Catalonia, Paris, London and Home

Tapas At Last!

 Barcelona

The last city of our tour was Barcelona, on the Catalan coast of north-eastern Spain. This is Spain's second-largest city and again has an interesting history, although rather different from the Andalusian cities we had visited in the past few days. Barcelona was a city hardly known in Britain until 1992 when it hosted the Olympic Games which propelled it into the spotlight, but it is a fantastic place and this is the one we shall have to visit again. We barely scratched the surface of this fascinating place. Before 1992 it had no beach, just docks and quayside, and tourists all went to the Costa Brava a few kilometres south. For many of us, Barcelona is just a football team and the most amazing Christian Church ever designed which has been under construction for well over a century, the Basilica of the Holy Family, Sagrada Familia.

On the Tuesday morning in Córdoba our coach transferred us to the railway station where we boarded a through RENFE high-speed train direct to Barcelona Sants. Another coach took us to our hotel ... while our luggage made its way slowly by van and arrived several hours later. Fortunately, although the weather was not quite as hot and sunny as it had been in Andalusia, it was warm enough and we could manage without our luggage for the afternoon and evening. Once checked in, our rooms being ready incredibly early, we set off for a walk down to the beach: this was about a mile or so and not undertaken lightly, but it was very good exercise after sitting on a train all morning and several days of guided tours involving shuffling around from place to place. Like, say, London, Roman Barcelona occupied a small walled site, and the medieval city broke through the Roman wall and occupied a rather larger walled site. Population growth and regional prosperity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries led to an enormous planned expansion into the surrounding countryside, planned on a grid street pattern and with a large variety of modernist archtitecture, almost all of high quality and excellent design. 

Our walk to the sea was therefore dead straight until we reached the marina full of expensive "yachts" (some of them I'd have called "ships"!), when we made our way around its rim until we came to the beach. There were many people sitting on the soft sand: people were handing our blankets for the purpose - I assume there was a charge but it was not obvious - but we were not staying and declined the offer. After that long walk we were in search of sangria and after declining it at a bar on the beach we went to another nearby where it was half as expensive ... in tourist resorts one does have to be careful!

The route back, of course, was slightly uphill and we decided to try the Metro for much of the way back to our hotel. Always fun to try these things in new places: we'd used a bus in Madrid and would try the Metro here. We walked to the nearest stop, Barceloneta, which happened to be on a direct line to one of the nearest stops to the hotel. Now, how to buy a ticket ... I had brought some cash with me but intended to pay contactless using my Apple Watch, having left my credit card and most of the cash in the safe in our hotel room in order to minimise loss in case of pick-pockets. The ticket machine had a variety of language interfaces and charges a flat fare for a single trip, so choosing a couple of these was straightforward and simple, but paying was more problematic. A member of staff appeared out of nowhere like a fairy godfather and advised that we'd have to insert a card; the machines could not read contactless. So I started again and inserted cash, and behold: two tickets were printed! Taking care to get the correct platform for where we were going we made our way down and boarded a jam-packed train bound for the city centre and beyond. Of all the underground railways I have used this one was the most similar to London, with frequent long trains and with crowds! We had to stand the whole way but younger passengers took pity on us and moved so that we could lean against the side: there were fewer poles than in London and no hanging straps. This was a quick and efficient way of travelling and we were soon back at our room for a quick freshen-up before setting off for our evening meal. 

We had tried all the Spanish specialities that had come to mind, and that we had thought we might like, but had yet to try tapas (or "tapes" in Catalan - we found that Spanish was not a lot of use here when it came to reading signs, although the people understand and can speak Spanish). We had asked for advice at the hotel reception and had been recommended La Pepita, just along and across the street, and that was where we tried. It was great: English-speaking staff and some wonderful food to share, and the prices were very reasonable. Customers were encouraged to write graffiti on the walls and we were given pens to make our mark - not that I really expect anyone to read it among the thousands and thousands of others! 

