Due to the change in schedule, we ended up arriving in Málaga a day early to compensate for our missed port. This was a bit of a shock for me, as I had planned a full itinerary of how to spend an afternoon in Gibraltar, but no idea how to spend an extra afternoon in Málaga. We set off from the ship, and it ended up being a very long walk into town. The trouble with so many of these ports is that they are designed for moving cargo, and not for travellers on foot. With the water on one side, and tall fences on the other, there were no shortcuts, and we were feeling footsore even before we reached the main street. It was also raining, and I did not feel like an intrepid explorer.

I convinced Adrian that we could also experience Mediterranean culture inside instead of outside. We found a restaurant nearby and had an early extended dinner of pizza, panini, and paella. The waitress made us some refreshing tinto de verano – a mixture of red wine and Fanta de Limón. After dinner, we slowly strolled through the streets filled with lights above, reflected on the stones below. The rain had cleared, the streets were crowded with people enjoying their evening, and we polished off the night with some very delicious gelato.

It was a little unsettling to wake up the next morning and realise that we were in the same location as the night before. This was the only day of our holiday where the sun was shining and the sky was blue. I really felt myself getting into the holiday spirit, soaking in the sunshine and winding down. Sometimes I tend to get very mission orientated – concentrating on moving from one sight to the next, without taking the time to sit down and tranquilize. It seemed that a warm day in Spain was an excellent way for me to finally unwind.

We very wisely caught a taxi all the way to the top of the Gibralfaro castle at the top of the hill. It was originally built out of limestone by Cordoban emir Abd ar-Rahman I in the 8th-century, later rebuilt in the 11th by Badis, the Ziri king, and again in 14th century when Málaga was the main port for the Emirate of Granada. All of Málaga and its harbour can be seen from the castle, and it was a beautiful walk down the fortifications to the Alcazaba fortress at the base. We gazed out at the old Roman ampitheatre nearby. It is currently being restored, and we discussed the dangers and merits of reconstructing ancient sites. Should we use brand-new materials to make the place look exactly how it did in its heyday, or just preserve as much as we can of the old materials and let ones imagination fill in the rest? On our way back to the ship, I had a truly terrible waffle that reminded me that I was no longer in Belgium.

This ship departed Málaga at 2pm, and we spent the afternoon in one of the hot tubs on the top deck, watching the Sierra Nevada mountains roll past us under the warm Mediterranean sun. I felt well and truly relaxed.

Our first port of call was an afternoon in Barcelona, my first time in Spain. We visited two very different works by the architect Antoni Gaudí who lived from 1852 to 1926. The port itself was difficult to exit from, requiring a shuttle bus from the boat into the city. Once inside the city, we each bought a one day metro pass and made our way quickly and easily throughout the city, avoiding the worst of the rain and giving our feet a bit of a rest in between stops. We stepped out of the metro to find ourselves at the foot of the Casa Batlló, often called the house of bones.

This house was renovated by Gaudí for the Batlló family in 1904, and is full of beautiful yet practical intricacies. The whole building feels as if it has sprouted from the ground, with organic lines that flow from one space to the next. The gill-like intricate wooden carvings in the doors can be slid upwards to control the ventilation, and the whole front window of the living room can be raised vertically to let open up the house on a summer’s day. The core of the building is a courtyard of light, tiled with a blue mosaic that darkens as it nears the sky. As the light is brighter at the top, this gives the illusion of a constant shade of blue all the way down. Every room has at least one source of natural light. Even the fireplace is thoughtfully designed, as it has two inside – a larger one for a courting couple, and a smaller one for their chaperone. It is a home that I would love to live in myself.

The Sagrada Família was also designed by Gaudí, and it was the first time that I have ever seen a church under construction. Construction was initiated in 1883, and it is projected that it will finish in 2026. Financed solely by private donations, the building employs 200 people full-time to design, carve, and assemble this immense stone structure. The exterior of the church will have three main sides that depict the Christian nativity, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus. Each scene is constructed in a different style. The figures in the crucifixion are carved with strong simple lines, and it was under this scene that we entered the church. While the resurrection scene is yet to be built, the nativity scene was mostly finished in the time of Gaudí. Now lying under a thick layer of soot, it looks like a melted sandcastle with drooping figures and dissolving towers.

While we didn’t think that the outside was very inspiring or beautiful, the inside of the church was quite lovely. The weight of the ceiling was held up by tall columns that split and stretched out like palm trees, with rays of light falling down between their leaves. These curved columns meant that no buttresses or flying buttresses were required, which permits the building to rise up quite quickly with a relatively small footprint. The stained glass is only now being placed inside the windows, and is the only source of colour in the grey stone temple. The most fascinating part of the visit was seeing the church as a work in progress. There were no pews or alters, only construction workers with plans and power tools.

We finished our architectural tour of Barcelona with a visit to the exterior of the world-heritage Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, built between 1901 and 1930. It was designed by Lluis Domenech i Montaner, with intricate mosaics, carvings, and iron works. It only ceased functioning as a hospital in July this year, and is currently being renovated for conversion into a museum.