Barcelona is the perfect sized city on the Mediterranean with gorgeous weather (this was April). Whether you have an extended layover, 24 hours or a few days, there’s something here for you as the central part of the city is easily accessible from the El Prat airport. On our two week European adventure with our 6 month old, we had about one full day before our Pullmantur week long cruise and two full days on the back end (we also visited Girona, about 100 km away).
View from the MNAC | TeamTravelsBaby
MNAC View | TeamTravelsBaby
Unforgettable View:
From the front steps of the MNAC (Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya)
We love seeing any city by foot or by bike. With a baby, we found walking to be the most convenient mode and used the Tula carrier we were gifted for Addy. It was ideal for carrying her since she weighed somewhere between 16-17 pounds on our trip and an American sized stroller is not as convenient (but I would argue still doable if you felt the need to have one). If you have limited time, I would recommend arriving to Placa d’Espanya by the Arenas de Barcelona (huge mall). From here head toward the beautiful archway and hill. Conveniently, there are escalators that will take you all the way up to the MNAC and even beyond it. First you’ll see the Montjuic magic fountain. Check to see which days/times it is turned on as it looks like it is spectacular! At the top of MNAC, take it the beautiful view of Barcelona. If you continue behind the MNAC, you’ll arrive at the 1992 Summer Olympic Annex. We didn’t find any Olympic rings to take a picture of like we saw in Innsbruck, Austria’s Olympic site, but it was still cool. If you continue on a longer walk, you can continue uphill through gardens to see the Montjuic Castle. There is a cable car (I read it’s a bit overrated/expensive), but I feel I can always appreciate a view more when I’ve worked hard to get there. While we didn’t visit inside the Castle (5 euros to see inside), we found the views from the outside were lovely and you can even look over the edge and see the cruise ships.
View from the Top of Montjuic
Addy in Barcelona
Unlimited People
Watching: The famous street, La Rambla
La Rambla is a fun street to walk with a huge pedestrian walkway down the middle, lined with kiosks of sweet treats, souvenirs and restaurants. The section closest to the Mediterranean starts at the Columbus Monument and it continues to the Placa de Catalunya. The famous market, Mercado de la Boqueria shouldn’t be missed (it’s closed on Sundays)! If you’re willing to wander off the main block, head to the Gothic Quarter and find the Cathedral of Barcelona. It’s absolutely stunning and free to enter. If you want to climb it, head there between 10 am-12 pm daily with your euro coins! If you’re down by the water, cross the bridge and check out Maremagnum, which is a huge shopping mall (and a good place to find a bathroom).
La Boqueria
Barcelona at Night
Placa de Catalunya
Cathedral of Barcelona
Cathedral of Barcelona
Barcelona by the Med
Unlimited Sand: Platja
de la Barceloneta is a huge sand beach and you can also stroll the paved
promenade, check out the street sellers, view sand castles and take in the city.
On the way to the beach, you can pass by the old port (Port Vell) where lots of products for sale by street sellers. After a walk along the beach or promenade, we found the Parc de la Ciutadella had pretty buildings and a small lake with swans, herons and other types of birds. Like Paris, Barcelona boasts its own “Arc d’Triomf” (not quite the same, but still a great photo op) that is at the end of a nice broad pedestrian street that’s easily accessible after leaving the park.
Port Vell
The Beach
Addy in Barcelona
Blue Heron
Columbus Monument
Arc d’Triomf
Unlimited Photos: La Sagrada Familia is the famous church that has been a WIP for nearly 140 years.
A trip to Barcelona would not be complete without seeing it. You can walk around the entire church and there’s a small pond on the backside that gives you some decent reflection photos. The church is also lit up at night (check for the exact times – we saw it at 8:30 pm).
Pro Tip: If you know your dates, then book your tickets in advance if you want to see inside (try all of the ticket types to find available times).
La Sagrada Familia
La Sagrada Familia
La Sagrada Familia Up Close
Another Pro Tip: If
you’re visiting Barcelona on a Sunday, check to see if the Picasso Museum is
still free in the afternoon/evening.
Transportation: The T-10 card (10.2 euros) was perfect for our trip which we could share for the metro and Rodiales train (within Barcelona). Even though we had about 3 days in Barcelona, we typically walked everywhere and used exactly 5 trips each for a total of 10 on the card. If you’re coming from the airport, it costs one ride for the Rodiales (R2Nord) and one ride for the metro (to wherever you’re going). We found the public transportation to be very convenient. If you’re more limited on time, you may want to consider the AeroBus which is a coach style bus that drops off in Placa de Catalunya. There are other items like the Hola BCN travel card (primarily a transportation card by number of days) and Barcelona card that may be worth a look, depending on your particular trip and needs.
