Sightseeing in Singapore and fly to Barcelona

 12/11/2025 and 13/11/25

Our flight doesn't depart for Barcelona until 11.45 pm today, so we have a day to fill in at a leisurely pace. It is a little overcast today and a comfortable mid 20's temperature forecast, although as usual, there is high humidity. 


Morning view from our room

First we need to have breakfast and there are lots of options, other than the usual hotel buffet. We wandered around the shopping centre across the road and the hawker centre, but in the end opted to take a short walk up to East Coast Road, to a French Cafe franchise, Merci Marcel. It turned out to be a good choice, as it was nicely air conditioned and the food was very good, including the coffee !


Breakfast at Merci Marcel

There is no real plan for what we will do for the rest of the day, so we head back to the hotel to look at options. Luckily, there is a new MRT station across the road from the hotel, so the only certain part of the plan, is that we will take a train somewhere. In the end, we decided we would go to Orchard Road, have a good look around at what has changed, have some lunch, do some more walking and eventually catch a train back to the hotel and wait to head out to the airport at an appropriate time.

It is about a 20 minute train ride from Marine Parade Station to Orchard Station, and then an underground maze to emerge on Orchard Road at the desired spot.

The streetscape in Singapore is continually changing and Orchard road is still evolving, but many of the old mainstays like CK Tangs, Lucky Plaza, Isetan etc are still going strong. We wandered through old and new centres, and continued walking back down towards Marina Bay, stopping for lunch in a food court about halfway down.  


CK Tangs and Christmas decorations

In true tradition, Singapore is well into the Christmas spirit with decorations up and down Orchard Road and Christmas Carols playing through store and on speakers along the street.



Christmas Decorations at Isetan






Old buildings on Bras Brasah Rd well looked after

We did a lot of walking, eventually getting back on the MRT at Raffles City, and heading back to our hotel mid afternoon for a well earned rest, a light meal for dinner and then caught a taxi to Changi Airport at around 8 pm. I had a bit of a walk around Katong ( near our hotel) and took these photos of how many of the old shop houses on East Coast Rd have been renovated and now thrive as restaurants.



Our flight is scheduled to depart at 11.45 pm, so we still have several hours to fill in at the airport. After covering many km during the day on foot, we both had a shower, and change of clothes  at the airport to freshen up for our flight to Barcelona via Milan.

The Airbus 350 we flew on for this leg was not quite as flash as the a380 we flew on from Sydney. However, it was still comfortable in Premium Economy.

Eventually, we arrived in Barcelona after about 15 hrs, including a short stopover in Milan

Viking were at the airport to greet us and a lot of other Fellow travellers who are on the same cruise. Luggage was collected and shipped direct to the ship, passengers were bussed to the terminal and after about 10 minutes registration we were on board at around 11 am. Our staterooms were ready for occupancy at a little after 1 pm, so the buffet and poolside restaurants on the pool level were busy whilst filling in time.

Over lunch we met another Aussie couple from Beecroft, and met a few more later in the day over a drink and at dinner, so at least there aired some other Aussies on board.

Tonight the Viking Saturn sails to Marseille and we have a shore excursion organised for the morning. In the meantime we look forward to a good nights sleep.


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