The following morning we had our final guided tour of our holiday, by coach and on foot around the historic core of Barcelona, including a quick look at the outside of the Cathedral and of St Mary of the Sea, and of the little streets where craftspeople's shops have largely given way to expensive boutiques and gift shops as people have retired. We passed some modern art galleries, notably the Picasso Museum - a return to Barcelona is going to be necessary! We were taken  by coach through the modernist grid-iron extension of the city. Very little art deco there, but quite a lot of art nouveau. We drove round the Sagrada Familia which has a definite art nouveau feel to it but whole contraction began much earlier. It is as much a monument and museum to its architect Antoni Gaudí as it is a place of prayer and worship. There is no point in attempting to describe this building, you simply have to see it for yourself: I hope to publish a video on YouTube soon to tide you over until you get there. Meanwhile here are some stills. Most of the sculptures which tell the story of Jesus (as well as Mary and Joseph - his family), are on the outside and we spect a lot of time looking at the Nativity façade before entering and at the Passion façade after leaving the building. But inside the light through the windows was breathtaking, as was the interior design.

Back at our hotel room we prepared for the last dinner of the tour, which was included, with all drinks, at a farmhouse restaurant, Can Travi Nou, on the edge of the city, to which we were taken and brought back by a small coach. As ever, like all the included dinners on this tour it was excellent. This time we were all at one table and we had a chance to say farewell to our three American friends who had joined us in Madrid and would be leaving the hotel early in the morning for their flight home. 

The meal consisted of a shared first course, a sort of tapas, and it was vital to be disciplined and bear in mind that the main course and dessert were still to come!

It was a great "last supper" and, still being in Spain, meant we were late to bed again!

Homeward via Paris

The following morning after breakfast we completed our packing, checked out and started the long journey home, starting with one enormous leap on a French TGV all the way from Barcelona to Paris. Again the security checks but this time no request for passports even though it was an international train. There was a bit of a delay at one intermediate stop while the police removed someone who was travelling without a ticket, but the run after that was very fast, especially the last stretch towards Gare de Lyon where a coach met us for the transfer to Gare du Nord for the Eurostar train home.

After an uneventful transfer across Paris, the quickest I think I have experience by coach, we arrived at Gare du Nord too soon to go the the Eurostar departures but we went up to the "Hall 2" deck anyway and waited until we were allowed to pass the tickets gates - our Tour Manager negotiated a ten-minute early check-in for the group. For some reason I was taken straight to the manual passport check, and my wife with me, and sped through: usually I have an unsuccessful five-minute attempt to get through the electronic check before I am allowed to go through the manual check and I lose track of my wife in the process. No-one seems to understand why, insisting that there is nothing wrong with my passport, and indeed, I have never been questioned about it. Ah well, maybe there is a criminal with my name or likeness somewhere ... 

And so we waited together. The wait was easy in the company of people we had come to know over almost two weeks, and so we said our farewells on the last leg as we crossed Kent on our way to St Pancras International, having been served our light meal as soon as we had left Paris.

On arrival at St Pancras International we all gathered on the platform for the last time and then went our own ways, most of us to a variety of Premier Inns around the area; in our case this was the Euston one, adjacent to St Pancras Church. Of the three Premier Inns we have used in this area, this is not one to which we shall wish to return; while the bed was as comfortable as ever, there was no air-conditioning (or, rather, there had been but it failed to"years" ago) and so it was too warm to sleep well. I think Kings Cross will be the one to use in future! The following morning we met our son for breakfast on his way to work and then parted ways so that I could get back for a baptism and a wedding while my wife awaited the end of school to collect some grandchildren to bring home later. So I waited in the lounge at Kings Cross for the 13:03 for Bradford Forster Square which I was taking as far as Peterborough. It would be a tight connection at Peterborough so I did not buy my tickets onward to Stamford until I had got there and could be confident of catching the train - otherwise I'd have a taxi home from there. However, the train from London was in good time and I bought my ticket to Stamford as it drew into the platform; I was straight in the lift and as I made my way across the footbridge the Cross Country train to Stamford was just coming in. Luggage stowed I sat down and booked my taxi home from Stamford station.