Graffiti
Street Art
Where We Stayed: We really liked the two hostels we stayed in – Pension Peiro (super close to the metro stop Paral-lel and convenient for embarking on a cruise or exploring Montjuic) and Primavera Hostel (super close to the metro stop Verdaguer and convenient for walking to La Sagrada Familia). In April 2019, we found both locations for under $100/night and stayed in a private room (shared bathroom) with our 6 month old. Both hostels let us drop our luggage/stroller off early without any issues. Primavera Hostel had a shared kitchen that was really nice with coffee and our room had a balcony! Use my booking.com referral link and we both get $20!
Cruisin’ from Barcelona: This is an awesome port city to start or end a Mediterranean cruise and we would recommend it! We found it was walkable from Pension Peiro to our ship (you can also pay for a bus that leaves from close to the Columbus Monument which I think was 5 euros round-trip). If you like cruising, check out our post about our Canary Islands cruise in February 2019!
The south of France (aka the French Riviera) and Monte Carlo, Monaco are even more beautiful than the pictures portray. Having the chance to see the smallest country, the Vatican and the second smallest country, Monaco, on the same vacation was incredible. The people in Monte Carlo were super friendly and the views from the Prince’s Palace of the coast and all of the incredible yachts were surreal. The train system between the port city of Villefranche-sur-Mer, Monte Carlo and Nice was extremely easy to navigate, inexpensive and the train stations were walkable into the heart of each city. Our second port city, Sète, was another easy “do-it-yourself” stop. Did I mention we did all of this with our 6 month old baby?! These stops were part of our week long Mediterranean cruise on Pullmantur. Check out this trip report as well as our time in Barcelona, Italy and London!
Overview
Villefranche-sur-Mer (Saturday, April 13, 2019)
– Monte Carlo (Monaco) and Nice
Sète (Sunday, April 14, 2019) – Some use this as
the gateway to Carcassonne (the walled castle), but we used the day to explore
this seaside fishing town.
Our boat arrived to Villefranche-sur-Mer and we learned that
we needed to tender into port. This means you go from the cruise ship onto a
smaller boat that serves like a ferry to get you to the walkable town. Luckily,
it also meant we had a gorgeous view of the coast from our cruise ship and also
one from the smaller vessel. The only downside was it meant we had to queue
when the cruise ship gave the “all clear” before we could start our day of
exploring. But as they say in France, c’est la vie!
Monaco – So many yachts! | TeamTravelsBaby
Monte Carlo, Monaco
Getting to Monte Carlo from the port city of Villefranche
was super easy because it is extremely well marked on the way to the little
train terminal. Because a cruise ship was in port, there were many people ready
to help us purchase our tickets who spoke a variety of languages. It was less
than $4 to get our ticket to Monaco and less than a 20 minute ride (which ran
about every half hour) with only three stops (Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Eze, Cap-d’Ail)
before we would exit at Monte Carlo. I used this site to look up times before
our trip: https://www.thetrainline.com/ . It’s hard to believe we planned
trips before the internet!
Monte Carlo is also well signed and super clean. We followed
the signs to the famous Casino
first, knowing that many pre-booked excursions head here. On the walk, there
are tons of high end jewelry stores (Carré
d’Or). We enjoyed the picture opportunities in Casino Square then went in to the Casino lobby. It’s free to enter the
lobby and they had a separate line for men and women. There are some amazing
red dice in the lobby which make for a great photo op. After a few pictures
(you have to pay to enter more than the lobby), we headed to the back side of
the casino where we enjoyed a walk overlooking the water on our way to the Formula 1 race track that hosts the MonacoGrand Prix every May.
The weather was warm with a Mediterranean breeze. On our
self-made walking tour, we got directions from the race track to Place d’Armes. This lovely square had
an indoor and outdoor food market called Marché
de La Condamine. While
we didn’t have a chance to try it, I read somewhere that “Barbagiuan”, which is
a deep fried pastry stuffed with Swiss chard and ricotta is popular in Monaco. We
crossed the street and followed the signs to Port de Fontvielle. We cut through the
humungous Fontvielle Shopping Center
on the way there. We lollygagged along the boardwalk where we could see a
ridiculous number of yachts and dream about our retirement to a place like
this! In order to get what we believed would be the best view of the city, we
followed the signs that took us up to the Prince’s
Palace (be prepared for a steep, but not too lengthy walk). We made it just
in time to see the changing of the
guards (occurred at 11:55 am), which drew quite the crowd. We wandered the
narrow streets lined with food and gift shops and mostly, stopped to enjoy the
unparalleled view of the coast, yachts and heavenly place we were in!
View from the top of the hill by the Prince’s Palace | TeamTravelsBaby
We made our way back to the train station, bought our
tickets from a machine and took the train about 25 minutes to Nice, France (we
passed by Villefranche-sur Mer, where we started).
Nice, France
The Nice train station was pretty large and the tourist site
has good maps. We
exited the train station, hung a left, passed the Basilique Notre-Dame de l’Assomption and then turned right onto the
Avenue Jean Médecin. This is the
main street and you’ll notice the black and white tiled walkways. This street
is lined with shopping options and is a straight shot into old town (Vielle Ville) Nice.
