were not aggressive at all. Dan noticed a big change from his last visit. They seem to be well-fed and cared for by the government of Gibraltar, and they were very calm as they moved among the tourists. Like with any animal, it's smart to maintain a distance and to be respectful. The ones with babies were being protective, but they never lashed out at tourists. I never felt in danger and I loved walking amongst the macaques.

The macaques reminded me of my cat, Nicolette. Every time we have a party, she just saunters around the house, like she doesn't even notice that a bunch of people are standing in her way. The macaques just didn't give a fig either!

Occasionally, a macaque likes to hitch a ride.

The people shouldn't have been so surprised to see a macaque on the road.

Or crossing butterflies.

If you're nervous about the macaques, you might want to skip the ruins of a battlement. The ruins offer many areas for the macaques to hide and although nothing happened to us, this could be a bad spot if a monkey got cornered or felt threatened.

A fun fact about the macaques; they are the only wild group of monkeys on the continent of Europe. They are thought to have come over from Africa, but no one is certain how they ended up in Gibraltar. There is a superstition that as long as the macaques remain in Gibraltar, Gibraltar with remain under British rule. During World War Two, Winston Churchill even had macaques brought over from Africa, to replenish the dwindling population on Gibraltar. Now, they are over-run with macaques and having to relocate them to zoos.