As you might imagine, it is going to be a busy weekend, so I am completing this on the train home so I hope you can manage with the description of my arrival in Stamford and my taxi ride home because I must upload this as soon as I get there!

Adiós!

Into the Sunshine

Touring Andalusia

After breakfast on our last morning in Madrid we repacked our suitcases and took anything needed for the day in hand luggage and left the cases at the hotel for collection by First Luggage who would take them for us to our next hotel, in Seville. We were then able to board our coach for transfer to Atocha station in Madrid for the next stage of our Spanish adventure which was to be a tour of historic towns and cities in the southern Andalusia region. Having arrived at the building site of Chamartin station I was looking forward to seeing Atocha which I knew had some fantastic planting resembling a tropical greenhouse ... but I was disappointed because once again there was a lot of building work taking place and only glimpses of the lush planting could be seen between hoardings and plastic sheets. No photographs, I'm afraid. We had time in hand at Atocha before our train was due to leave and wandering around the shops there found a luggage dealer who had just the backpack we needed to replace one which had finally had to be discarded after seam failure in Madrid - and this one was made by Samsonite so we expect it to last. 

Seville

Soon it was time to go to the platform for our train, and we had to put our hand luggage through security scanners before being allowed onto the platform: we had only had this at Eurostar terminals before, but Spain is being especially vigilant. Our train was another High Speed one, a Talgo, rather longer and even more comfortable than the one we had used from Irun two days before. Catering was similar, a cafeteria car and a trolley service as well. After a good breakfast and with an arrival in Seville not too late we only needed coffee and biscuits on the train.

We were again collected by coach at the station and with no suitcases to stow this was a quick and simple ride to a stop a block or two away from the hotel - here again the streets are too narrow and busy to be dropped at the door! We were too early to check in but were able to leave our hand luggage and set off with Manuel our local guide for a tour of the city centre. 

Velasquez supervises the market place

Seville has a gothic cathedral that would be quite at home in England but for the Moorish tower which was once the minaret of the mosque which used to occupy the site

The Cathedral was the biggest in the world when built and has since been overtaken by St Peter's in Rome and St Paul's in London, although I do think that some other cathedrals, including Lincoln, have longer naves: what make this one so big is its enormous width! 

Christopher Colombus lived in Seville and his tomb (well, one of them: a long story but bits of him seem to be buried elsewhere, in South America!) is in the Cathedral. The memorial is well worth a look: it depicts a coffin being carried by four kings, representing the four kingdoms which comprised Spain in his day.

The tour continued through over a thousand years of history, from Roman through Gothic and Islamic to the present Catholic eras, and included a Jewish quarter and a glimpse of the royal palace of Seville. We returned to our hotel after the tour and were reunited with our suitcases and given the key to our rooms. The "boutique" hotel Casa Romana was in Roman style, complete with open atrium (although, disappointingly, without an impluvium - perhaps Andalusia is too dry to make it worth having), and we had a room at the front overlooking the narrow street. Both this hotel and the one in Madrid had brilliant air-conditioning, effective, and quiet enough to run at night allowing us to sleep in cool conditions which assist a good night's sleep.

Included in the holiday were a glass of Cava at the rooftop bar on the first evening in Seville, and then a tasting restaurant dinner at the ancient restaurant El Rinconcillo, a short walk away. 

Once more we were rather late in bed: the Spanish habit of eating late in the evening was having to become our habit as restaurants such as this one did not open early enough to suit our usual routine! We were the first in when it opened at eight o'clock! The food was great, although there was a little too much of it, and while we had to pay for our drinks these were not expensive.