Really cool water display with a sick backdrop in Nice | TeamTravelsBaby
We didn’t have much of a plan for this city other than to
wander and see what we could. Along the main street, we watched the water
display before we found Cours Saleya,
a lovely market in old town where I bought a small bag of lavender for ½ a
euro. We walked to the beach, which was rocky, instead of sandy. There were
many people sunbathing and relaxing. While we didn’t walk the entire 7 km (less
than 4.5 miles), we really loved the Promenade
des Anglais. After seeing tons of gelato places, I finally found one with
lavender (yum!) and indulged.
On our walk, we found an adorable independent bookstore
called Librairie Masséna and I was able to find a book for
Addy with vibrant pictures. It made for a great souvenir and it will be a good
test of my French as I try to read it to Addy. From here we grabbed a
cappuccino and sat at an outdoor café before making our return journey to
Villefranche and our cruise ship. Fortunately the train ride was less than 10
minutes and under $3.
If you stay in Villefranche or have additional time, here
are a few places I had on my list that you may want to check out: Saint Elme
Citadel, St Michel Church, St Pierre Chapel, Rothschild Estate and Gardens and
Rue Obscure (Dark Street).
Sète, France
This city is a working fishing port city known for its
series of canals (like a mini Venice) where you can find water jousting in the
summer. We found the local tourist site to be extremely helpful for getting an
overview of the city and what there was to see: https://en.tourisme-sete.com/sete-cruise-passengers-information.html. After
taking the free bus to the port entrance, we walked to the central market
called Les Halles on Boulevard
Gambetta (opens at 6 am). Inside a really nice vendor gave me a free “nazette”,
which is like a little oblong table biscuit. I really wanted to try a “zezette”
or a “nazette” at Crèmerie Lou Pastrou, a shop next to Les Halles, but they had
extremely limited hours on Sunday (9 am – 12:15 pm).
We made our ascent up Mont
St. Clair (about 600 feet tall and the highest point in Sète). On our way,
we found lots of amazing street art. The view from the top was incredible and
it was great to do this first thing before it got too warm out. There is a huge
cross at the top and also a fisherman’s church called Notre Dame de la Salette. This church is unlike any we had ever
seen before – it’s small, but has unique paintings inside on every wall.
There’s also a building next door where nuns live and you’re allowed to climb
to the top for an even better view!
View from the highest point of Mont Saint Clair | TeamTravelsBaby
From here, we made our way down to Pierres Blanches National Pine Forest. It’s lovely to have so much
green space in the middle of a city. We wandered a few paths and enjoyed views
of the Mediterranean and Thau lagoon (Étang
de Thau) before we started heading back to the rest of the city. We took a
nice long walk along the water that eventually got us to the Théâtre de la Mer (we could only see
the outside) and the Cimitière Marin,
which is a beautiful cemetery with decorations on the headstones and the
Mediterranean as the backdrop.
As we continued our walk we could see the Lighthouse of Mole Saint Louis at the
end of a narrow peninsula (we didn’t go up it, but it’s around 3 euros to climb
it). Nearby, we climbed some steps to Quartier
Haut which also boasted some beautiful street art and views of the
lighthouse (some say this area reminds them of a Little Naples). We made it
back to Les Halles for a different
experience since it was bustling with people compared to the early morning. We
wandered through other streets, found a pop up market and wandered the canals
searching for more street art along the way. This city was the perfect end to
our cruise experience and I would highly recommend a half day or day in this
city.
While we did not go here, I read good things about theInternational
Museum of Modest Art (MIAM) in Sète. Many people on our cruise went to Carcassonne (UNESCO World Heritage
site), which is about 80 minutes away and is a walled castle. We opted not to
go here because there seemed to be enough to do in Sète and because it was
going to be challenging to “do-it-ourselves” in the amount of time we had at
port.
Thank you!
Thank you for checking out the France and Monaco portion of our Mediterranean cruise and European adventure! Do you get the article title now? We hope you’ll take a few minutes to browse our other trips or read about our time in London, Barcelona and nearby Girona (great stop for Game of Thrones fans) and our ports in Italy. Be sure to follow us on Instagram! Until our next adventure!
I’m sure you can see why we fell in love with Monaco (cover image)! | TeamTravelsBaby
Italy is a European country that everyone should strive to see in their lifetime. A cruise is the perfect way to get a taste of beautiful Italian cities like Naples, Rome, Pisa and Florence as well as the world’s smallest country, the Vatican. On our Mediterranean cruise we tried to “do-it-ourselves” as much as possible so we didn’t get crushed by cruise line excursion prices. Check out our trip report!
Naples (Wednesday, April 10, 2019) – Pompeii,
Herculaneum, Mount Vesuvius.
Civitavecchia (Thursday, April 11, 2019) – The
gateway to the Vatican and Rome.
