My husband and I are going on a cruise which leaves from Barcelon(that's why I selected the forum for Barcelona!) We would like to find out what are the must see/must do things in Barcelona as we feel we should take the opportunity to spend a day or two in Barcelona before starting the cruise. Our cruise will be stopping at Messini(Sicily), Thessaloniki in Greece, Instanbul in Turkey and Malta. We would rather explore these cities on our own than go with packaged tour which we find can be restricted and again we would like to know how to best use the time we have on shore. I heard it is easy to navigate around these cities?

Larson005: you run the risk of being repetitive. Every one of your posts has recommended that website.... and some people here may be going to start questioning your motives

kyw: You have tons of info about Barcelona and all other places you plan to visit on the "travel guides" section. After looking for general info, ask more specific questions on each place forum, and you'll get better answers.

I can only speak for Barcelona, and here yes, it's a city easy to explore on your own. There are the Tourist Buses that are ideal to get an overview when you have little time. However, the tourist bus will not take you to the old town (too narrow streets) where you should walk , or there are good and fun bike tours)

What I don't like of cruises is that you will be leaving each port just when most of these places start to live, specially on summertime

Belsaita....thanks for the advice a good tip for a first time user of the forum.

you're welcome

be careful, VT may be addictive ;)