The full day in Seville was completely free of inclusive activities and we were able to recover a little from the activity and late nights of the last few days. It was also the hottest and sunniest day so far and we dressed accordingly when we set off to explore the city, starting with the Metropol Parasol:

We made our way to the riverside for boat trip. We were immediately haled by a man in nautical dress selling tickets for a tour boat at €20 per person. We took his leaflet and thought about it - we had 55 minutes before the next departure. A little way along the river a young lady was offering the same length of trip on a new electrically-powered boat at €15 per person, with bar and toilet on board, same departure time. We took her leaflet and thought about it: we returned swiftly and bought tickets from her! An ice-cream ("Helado", the Spanish way of saying "Gelato"!) later we returned and waited to board. It was a much smaller boat than the other, and smooth and quiet; furthermore, it could pass under one bridge which the larger boat could not. As soon as we had found our seats on the upper deck we bought a couple of beers from the bar and sat back and enjoyed the trip, and with recorded commentary in Spanish, French and English we were able to exercise our language skills, too, although it was soon obvious that they were not always direct translations.

We ambled back to our hotel via another, more Italian-style, ice-cream (that was lunch!) and took it easy for a bit, resting after our walks in the heat of the day, before setting out once more to explore the city  on the other side of the river where we had our dinner at a lovely riverside bar-restaurant with excellent service and good food - a salad for me after all that ice-cream. And sangria! Our first sangria of our Spanish holiday!

And so to bed, having prepared our luggage for the following morning's departure to Granada. This time we would have no opportunity to take anything to our hotel on arrival, so as much as possible was packed into our cases which would be taken on by porterage and our hand luggage restricted to our immediate needs.

Granada ...

...I'm falling under your spell ...

After breakfast we checked out and walked to our coach which took us back to Santa Justa station for our train to Granada. We had time at the station for coffee before having our luggage and passports checked in order to board the regional train for Granada. No First Class and no catering on this train, and no wi-fi or charging points, but the seats were very comfortable and the journey was swift and smooth: no frills but efficient. Granada was the terminus so there was no great haste to get off the train, and we were without our luggage which was travelling separately. Our local guide Manu met us at the station and took us to the coach which carried us up the hill to the top of the Albaicin district of the city from which we could look across to the snow-clad Sierra Nevada mountains beyond the Alhambra palace. Looking at snow while basking in temperatures approaching thirty degrees was a surreal experience!

We took a walking tour of Albaycin and explored its Roman-Visigoth-Muslim-Catholic history. Most of the culture from ancient times is African Muslim in origin and this is still apparent in the street layout and architectural styles. As Frank Sinatra sang, "If you could speak, what a fascinating tale you would tell, of an age the world has long forgotten". In particular we learnt about the dwellings called Carmen whose outside walls are blank without windows and which are built around gardens with fruit and vegetables with all windows and doors opening inwards and just one access gate from the street. Narrow streets generate plenty of shade and make things difficulty for anyone trying to take the city back from its Muslim invaders who built it up in this defensive way.

There was a break for lunch in a little square with cafés and bars, and shade, and then the walking tour continued downhill until we came to our hotel in a little courtyard near the river in the city centre. The hotel was obviously made up of two adjacent houses with inner courtyards and our own room was very quirky, with two extra single beds on a mezzanine - which is where the table was where I was sitting to type this paragraph - and although small was comfortable and had a decent bathroom and enough electrical points to keep our devices charged.

Yes, this IS a salad!

We went out for a stroll around the city centre and were amazed to find a fairly frequent, and well-used, bus service (with small buses) and a lot of taxis in the narrow streets, slowly pushing their way through the crowds of people on foot, and a wide main square with a lot going on (it was Saturday, late afternoon), a busy city. After passing many crowded, tourist-orientated restaurants we came across a place in a back street with a keenly-priced and interesting menu (salad was what we needed now!) and we stopped initially for a drink and decided to stay to eat right then. My salmon salad with avocado and mango looked more like a dessert, with a coconut topping, but if you'd ordered it for pudding the salmon might come as a bit of a shock! It was great ... and I did have a pudding after it. For two of us with sangria and coffee the whole bill, including 10% service charge, and the nibbles that came even before we'd decided to stay and eat, was €50. Spain is very good value if you look around.

We continued our stroll then went back to bath and bed, ready for the following day's included tour of the Alhambra.