Livorno (Friday, April 12, 2019) – The gateway
to Pisa and Florence.
Naples
Naples Port of Call | TeamTravelsBaby
Naples was a great port city because you literally disembark and walk straight into town. This is the one port where we booked an excursion (outside of the cruise line) because after extensive research on do-it-ourselves transportation and talking with a good friend who had recently been, this ultimately was going to make the most sense. We opted to book an excursion through Shore Excursions Group that covered transportation from the ship to Herculaneum (impacted by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius) then to the famous Pompeii, onwards to Mount Vesuvius and ultimately back to the ship. It was decently priced and Addy, our infant (6 months) was free. As this was a transportation only service, we still had to buy tickets at each site. A car seat was unnecessary and a stroller was highly discouraged due to the uneven terrain at each location. We only brought our Tula carrier and we still think it was the best decision. I would also highly recommend this excursion because it ran exactly as promised, the guide in the car (separate from the driver) spoke very clear English and shared history and recommendations with us during our rides to each destination. Herculaneum is very doable in the 60-90 minutes given to view it as it’s much more compact than Pompeii.
Herculaneum
Overview:
11 euros each; must check your bags for free and this is a separate line from
the tickets if you didn’t purchase ahead of time so divide and conquer if you
can; bring
some information to read (they ran out of English guides when we were
there)
View once you enter Herculaneum | TeamTravelsBaby
Pompeii
Overview:
15 euros each; this place is HUGE so make sure you know where you are dropped
off and are supposed to meet back up; tickets can be purchased ahead of time or
at the gate; pick the top items you want to see (if you look at
the map we focused on section I-II and VII-IX)
Beautiful view from inside Pompeii | TeamTravelsBaby
Mount Vesuvius
Overview:
Bring cash for your tickets which are 6.5 euros each; a jacket and good
walking shoes are a must for hiking to the top and cross your fingers it’s not
too foggy!
Mount Vesuvius under the mist | TeamTravelsBaby
Civitavecchia (gateway to Rome and the Vatican)
From our ship we took a short bus ride to the port entrance
(there wasn’t a walking option). Once we left the entrance, this city was very
well signed and it was about a 15 minute (almost perfectly straight shot) walk
to the train station. Take it from us – you can absolutely get to Rome and back
to the ship without paying for an overpriced cruise tour. While there is a new
speed train, I would recommend the “slow” commuter train if you plan to go
to the Vatican first. We looked up the
schedule ahead of time so we knew we wanted to catch the 8:39 am, 8:55 am
or 9:16 am train and anticipated a 40 minute ride to S. Pietro station. We were
able to purchase the ticket from a machine with a credit card, but be weary as
we had a staff person try to sell us the new train ticket, which for us didn’t
make sense because we would have waited around the station for quite some time
for the 9:35 am train plus it’s slightly more expensive.
Saint Peter’s Basilica | TeamTravelsBaby
We took a short walk from S. Pietro station and I read
online that if you get in the line for Saint
Peter’s Basilica by 10 am, it’s about a 45 minute wait. This was accurate
almost to the minute for us, even with the line looking very intimidating. We
didn’t have much time to look around once we got inside, but we are happy we
got the few minutes we did. On the way in we saw the Statue of David and were amazed by the views inside. If you have
more time, you may want to pay to see the dome or check out the Grottoes (it’s
free, but make sure to do it last as you’ll end up outside afterwards). We had
to hustle to the Vatican Museums for
our 11:30 am confirmed ticket (BUY THEM AHEAD OF TIME, print and have your
passport just in case). It was a good 20 minute walk from the exit of the
Basilica to the Vatican Museums. It’s absolutely beautiful, but they herd
everyone through, so do your reading ahead of time. The Sistine Chapel is
lovely but unfortunately, you can’t take pics or videos. Adjust your
expectations and expect to be “rushed” through the Vatican. Personally, my
favorites were the room with paintings on the ceilings and floor to ceiling
tapestries (Tapestries Hall) and Raphael’s Room.
The view by Castel Sant’Angelo of Saint Peter’s Basilica | TeamTravelsBaby
We found we could always find someone to help us with
directions. Even though it wasn’t recommended by most, we walked from the
Vatican to Castel Sant’Angelo and
then across the Tiber River (which also has a beautiful view of the Vatican) in
order to see the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Piazza Venecia and ultimately the Colosseum. We were amazed by all of
them and I was so happy the Trevi Fountain wasn’t under construction (like it
was in May 2010). This was a TON of walking while carrying a baby (more than 3
miles), but a great way to see the city (versus finding and taking public
transportation or paying for a cab). Luckily there was a metro stop right by
the Colosseum and a guard there was able to give us directions on where to
transfer so we could get on the commuter train back to Civitavecchia.
