We finally pack up and check out. We are low on cash so I needed to get some cash so we can pay for a cab. There is one tucked away across the street so it should be quick. Nope. It's a big line at the bank. I finally get some cash but it's four 50 euro notes.
We take a cab to the World Trade Centre at the port. There is a luggage storage place there. We get out of the cab and I hand him a fifty and acts like it's too big. Between the two of us we have enough small bills and change to pay. Now we need to find the luggage place. As we walk in its a lot of restaurants.
I try to pull up a map of the place on my phone. Wait. Wait. Wait. It should just be around the corner. Score. It's 5 per bag but he counts our backpack and small hand bag as one. It's 10 euros. I hand him a fifty. He asks if I have anything smaller. I pull out my credit card. He disappears and come back with change.
He asks if we want any tours etc. We tell him we are looking for last minute cruises to Italy. He isn't sure but sends us down to Grimaldi down the way. We go there and Grimaldi and GNV are really ferry companies that go to Italy. It could work but they are 18+ hours and 45 euros each no cabin. A cabin will be another 70 or so.
Online we saw a cruise for 83 each per day with a balcony including food in the boat. It was 5 days with two days on water but dropped us in Venice. Of course I didn't bookmark the page plus it was on the iPad. I try briefly to find it on my phone but who knows what site I used and at dial up speeds. Also we left the map the hotel staff marked up in the bag we left at storage. We guess the cruise offices are to our left but the road ends at port entry.
NCL appears to have an office nearby. We start walking towards it and head over a huge bridge. We can see cruise ships and boarding gates but no offices. I look at the map and it says the office is below the bridge on the other side. I can't see anything that looks like an office below the bridge. I search for a travel agency and we hop in a cab.
We end up at a place that does local tours. They don't have any idea and send us to the official travel kiosk down the road. They point us to a travel agency in a mall across the square. We get there but the agent doesn't deal in last minute cruises and all she has is round trip cruises. Ugh. Maybe we should have just purchased that one online.
It's 1 and we are definitely hangry. I pull out my stay.com app and find a place to eat near by. The paella sounds good but we have plenty of time for that.
Octopus and black ink pasta.
I know service is slower in Europe but this is ridiculous. It take a while for Aparna to get a second glass of wine. We don't order dessert or coffee. It's after 2 now. I see a Vodaphone nearby. I tell Aparna to get the bill while I check Vodaphone. They have a great deal. 1 GB of data for 10 euros however it only works in Spain. They say check Movistar down the road. I come back and we still haven't gotten the check. We finally get the check and go to Movistar.
At Movistar they tell us to take a number and to have my passport ready. My number is called. They charge 15 euros for 1 GB of data but no roaming either. They say to check Vodaphone! I tell them they sent me here. Ugh.
We leave there and go back to the first travel agency. We have decided to bail on finding a cruise. We set up some tours for Tuesday and Wednesday. In the meantime I find another Marriot affiliated hotel by the main train station and book it. Crap, I forgot to switch the prepay to my Marriott card. As we leave I ask them about a travel sim. They say try the mall where the other travel agency is. I briefly looked in their electronics sections earlier and didn't see cellphone companies. I find an Orange store nearby.
We get there and explain what I want. He says I can by a sim for $20 and it's 1 euro per 100 mb but Spain data is different than roaming data and I can only recharge in Spain. I'm thinking 20 euro for the sim plus 10 for roaming data. I tell him I want 1GB of roaming data. He ask how long we will be in Spain. I say just two more days. He ask how much data I want in Spain. I tell him I don't need much. He's says ok - 500 mb for Spain and 1.5 roaming for euros. I'm confused. Finally it dawns on me I'm getting the sim for free and prepaying 20 euros which is the minimum. At least one thing is successful.
We buy a 10 use bus pass which can be shared between us. We hop on the bus for the trade centre. It's rush hour by now and I'm convinced I could have walked the mile faster. We grab our luggage and walk to the metro station. The pass works on both the bus and metro. It's a straight shot to the main station.
We arrive and decide to book our train for Marseille on Wednesday. I pull up our preferred train and we get our number. It's busy and we are over 20 numbers away. Fortunately there are 6 windows going. Wow our reservations cost 26 euros each. That's three times more than we paid before.
We start to head out the nearest exit. I stop and get our bearings. Wrong exit. We head out the correct exit and can see our hotel across the parking lot. Sweet I was thinking this was a few blocks away. We settle in and head out for dinner.
I pull out my app and find a place 4 block away. We can't find it. I check the address and we passed it. I also notice it's not open Mondays. We wander away from the main drag but it's mostly bars. Nothing on the main drag looks good. Open table doesn't have anything here. I go to maps. We find a Catalonian place that rates well a few blocks away. We find it but guess who else isn't open on Mondays either.
More walking. We start back towards where the other restaurants were. We pass tons of open clothes stores. I catch a "brewery" out of the corner of my eye. Done.
The bock was better than the lager.







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