After breakfast we were taken by coach up to the Alhambra with our local guide who then took us into the site and showed us around. We began in the Generalife gardens (not, as Manu emphasised, pronounced "General Life" as if it were an insurance company!) which is where the food for the Alhambra city was grown and is now being restored, more as a decorative garden, although with some fruit and vegetables. Everything was a month further advanced than in England. By now the sun was hot and we were very glad of our sun hats. After an hour or so enjoying the gardens and learning about the history of them, we had a break for a drink and a snack and then went into the palace complex. We needed to show our passports to enter both places, along with our ticket, which was times for 13:00 at the palace entrance. There are three interiors to be seen, each built by a successive Sultan, and thereafter their successors continued to use the buildings thus created and no further major development took place.

Symmetry and other geometrical matters were important in the architecture in an attempt to represent the perfection of God - Allah - and although such things are less significant in Christian architecture and design there was nothing about it that contradicted Christian belief and practice so when the complex was handed over at the end of the Muslim era it was repurposed with no significant alteration. The glory of God is as important to Christians as to Muslims and Jews (and many others!).

We bade farewell to Manu and our coach returned us to the city centre for a walk back to the hotel and preparation for the evening's special meal and packing for the next couple of moves. There were not many included dinners on this tour, which was an advantage in many ways, giving us the chance to try a few places of our own choosing and allowing us to work through some local specialities. Great Rail Journeys had made some effort, however, to provide a handful of rather special meals, and tonights was one of those. We were at a restaurant, Las Tomases, with a tremendous view over the Alhambra and beyond to the Sierra Nevada mountains; the group was at two tables so we were sitting with several people whom we had come to know quite well over the week we had been together, and all the drinks were included, with unlimited wine - indeed it was an effort to turn away the wine wine when I thought I'd had enough! The food was delicious and plentiful: my second pork cheeks (a regional delicacy) of the tour, and if anything even better than those I enjoyed in Madrid. I have never before known pork to be so tender.

As darkness fell the Alhambra was floodlit, and for a few delicious moments we could see the illuminated buildings while the peaks of the Sierra Nevada were still visible behind them.

This was not only by far the best meal of the tour on all levels but was one of my favourite experiences ever: a group of super friends in a wonderful location with excellent food and wine.

Many of us walked back to the hotel, almost all downhill (of course) on pleasant side streets, but a few of those who were less mobile decided to share taxis. Interestingly, the walking group left at the same time as the first taxi and arrived at the same time, too: the road goes such a long was round that it was no quicker than walking. We were late in bed that night - an early night after eating our in Spain is next to impossible - and the following morning were up and about as usual for breakfast with our bags packed ready for the next move.

Códoba

Our journey from Granada to Córdoba was by road coach and our hotel kindly took our suitcases to the coach stop on their trolley while we walked with our hand luggage. Once aboard we were whisked on smooth highways, via a stop at a very pleasant motorway service station for coffee and the facilities (very unlike the brash, noisy places on our British motorways), to Córdoba where we were to stay for only one night. Although it was only around noon when we arrived our rooms were ready and we were able to settle in, have a quick snack, and take an independent walk around before the 3pm guided tour began.

A lesson in religious tolerance?

The main sit to visit here is the Mezquita, the Cathedral of Córdoba which used to be a mosque. There is so much to the fascinating history of this place. When the Muslims first arrived here from Africa, as an invading foreign power, they lived side-by-side with the Christian Visigoth population and did not interfere, leaving in place the Christian church which had been on this site and founding their mosques elsewhere. When the number of Islamic worshippers became too large they paid the Christians to build a new church and demolished the original to build the biggest mosque in the world (when Egypt built a bigger one they extended this one to make it the biggest in the world again!). There had also been a long-standing Jewish population, dating right back to Roman times when some of the Romans who moved in were Jewish. The three Abrahamic faiths seem to have co-existed peacefully for many centuries here in Córdoba and when the Christian armies finally ousted the Muslim army to take back control of Andalusia, the local Christians insisted that their Muslim neighbours be accommodated. When in due course the mosque became a Cathedral and Christian worship returned to the site, the building was retained with Christian paraphernalia installed. There was plenty of space because the mosque had also been used as a university, with religion, philosophy and science all being seen as one, and a great deal of knowledge and wisdom being imparted, which unfortunately ended with the end of Muslim dominance. Because of the size of the building, a gothic nave was constructed in the centre of the Cathedral to allow light to enter through clerestory windows, and the huge counter-reformation altar-piece contrasts with the surrounding Islamic-style building.