Livorno (gateway to Pisa and Florence)
View at sunset by our ship in Livorno | TeamTravelsBaby
Livorno…this is how cruise companies get you. First, we had
to pay (well, we didn’t…but that’s another story) 5 euros cash or so for a
roundtrip bus ticket to get from the cruise ship to a square in town (I believe
the Piazza del Municipio). This annoyed me only because there wasn’t an option
to walk. From the square, we opted for the approximately 1.5 mile walk to the
train station (Livorno Centrale), where we crossed the famous Piazza della Republica to board a train
for Pisa. (There is a bus option to Pisa too.) Even though it’s almost a
straight shot, I definitely recommend bringing a map, asking locals (use the
word “stazione”) or using the GPS on your phone if it works. Once we were at
the station, it was super easy. Trains leave every 15 minutes or so, it’s a 15
minute ride and only $3 a person! Let me tell you, this is SIGNIFICANTLY
cheaper than what you will pay with a cruise line AND the funny thing was when
we arrived to the Leaning Tower of Pisa,
it was about the same time the people from the cruise line tour were arriving
by coach bus. After we arrived in Pisa (at Pisa Centrale, train station), it
was about a 15-20 minute walk to the actual Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Square of Miracles. En route to the
Leaning Tower, the bridge we took over the Arno River has a pretty view and
lots of vendors were selling beautiful flowers. We also passed through two
markets which were neat to browse. In my research, one thing I learned is
infants (and actually anyone under 8) CANNOT go up the Leaning Tower. This
helped us to stay focused on the view from the outside. We enjoyed taking lots
of fun pictures, as one does when they’re here. (Having climbed up it in May
2010, if you have to miss out on going inside in order to spend more time in
Florence, I think it’s the right call. Of course if you’re taking a land tour
of Italy and not cruising Italy, definitely go up it!)
The Leaning Tower of Pisa and Square of Miracles | TeamTravelsBaby
We made the walk back to Pisa Centrale and took a train to Florence (stop: Santa Maria Novella) which is about an hour ride and about $11 per person. The ride was comfortable and once we arrived in Florence, we got a map at the Tourist Information center (across the street from the train station by a church) and started making our way toward the Arno River to see the Ponte Vecchio (bridge). It’s the bridge which houses tons of jewelry stores. From there it’s a nice walk down by the Uffizi Gallery to see the statues of famous men like Da Vinci, Giotti and Botticelli. At the end, it opens up and you can see the Piazza della Signoria, the Statue of David and Neptune’s Fountain. We walked to the famous Florence Cathedral (Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore) and waited in the very long line. We ultimately got in (it’s free) and saw Brunelleschi’s Duomo. At first it’s not obvious why everyone waits so long to get inside, but once you see the painting inside the dome, you will be amazed. It’s beautiful like the Sistine Chapel. We enjoyed walking around the leather market and inside Mercato Centrale (lots of food choices). Florence is a beautiful city with friendly people (in May 2010 I enjoyed a few days here with friends and highly recommend getting tickets to the Florence Cathedral to go to Giotto’s Bell Tower). We made the walk back to the train station, bought our tickets (about $13 per person) and got on our train back. Make sure to VALIDATE your ticket (any machine will do). We found that our train back to the port city was a long walk from the entrance and didn’t get a chance to. Luckily, a nice Italian women helped us and wrote our train number and time on the ticket for us and we didn’t get in trouble.
Ponte Vecchio Bridge in Florence | TeamTravelsBaby
Cruisin’ Italy
We went on a Pullmantur cruise out of Barcelona (check out my article about this awesome Mediterranean city) because the prices are extremely reasonable and kids are free (as in you don’t even pay port taxes or fees). And while we don’t drink, this is also an all-inclusive cruise line (think free house wines with lunch and dinner) AND they have an espresso bar which is also FREE! If you want to keep your trip affordable, take the time to plan it out and “do-it-yourself”, but also recognize that you can’t do it all. A cruise merely gives you a taste of each city so you know where to return to. Our biggest tip is to make sure to have the train schedules ready, your maps ready and not to be afraid to ask for directions! Happy travels and be sure to check us out on Instagram@teamtravelsbaby!
Three days in London is the perfect amount of time to get a taste of this huge city that will leave you wanting more! We were lucky to experience the city with minimal rain and boy oh boy did we pack it in! Some highlights included the Tower of London, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the House of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and Camden Market. London has amazing public transportation and is also extremely walkable. Check out our trip report, pictures and tips!
Thursday, April 4 morning through Sunday, April
6 morning
Arrived via Heathrow (LHR) airport and departed
via Stansted (STN) airport
Transportation:
Oyster card, pay as you go for the Underground (subway) and buses
Accommodations:Excelsior Hotel, easy walk
from Kings Cross Station; feel free to use my Booking.com referral link for
any hotel accommodation and we each get money at no additional cost to you
Thursday (Day 1)
We picked a hotel near Kings Cross station because it’s a
hub with lots of different Underground (aka “The Tube”, aka metro/subway/train)
lines running through it. It was easy to get on the Piccadilly Line from Heathrow airport
and take the Tube for about a 50 or so minute ride without any need to
transfer. The Excelsior Hotel was conveniently located about 2 blocks away once
we found the correct exit and allowed us to store our luggage early.
