After receiving the InterRail card I almost cancelled the trip and applied for a refund. According to my research the fast trains required a reservation, but it was impossible to get on the internet. I ended up spending the morning of my departure day calling railroad companies and traveling agencies, trying to get a reservation for my further travel in Spain – at first all in vain. As it later turned out, all the train tickets set aside for InterRail were already sold out because of the start of the school holidays in Southern France. Everybody in the region started traveling at the same time as I did – and a lot of them in the direction of Barcelona and Spain.
I ended up getting a train ticket (not just a reservation) for the Talys to Paris and for the night train from Paris to Barcelona. From there I would just trust my luck.
The train from Cologne arrived in Paris at Gare du Nord. From there I had a little over 50 minutes to get to the Gare de Lyon on the other side of town, which worked out fine using the subway. I even had some minutes left at the night train to brush my teeth along the platform before the train departed.
The cabin in the night train was fully booked. I had to share it with 5 other guys, which turned out to be fun, as some of them were quite chatty.
Arriving in Toulouse in the morning I had to find the ticket office first and get a reservation for the train to Madrid. The staff at the counter were all pretty good English speakers and able to help me, though I had to wait several hours before a train to Narbonne departed, where I was able to catch a train to Barcelona that still had a seat left. Eventually I managed to get to Spain despite the huge number of French starting their vacation in the region.
At the train station in Barcelona I tried to call the hostel in Madrid, but the gentleman at the front desk there refused to speak anything else but Spanish. The little language guide I had bought in Cologne came in really handy. I compiled a Spanish sentence and was able to inform him of my late arrival. It made my train ride much more relaxing to know that my room wouldn’t be given to somebody else and would be waiting for me.
The Spanish railroad system turned out to be truly amazing. All the train stations and the tracks seem to be just a few years old, and the trains are always on time – quite impressive. Even more impressive are the numerous tunnels and the huge underground train stations. On the way to Barcelona through the Pyrenean Mountains and later between Barcelona and Madrid the train tracks just cut through the hills. One tunnel followed the other, as if money hadn’t even been a consideration.
I ended up getting a train ticket (not just a reservation) for the Talys to Paris and for the night train from Paris to Barcelona. From there I would just trust my luck.
The train from Cologne arrived in Paris at Gare du Nord. From there I had a little over 50 minutes to get to the Gare de Lyon on the other side of town, which worked out fine using the subway. I even had some minutes left at the night train to brush my teeth along the platform before the train departed.
The cabin in the night train was fully booked. I had to share it with 5 other guys, which turned out to be fun, as some of them were quite chatty.
Arriving in Toulouse in the morning I had to find the ticket office first and get a reservation for the train to Madrid. The staff at the counter were all pretty good English speakers and able to help me, though I had to wait several hours before a train to Narbonne departed, where I was able to catch a train to Barcelona that still had a seat left. Eventually I managed to get to Spain despite the huge number of French starting their vacation in the region.
At the train station in Barcelona I tried to call the hostel in Madrid, but the gentleman at the front desk there refused to speak anything else but Spanish. The little language guide I had bought in Cologne came in really handy. I compiled a Spanish sentence and was able to inform him of my late arrival. It made my train ride much more relaxing to know that my room wouldn’t be given to somebody else and would be waiting for me.
The Spanish railroad system turned out to be truly amazing. All the train stations and the tracks seem to be just a few years old, and the trains are always on time – quite impressive. Even more impressive are the numerous tunnels and the huge underground train stations. On the way to Barcelona through the Pyrenean Mountains and later between Barcelona and Madrid the train tracks just cut through the hills. One tunnel followed the other, as if money hadn’t even been a consideration.
Yes, that’s 300 kilometers per hour on the automatic display (train from Barcelona to Madrid). These high-speed trains are truly fast!
The Madrid train station with its palm garden was a welcome sight in the evening.
The Madrid train station with its palm garden was a welcome sight in the evening.
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