This amazing and unique place is well worth a visit, and I think our group greatly benefitted from having a local guide who was able to interpret the building for us.

The bell tower, built around the original minaret

The forest of columns of the mosque, now a cathedral

After the Mozqueta we briefly toured the Jewish quarter where there exist modern mosques and synagogues, the three faiths still existing peacefully, indeed harmoniously, together here, in spite of the efforts made by some adherents of these faiths in other places to spread discord through violence and destruction. The God they all profess to worship and serve would, I am sure, prefer peaceful dialogue, which would also perhaps be more effective at witnessing to him?

Back at our hotel we repaired to the rooftop bar for cocktails overlooking the city and then strolled along to a restaurant where we had a great meal on the street and were eventually joined by about half of the Great Rail Journeys group. Then bath and bed ready to move on. The following morning would begin our homeward journey, but with one more city to explore .... See the next blog post, available in a day or two!

Y Viva España!

"This year I'm off to sunny Spain..."

For the last few years we have been visiting Italy, which we have very much enjoyed, and thought it was about time we had a look at Spain, which we really do not know at all. I had been, forty-five years ago, just for a week's flight and hotel package holiday on Majorca with a friend who had won a holiday for two, but my wife had never been at all. Majorca was hardly typical, although it is not all beaches and bars, and my friend and I did enjoy exploring the island's railways in the warm March sunshine.

As we did with Italy, we thought we'd start with a suitable Great Rail Journeys escorted tour that included some historic cities: we are not beach-and-bar tourists. We found a very suitable tour which includes Madrid and Barcelona and a handful of interesting towns and cities in Andalusia, almost all by rail and mostly First Class, so we booked that up well in advance and started planning, complete with enrolling in a Spanish course at Stamford College. We do not expect to be able to hold a conversation in Spanish, but we hoped to be able to understand signs and labels and to ask for directions (and understand the answers!).

The journey out to Madrid involved an overnight stay in Biarritz, which we thought it would be good to revisit, but the way back from Barcelona was all to be done in one day, giving a rather late arrival in London, so we opted to stay in London for night at the end of the tour, as well as our customary stay in London on the way out, and return at our leisure the following day. We had Great Rail Journeys book the Premier Inn stays for us, and I bought First Class Advance tickets on LNER between Peterborough and London, leaving the local connection from and back to Stamford until nearer the travel date.

After a number of other exciting (but much shorter) trips the day finally dawned ... during a weekend when engineering work had closed our line, and rather than struggle with luggage on a replacement bus service we ordered a taxi to Peterborough station. That was interesting in itself, we looked at a local taxi firm via its iPhone app and thought that £40 was a bit too much for that trip, but when we tried a Peterborough firm we could do the same trip for only £25 - when it comes to taxis it seems to be worth shopping around.

We arrived at Peterborough half an hour before our booked train and imagined we would be able to have a cup of tea while waiting, but no, all the cafés etc on the station were closed. Sunday in Peterborough and nothing is open even at its busy railway station. Nothing is open there on weekday evenings, either: this city needs to wake up and grasp its opportunities.

We finally had a mug of tea on board the train, LNER First Class service at its current best, taking our orders as soon as we were on board. A few minutes late, but we were on our way and after what seemed like a very brief journey we were soon in London. We stayed in the Premier Inn Kings Cross, round the corner from the station and rather better-appointed than the St Pancras one where we have usually stayed. We enjoyed the hotel very much and may decide to use it again for future overnight stays in the Kings Cross St Pancras area.

Aftermath of breakfast on the train!