Tower of London | TeamTravelsBaby
We were able to start exploring before 1 pm and headed to the Tower of London. We figured a weekday would probably be a little less crowded then the weekend and we were right. We walked up and bought our ticket without issue (you can also get a slight savings by buying it ahead of time). We took a free tour with one of the Beefeaters, saw lots of the notorious crows and the famous crown jewels. We brought our stroller here (plus our rain cover that we ended up needing), which worked out fine. We enjoyed walking along the top of the castle wall through each of the towers and just left our stroller until we returned for it. If you do this, make sure to go in the room that tells about the Royal Beasts (animals). We made one of the three offerings of the White Tower tour (when we went it was offered at 10:45 am, 12:45 pm and 2:15 pm) and ended up getting a PRIVATE tour because no one else came. We really enjoyed it. From inside and outside of the castle you can see Tower Bridge, which is beautiful and often confused as being London Bridge. It’s definitely worthy of a few pics! If you look up from inside the Tower of London you can also see the Shard (cool looking triangle glass building) which was completed around 2012.
View from London Bridge facing Tower Bridge | TeamTravelsBaby
From here we walked the River Thames and crossed the London
Bridge. On the way we got to see the Monument to the Great Fire of London (you can pay to go up it). The view of Tower
Bridge from the London Bridge is spectacular on a clear or semi-clear day. We
stumbled upon a gorgeous church called Southwark Cathedral(the
city’s oldest gothic church) and the Borough Marketas they were closing
once we crossed the London Bridge to the south bank. This area has some amazing
street art that’s fun to find or stumble across in our case. We continued along
the river past Shakespeare’s Globe
Theatre to the Millennium Bridge
where you get a gorgeous view of St.
Paul’s Cathedral. Before crossing the Millennium Bridge, you may want to
pop into the Tate Modern, art
museum. While we didn’t have time to see any art, it’s free, so it makes a
great stop for a bathroom and changing station if needed. Actually, many of
London’s amazing art museums are free, just like the Smithsonians in
Washington, D.C. If you do have time or can time it right to be here on a Friday
or Saturday night when it’s open late (until 10 pm), you can look for work by
famous artists such as Cézanne, Dali, Matisse, Picasso and Warhol. While you’re
walking around London, don’t forget to keep your eye out for the iconic red
telephone booths which make for another great photo op! If you decide to keep
walking around, like we did, you can see additional places like the Royal Court of Justice, London School of Economics and Covent Garden to name a few. We ended
up walking to Convent Garden because there was a Tube station here with a
direct ride (8 minutes) on the Piccadilly Line back to Kings Cross.
Friday (Day 2)
We started our morning early with a Tube ride. When we got
off the train, we wandered through the official Temple Bar Gate which signifies you are entering the City of
London. Make sure to check out the cool dragon! Since we brought our stroller
again, we were able to enter St. Paul’s
Cathedral through the accessible entrance and then were taken to the ticket
counter to purchase our ticket. It’s absolutely gorgeous inside the Cathedral
and the tour with a guide is included in the price. After our tour, we left our
stroller and moved Addy to our on-person carrier to climb the many stairs (very
narrow in some places) up to the dome. This should NOT be missed! The views
from the top are spectacular! You can also enjoy some time wandering the crypt.
From here we made our walk to the Royal
Court of Justice. It’s free to enter after you pass security and some
people say it has a Hogwartesque feel to it. Unfortunately, they don’t want you
to take pictures inside (good luck trying to do so incognito). Covent Garden
was not too far around the corner and is super fun to walk around. There are
tons of shops, restaurants and good people watching! If you have time to spare in
this area, it’s a short walk to Neal’s
Yard which is a super colorful hidden alley.
View from the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral | TeamTravelsBaby
Hopping on the Tube is super easy with the Oyster card. We rode the Piccadilly line from Covent Garden to Green Station. We enjoyed wandering Green Park, St. James Park (to see the famous resident pelicans; they are fed daily at 2:30 pm, but we saw them even outside of feeding time) and seeing Buckingham Palace (if you want to see the changing of the guard this happens around 10:45 am. Because we LOVE to walk and see it all, we continued to Hyde Park. This park has lovely flowers, tons of birds, and points of interest to see like Kensington Palace and Gardens. We exited on the south side of the park by the Albert Memorial and Royal Albert Hall. From here, we ventured to a street with many museums and popped in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Besides being a free museum, it also has late hours on Friday nights (open until 10 pm), which made it a great place to rest and again find a free bathroom. If you are here earlier in the day, the Natural History Museum is on this block and is free too.
