Spain
My train left Paris at 2030 on the 24th of December. I had booked a sleeper cabin. The bed was really good. The trip was 12 hours from Paris to Barcelona. I shared my cabin with 3 other people. On was a guy with a little boy and the other was another guy travelling by himself. When I got to the cabin we had the seats out instead of the beds. At 2200 a staff member came through and set the beds up for us. Once he did that I hopped onto my bed and watched a movie on my laptop. Once the movie finished I went to sleep. The sleep that night, wasn’t really sleep. It was very broken. The little boy was up all night and the guys left the main light on. When we finally got to Barcelona I was very happy.
When I got to Barcelona, I had to find out what train I needed to take to get to Tarragona. The staff personnel at the information desk were very helpful and they also spoke English. I found later that it is very hard to get around without knowing any Spanish. I loved the trip to Tarragona from Barcelona because the train went along the coast. It went past some very nice beaches and small towns. I met Gemma at the train station. Gemma Christian lives in Tarragona at the moment. We walked to Gemma’s apartment. I found it a little tough walking to her place. I was all up hill and about 40mins walk away from the station. I was amazed at the size of the hills or mountains. They went on forever and after living in Denmark they looked huge. When we got to Gemma’s place I had a shower and some breakfast then we went for a walk around Tarragona. I found warm enough to wear shorts and tee-shirt. It was 15’c and a very clear day. Not a cloud to be found. On the walk, we went walked around the outside wall of the old city and walked along the coast. The wall around the old city was made of dirt and rock. It is apparently pre Christ. The beach was amazing. Soooo nice. I was so tempted to go swimming but I didn’t bring a towel so I didn’t want to be walking around in wet shorts. The water was around 20’c I would reckon. From the beach we walked down the coast line to the city centre. The coast is made of cliffs over looking the city with large beaches between them. It was really nice just taking in all the blue water. There is just something about a beach. I really enjoyed that. When we got to the city we walked down the main street and went window shopping. There were some really good things there but I didn’t have any money that I could spend and it was closed because it was Christmas day. Afterward we headed back to Gemma’s place. At Gemma’s I got on the net and read my emails and checked out a few things. Christmas night Elyssa, Georgie and Lorinda all arrived from Australia for a trip around Europe. Gemma and I met Elyssa and Georgie at the bus station and headed back to the apartment. When we got back Gemma tried contacting Lorinda to see when she was arriving. She was arriving by train. Gemma couldn’t get in contact with her at all. Lorinda had her mobile with her and had global roaming activated on it, but for some reason we weren’t able to get through to her and she wasn’t able to get through to us. Lorinda did get through to her dad though. He ended up sending Gemma an email. We went down to the train station at 2030. When we got there we found her sitting in the waiting area. She had been there for nearly 3hrs waiting and trying to get hold of someone. We caught a taxi back. I was really glad for that and I know Gemma and Lorinda were also. When we got back, I got myself ready for bed. Before I went to sleep I called mum and dad to let them know what I was up to and that I had arrived safely in Tarragona after my plans had changed.
In the morning we went for a walk through the old part of Tarragona. It was really good. I got to see buildings that were 1000’s of year’s old still standing. We walked around the old city for most of the day. The thing I like the best was seeing houses that had been built into the old city wall. The wall around them was falling apart yet it hadn’t affected them at all. Once we had enough walking we headed back to the apartment. We had some dinner and chilled out for a little bit. The girls all organised there trip that they were about to go on the next day. I double checked my trains and rearranged them to fit my new schedule. I decided to go back to the school rather then taking an overnight train to Malmö and Copenhagen on the 29th of December. This didn’t change much, just saved me money and allowed me to stop and relax and home for a night. After checking out the trains, I packed my bags so all I had to do was put in my sleeping bag and pillow and leave.
I went to bed late that night.
On the morning of the 27th of Dec I got up at 8am and finished packing. I left Gemma’s at 910 and I had to run to the train. I had 16 mins to get from her house to the station. As I was coming down the stairs to the station I saw the train I was meant to take leave the station. This was a real pain. It didn’t end up being too bad. The next train came in 30mins. This gave me time to take a few pictures before I left. When the train finally came it was 1000. To got on this train. It was really good trip. I got to watch the ocean go by out the right window and mountains out the left window. It was really nice. I got off the train at Barcelona. It took about 2hrs to get to Barcelona by train.
At Barcelona train station I went to the help desk to find out if I would have to reserve a seat to Cerbere, the next place I would have to change trains. After getting sent from one place to another I found out that I didn’t have to reserve the seat. I had 1hr to wait while I was in the station. The train got to the station at 1330. While in the train station I walked around to see what they had there. It was a fairly big station. They were also in the process of extending it adding in 4 more platforms. While walking around I went looking for something to eat. I didn’t find anything that I really felt like eating. They did have Macca’s but I didn’t really feel like it and it didn’t seem worth it. I ended up going to a candy store and bought some lollies. When the train finally came I hoped on. It was a 3 hr train ride to Cerbere. Along the way we passed through some of the most beautiful landscapes. On the left for part of the way I saw the high peaks of the French alps (can’t remember what they are called). They were massive and just plan awesome. I could see the different levels. They went from plateau to grassy hills up to snow covered peaks. I have never seen anything like it in real life, only as posters. I tried my best to get a shot of them on the train without having anything covering the mountains or blurring them. It was quite difficult but I did end up doing it. They turned out really good I thought. As I came close to Cerbere, I got close to the coast again. I really liked it. There is something about the ocean that is just so stress relieving and relaxing. I really like it. I think I have to move to the coast when I get back to Aus. Who knows?
Photos tp Come soon on Flickr
No comments:
Post a Comment