After a great night's sleep we met our Great Railway Journeys Tour Manager at their office at St Pancras and made our way to the international ticket barriers, through the security and passports checks and to the waiting area where we had our first breakfast, fruit salad bought from Marks & Spencer the evening before and coffee bought from the Station Pantry as usual. Soon our train was announced (30 minutes before departure, plenty of time!) and our second breakfast, the Eurostar light breakfast, was served just before we entered the Channel Tunnel. The rest of the Great Rail Journeys party on our tour, sixteen of us altogether including the Tour Manager, were sitting near us and we fell into conversation with a few of them nearby, as well as a Tour Manager from another tour whom we had met a few years before as a customer on a holiday in Italy - small world, isn't it?

Alone we would cross Paris by Metro and we have the app on our iPhones for buying the tickets, but in order to keep the group together, Great Rail Journeys provide a coach to make the transfer to Gare Montparnasse for the TGV south to Biarritz. Plenty of time was allowed, and as we usually do we had some lunch at Montparnasse, by which time the train was ready to board. This was a double-decked TGV and our party had seats on the upper level in First Class, a brilliant view and next to the buffet car, which availed us a cup (yes, a paper cup) of wine and later a similar cup of coffee.

The timing was all a bit tight now: Biarritz station is some way from the seafront where our hotel, and the restaurant where we were to have dinner, were located and we had a lengthy walk and a subway with lifts to get us off the station platform to our road coach for the transfer to the hotel, and no time to go to our rooms for we just had time to walk down to the beach for the restaurant at the time of their last  admission. The dinner was entirely table d'hôte and included in the holiday, although those who wanted it could pay for wine - which we declined, having had plenty on the train. It was a super meal, and the view over the beach as the sun set over the Bay of Biscay was a real bonus. Although this was not a beach holiday, a little bit of seaside at the start of the trip was good to have! When we arrived there were still surfers out there enjoying the big Atlantic waves and when we left it was dark and there was no-one in the sea.

It was a late night by our standards by the time we got to bed, and we had an early start in the morning to get a coach transfer to the railway station across the border in Irun, Spain, where we were to take the train to Madrid. Getting to the station was a bit of a puzzle for our coach driver because, like so many railway stations, it is in the middle of a huge rebuilding project and the normal access was unavailable, the entrance being via a group of temporary buildings and not at all obvious. Eventually we were dropped in the right place and made our way along soon-to-be-disused platforms to where our train was waiting, a four-coach electric set with our First Class section at the front, near the cafeteria coach. I understand that this station is on a through route to Hendaye, just across the border in France, where the TGV to and from Paris operates, but Irun appears to be the terminus of the service at present and is on the traditional Madrid-Hendaye route built to 5'6" Iberian Gauge. Our High Speed Train, though, after a slow start with several station stops, transferred via a gauge-changer at Valladolid-Campo Grande station to a high-speed Standard Gauge line for a fast non-stop run to Madrid Chamartin. I had heard of these Spanish on-the-move gauge changers but had not experienced this procedure before: apart from the slowing down for a short while, it was quite unnoticeable to the passenger, and slowing down at a major junction is not unusual.

This was quite a long journey and very comfortable, with a trolley refreshment service as well as the cafeteria car, reclining seats with big drop-down tables and plenty of space. It was quite clear that we were climbing for much of the route, starting in drizzle in a river estuary on the Atlantic coast and ending in Europe's highest capital city in warm sunshine, ears popping on occasion with the change in altitude. When we had lunch it was hard to pour the beer because it was so foamy as it released its dissolved gases in the low atmospheric pressure.

Madrid Chamartin is another station with major rebuilding in hand, a bit more advanced than at Irun (it seems the whole line is having an upgrade because we passed other places with building work, too) and we had the opposite problem: now it was hard for us to find the coach that was to take us to our hotel! However, we were soon there and smoothly delivered to the hotel where at last we could unpack a few things. As on our recent tour of the Alps and Venice, though, no stay on this tour was for more than two nights, so we never unpacked everything. It was a warm, sunny afternoon and we set off for a walk around the city centre, buying traditional Spanish Turrón (nougat) as gifts to take home. We had reserved a table for our evening meal at 8pm (about the earliest Spanish people eat in the evening) at a vegan restaurant not far from our hotel, visited in one of Michael Portillo's programmes on Madrid, and before dinner we took advantage of the offer mentioned to us by our Tour Manager of free entry to the Museo del Prado art gallery. After queuing we had less than an hour before we had to leave, but enough to be amazed, notably by The Garden of the Earthly Delights Triptych by Hieronymus Bosch.