The resident pelicans of St. James Park | TeamTravelsBaby
As if our feet weren’t exhausted, we trekked on to Harrods, the
must see humungous department store. We walked the main floor and then took the
elevator to the kids section. The organization of each cubby-like room is by
theme (stuffed animals, Legos, Barbie dolls, etc.) and fun to see…but forget
about being able to buy anything. Take a picture, it’ll last longer. The baby
furniture section and the creepy kids’ mannequins were also unique to see. Then
right outside of Harrods we hopped on a bus heading in the direction of Piccadilly
Circus and got off there (very short, less than 10 minute ride). It’s a fun
area to see at night and we loved posing for pics in the Lego Shop at Leicester Square. They had a life-sized Tube train
with characters to sit with and a map made entirely from Legos. Let’s just say
we CRASHED after this day of exploring London!
Addy needs a giraffe | TeamTravelsBaby
Creepy mannequins | TeamTravelsBaby
Saturday (Day 3)
We woke up early and rode to the Embankment station which put us right along the River Thames. It was a beautiful walk with views of the London Eye. If Big Ben weren’t under construction until 2021, we would have had a nice view of the clock as well. Since we did not buy our tickets ahead of time for the House of Parliament (aka the Palace of Westminster), we had to go to the ticket booth located in front of Portcullis House on Victoria Embankment, which was actually on the way from the train station. If we had gone during peak tourist season, it would have been better to buy these ahead of time, but luckily we were able to secure tickets for later in the day.
In the meantime, we hustled over to Westminster Abbey (across the street) and got in line to purchase our tickets. Luckily, we were able to secure them here and go right in (it opened at 1:30 pm on Saturday). We got the self-guided tour headset and thoroughly enjoyed this beautiful church (if we were here during peak season, we would have purchased it ahead of time). So many famous people are buried here like Isaac Newton and Charles Dickens! Since my visit as part of my study abroad experience in May 2010, Stephen Hawkins’ ashes were buried in Westminster among other brilliant science-y people (think Newton and Darwin). When you get near the Poets’ Corner, you have the option to pay and climb up Westminster Abbey.
Quick snap inside of Westminster Abbey | TeamTravelsBaby
From Westminster, we exited into Parliament Square (where there are tons of famous statues to see like Mandela and Churchill) and it was booming with people! It was like a bunch of tour buses opened their doors and the people flowed out to the streets! We crossed the street and entered the House of Parliament for our ticketed time. Touring this was an absolute highlight and getting a self-guided tour headset is included in the ticket price here too. We were only allowed to take pictures in the first two rooms, but the other rooms are gorgeous and I definitely wish I could have snapped away!
After we exited, we walked along Horse Guard Road between St. James Park (another chance to see
the famous pelicans) and a lot of other beautiful architecture on our way to
Trafalgar Square. We made it to the National Gallery, which
hosts loads of famous work from artists we’ve all heard of like Botticelli,
Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Renoir and Van Gogh. The beauty is, this place is
FREE, so you don’t have to feel bad only seeing a few particular paintings and
on Friday nights it’s open late (9 pm).
Guard
Monet
Van Gogh
To catch a breather, we hopped on the Tube and road past our
hotel stop at Kings Cross up to see CamdenMarket. This area has tons of
shopping, incredible street art and murals and is a must see area of town, very
different from the sites we had seen up to this point on our trip. After a nice
coffee break, we walked to Regent’s Park.
We enjoyed the park stroll on our long walk back to Kings Cross. Other things
in this area include: Queen Mary’s rose
garden, the ZSL London Zoo(the world’s
oldest scientific zoo) and Hampstead Heath (supposed to have great views) if
you have the time.
Camden Market Area | TeamTravelsBaby
Sunday
London is definitely a city that requires more than a stopover. There is so much to see that even with our three days, we know we could come back and see more. On Sunday morning, we took the Tube from Kings Cross to Tottenham Hale station. We then had to buy a separate ticket for the Greater Anglia Railway to take a direct commuter-type train for 35 minutes to Stansted Airport. Even with a baby and our luggage, we found this to be incredibly easy and worthwhile since we were flying on an inexpensive one-way ticket via Ryan Air to Barcelona, Spain to board our Mediterranean cruise to Italy and France. Check out those hyperlinks to read about those portions of our trip!
Trip Planning
Considerations and Tips
For some, it may make sense to purchase the London Pass. Ultimately, we decided on the Oyster pay as you go card and purchasing individual attractions. This article may be helpful for your review: https://www.londonpass.com/london-attractions/
Transportation: Make sure to have a map or a transportation app. If you’re not using your phone overseas except on Wi-Fi, I definitely recommend screenshots or physical paper maps for reference. Of course, you can always just ask a local! If you’re going to use your phone a ton, it may be worth getting a portable battery bank!
