Mediterranean Cruise

This Best Western is located approximately six miles from Barcelona Airport and near to public train, coach, bus, and tube stations. Local attractions include Maremagnum leisure center, Olympic Harbor, Montjuich Mountain, and recreational activities such as, fishing, golf, and tennis. Hotel amenities include room service, complimentary buffet breakfast, 24-hour front desk, babysitting, concierge, laundry/valet services, complimentary newspaper, and safe deposit box. Guests may enjoy drinks and dining at the on-site restaurant and cocktail lounge. All rooms feature cable TV, minibars, direct-dial telephones, dataports, and air-conditioning.

Barcelona's tribute to one of its adopted sons, this fabulous collection is displayed in three adjoining medieval palaces. Picasso was born in Malaga but really started his long artistic career here. You can see all of his most important early works, including engravings, lithographs and pottery at the Museu Picasso. The most famous pieces on show are his Harlequin, a potrait of one of his wives, Jacqueline, and the Las Meninas series. Regular temporary exhibitions focus on different aspects of the artist's activities, for example, his research on landscapes or his foray into theater design. In addition, there are some examples of work by artists from the avant-garde movement.

Antoni Gaudí began this utterly surreal temple in 1882 and it is still being constructed. It was originally intended to be a modest, neo-Gothic church, but it has become the most famous building in Barcelona. Gaudí broke away from the reigning neo-Gothic style of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and imbued every element of the Sagrada Família with symbolic meaning. Turtles form the base of columns: the Chinese symbol of order within chaos, and the pillars are palm trees. The most outstanding feature of this building is its baroque style, and the mixture of colors and the diversity of materials used: plaster, ceramics, mosaic, iron and many types of stone.

The Medici family reserved rooms for their prestigious collection during use of the gallery as magistrate's court in the 1700s. Made up of 40 rooms, the gallery contains works by Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio and Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera. Note the collection of Flemish, French, Dutch and German masters. The corridors, ceilings with splendid frescoes, are lined with Roman and 16th-century sculptures. By reservation, the Vasari Corridor above the Ponte Vecchio offers a link between Pitti Palace and Palazzo Vecchio. The Galleria houses 700 paintings including well-known self-portraits.

No visit to Rome is complete without seeing its magnificent Colosseum, a vast amphitheater with seating for 55,000 that was designed as a horse racing circuit and arena for animal fighting and gladiatorial battles. After its completion, spectacular 100-day celebrations were organized as part of the opening ceremony in 72 BC. Its name is believed to come from Nero's enormous statue of Colossus that stood close by.

The Forum Romanum was designed to be the center of social, political and economic life in the city. The innumerable remains include the well-conserved triumphal arch of Emperor Septimius Severus, with reliefs depicting his victories and the base of the Temple of Saturn with its eight columns and their splendid Ionic capitals. The Rostrum is the famous platform from which Mark Antony gave his oration in Shakespeare's play after Julius Caesar's assassination. The platform became the setting for many important events in Rome's history. It was named the rostrum after the bows of the ships that form the decorative motif. The Temple of Vesta was the home of the Vestal Virgins, charged with keeping the sacred flame alight. The circular foundations still remain, near to a garden in which traces of the House of the Vestal Virgins can still be seen. The Basilica of Constantine and Massentius was used as the court, and the three remaining barrel-vaulted naves give an idea of its gigantic structure. The Arch of Titus celebrates victories in Judea, and in the reliefs you can see the spoils of war, including an altar and a seven-armed chandelier.

Commissioned by Marcus Agrippa, restored by Domitian, and subsequently rebuilt by Hadrian (who added the dome), the Pantheon was turned into a church in the early 7th Century by Pope Boniface IV. The building's sole source of light is the opening at the dome's apex ,  according to popular legend, this formed the base for the bronze pine cone that is now in the Vatican's Pigna courtyard, where it is used as a fountain. Many famous Italians are buried in the Pantheon, including Renaissance painter Raphael and King Vittorio Emanuele I.

During the Middle Ages, Piazza del Popolo formed the main entrance to the city for pilgrims and travelers arriving on the Via Flaminia (from the north). It was only when Pope Sixtus V placed the Egyptian obelisk of Ramses II in the center of the square that Piazza del Popolo took on its current function. The obelisk is the tip of the trident formed by the three streets that begin in the square: Via del Corso , Via di Ripetta and Via del Babuino. Valadier was the architect who gave the square its present elliptical appearance by building the two ramps that lead to the Pincio. Two shell-shaped fountains overlooked by groups of statues stand in two hemicycles. Valadier was also responsible for the buildings on Via del Babuino and Via di Ripetta that are today occupied by the famous cafés Rosati and Canova.

The Vatican is among the most important historical sites in the world. The seat of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, The Vatican is also the home of the Pope. As the smallest state in the world, the Vatican has figured in key events throughout history. Occupying about one half kilometer of Rome, The Vatican is further significant because of its fabulous architecture, religious, and artistic treasures. It was Pope Julius II della Rovere in the 16th century who commissioned Michelangelo to paint the history of creation on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Among countless other notable events in the history of this important city are the convening of the College of Cardinals, at the death of a reigning Pontiff, for the purposes of electing a new Pope. No visit to Rome is complete without an excursion to The Vatican, a place so steeped in history and tradition that you will never forget it.