We had travelled to the art gallery by bus from our hotel, and took the same bus route from there to our restaurant for dinner: the bus back was very crowded and was delayed in traffic in the city centre, but did get us there in good time. The restaurant was La Huerta Funky Castizo which may not sound like my sort of place ... but we went because it is a vegan restaurant: we thought that in Spain for over a week we might struggle to eat enough vegetables and we knew that everything there would be plant-based! It was excellent.

By the time we had walked back to the hotel it was bed time. While mad dogs and Englishmen may be the only ones out in the midday sun, it seems to me that only Madrid residents go out to dinner so late at night. All I wanted was to sleep, and that is what I did!

The Cathedral at the Royal Palace

The full day in Madrid began after the hotel breakfast with a tour by coach and on foot with a local guide who introduced us to some of the local sites and sights, including the Royal Palace (which we would visit properly later) and the Plaza Mayor. She also explained that the following day would be the feast day (and a public holiday locally) of the Patron Saint of Madrid, San Isidro, and that the whole week or so was a celebration for the city ... after that we saw his name everywhere! After this fascinating tour we set out on our own, eventually to see the Royal Palace but on the way to have what was to pass for lunch but would normally be a breakfast or morning snack, churros with chocolate! Again guided by Michael Portillo we went to  San Ginés, a traditional Chocolatería and relaxed at a marble-topped table with our cup of chocolate and six churros each: I felt full until well into the evening! 

Having pre-booked the Royal Palace we were able to join a faster-moving queue at the entrance but still (obviously) had to go through the security scanners. We had also booked a self-guided tour through an app on our iPhones and opted to take the "extended" tour for 100 minutes (there is a shorter one for 60 minutes) and were amazed at all that we saw. It is no use trying to describe it all: you have to see it. What I can say is that it is far, far bigger than Buckingham Palace in London, but then (a) it was built by the Spanish royal family over a few generations on the site of a former fortress from Islamic Empire days, whereas the British royal family bought Buckingham Palace and (b) it is no longer owned by the Spanish royal family and they do not live there, although the King does use it for state banquets and other state occasions. With a democratic government the King no longer needs all the administrative space that such a large palace affords. Now it belongs to Patrimonio Nacional (the Spanish state equivalent of English Heritage) and everyone feels they own it.

The interior décor of the palace has to be seen to be believed. Most of the rooms have painted ceilings, and the chandeliers are huge in almost every room. This is a place that symbolised the power of the imperial monarchy.

This dining table, still used for state banquets, occupies about half the ballroom, created from three rooms of the former queen's quarters. The table can be dismantled to allow the room to be used for balls.

Madrid has recently pedestrianised huge swathes of its central area and planted trees and grass in many places where there used to be traffic, including the riverside roads. I'd love to see Paris and London do the same! Just as when you build new roads they soon fill to capacity and within a few weeks the congestion is back to the level it used to be, so when you close roads you find that the congestion is no worse than before. Traffic finds its own level and road-building is self-defeating; green walkways are far more pleasant, and we were able to walk quite a long way from the palace towards our hotel before we first encountered a road, the Gran Via on which our hotel was situated. The substitution of trees for cars has to be good for the air quality in Madrid! It was early evening by the time we returned to our hotel room and we decided not to go out again but to have a supermarket salad in our hotel room, to shower and sleep, for we had walked a lot and stood a lot and needed to rest. Our wonderful time in Madrid was drawing to a close, with weather much like London's, but Andalusia was calling us, and the next morning we were to leave for Seville. 

To be continued!