Accommodations: Our hotel, was really more like a hostel (Excelsior Hotel). We had a shared bathroom and a private room. Since we had our stroller, two pieces of small luggage and a backpack, plus a pack-n-play, there was virtually no room to walk in the hotel room. For us, this was perfect because it was the least expensive place I saw for 3 nights (because we didn’t want to have to switch hotels in the middle of our short trip) in a good central location. We also knew we wouldn’t spend any time in the room except for sleeping.
Often mistaken for “London Bridge”, this is actually Tower Bridge | TeamTravelsBaby
Have you heard of the Canary Islands? They’re a group of Spanish islands near the coast of Morocco with temperate weather, lots of national parks, volcanoes and beaches! If you’ve ever wanted to island hop, doing so via a cruise is a great way! There are seven main Canary Islands and we got to explore five of them, plus a city in Morocco during our week long Pullmantur cruise (Horizon ship) and a stopover in Madrid. We traveled February 16 – 26, 2018, which was the perfect time to escape the cold Washington, D.C. winter.
Top Benefits of
Cruisin’
Stress-free. You don’t have to pack and unpack
every night.
Time-saver. You get to cover a lot of ground
without exerting any effort.
Eat without thinking. You know where all of your
meals are coming from.
Fun galore! There are lots of activities and
shows for entertainment and pools to relax by.
Socialize without the clean-up. You can meet
people who share your love for travel from all over the world.
Tenerife, Canary
Island
We were here for the end of Carnival (a huge celebration where everyone dressed up in costumes like it was Halloween). Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the main city where Carnival was being celebrated and is also where the port is for the round-trip cruise.
Wandered through Strasse Park, which had very unique agriculture.
City of La Orotava is an old historic city with beautiful views.
Easy to rent a car from the airport and drive on the island.
Arrived one full day ahead of our cruise departing to explore the island (and found a safe place to carsleep).
La Palma, Canary
Island
Curved around and up the mountain to see the Santuario
de la Virgen de las Nieves, a famous church with a beautiful view of the city.
Hiked in Caldera de Taburiente National Park
where we saw a few Canarian ravens and a stunning rainbow!
Viewed the famous Spanish balconies and black
sand beach while eating delicious ice cream!
Agadir, Morocco
The port is not extremely close to the town
(probably 45 minute walk) and we came across a few stray dogs and cats. Be
careful as we found the dogs will follow you.
Traveled to the Kasbah, which is the highest
point. There are camels you can ride on or take a picture with. The inscription
reads “God, Homeland, King” on the side of the mountain.
Shopped three Souks (markets) and learned about
Moroccan oil. Negotiated a great deal for a painting with tree goats in the
argan tree in a small souk by the beach.
Lanzarote, Canary
Island
Los Hervideros is an incredible water hole. The
water is so strong that you are not allowed to swim as people have died trying.
Drove through Timanfaya National Park to see the
crater. We stopped at El Diablo Restaurant in the park to see a demonstration
of the volcanic heat. This restaurant makes its food from the volcanic heat.
Some drank wine, while I ate ice cream at La Geria.
Fuerteventura, Canary
Island
Walked along La Oliva, a beautiful sand beach.
Visited a cute, small town called Betancuria and
the ruins.
Explored the port city of Arrecife and Puerto
del Rosario.
Gran Canaria, Canary
Island
Strolled through the quaint town of Vega de San Mateo and Tejega (one of the most beautiful cities in Spain).
Ate a fabulous lunch in the City of Teror, saw their famous balconies and stepped inside their historic church.
Saw the Roque Nublo or cloudy rock, which was beautiful.
Promenaded along the Playas de las Canteras which was the happening beach near the cruise port and took in a beautiful sunset here.
We had a fantastic tour guide and a small group of travelers from around the world. The funny thing is, we spent the first thirty minutes of our time on the island panicking that our excursion wasn’t going to happen because the excursion company (Shore Excursioneer) confirmed a different time with us then they did with the person picking us up for the tour.
Gran Canaria Sunset | TeamTravelsBaby
Madrid, Spain
Booked a flight with a stopover in Madrid (less than 24 hours; arrived 3 p.m. and departed 1 p.m. the next day) because it’s only 30 minutes via public transportation to get to the city center.
Bird-watching in the huge park, El Retiro Park.
Peaked into the train station, Atocha and also found the perfect, last minute hostel with a private room called Far Home Atocha for only 40 euros that I would highly recommend. Use my Booking.com link and we each get $20!
Awed at the Almudena Cathedral, and would definitely tour it the next time we visit this city.
Traipsed through town and saw places like Plaza Mayor, the San Miguel Market and the bear and strawberry tree in La Puerta del Sol.
Full Disclosure
I was about 8 weeks pregnant on this trip, so I couldn’t fully indulge on the Pullmantur cruise line which offers free alcoholic beverages (like house wines) in the price of the cruise.
I had all day sickness – morning sickness, motion sickness, you name it and still had an amazing trip and would recommend checking out www.vacationstogo.com (free with your email address) to find this cruise and other deals!
Treat Yourself to Travel 