July 16, 2012
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11.07.2012 From 30 to 300 km/h. And a soul in fire
Taking the morning bus to Malaga turned out to be more of a punishment than a relaxing holiday experience. The 120 kilometre journey took 3 hours and 55 minutes. That’s an average speed of 30 km/h. In addition, the A/C was set to a fiercely subzero level and the driver practised his emergency stops three times a minute. In spite of driving past interesting places like Gibraltar and Marbella, it was just painful. Lesson: Don’t arrive in Spain via Algeciras, unless you’re happy to skip Malaga and take the train up north.
In total contrast, visiting the Picasso Museum in Malaga in the afternoon was a terrific experience. The permanent collection included some fabulous paintings – my favourite was The Woman with a Green Collar. The short introductions in each of the galleries also added a sense of character and insight into Picasso’s personality – his strong convictions and his sense of purpose. A soul on fire. Was Picasso worth the 3 h 55 min of unpleasantness? Yes, definitely.
Today I’ve activated my Eurail train pass, with 21 days of unlimited train travel in 23 European countries. I also booked two seats on the super-fast AVE trains, Malaga to Cuenca via Madrid. With the Eurail ticket you can hop on any train you like for free, but you need to pay for seat reservations, and also for supplements on certain special trains. Flying through the beautiful Spanish countryside on the AVE trains, I couldn’t help noticing that the speed panel in the carriage sometimes showed 300 km/h. That is ten times faster than the bus this morning!
I had booked a hotel called Pedro Torres in Cuenca because it was only 300 metres from the train station according to www.booking.com. However, when I got off in Cuenca, the station was in the middle of the countryside and I had to take a special bus into town. Lesson: Don’t assume that there is only one train station is small towns.
Today, I’ve used my Spanish a lot and it is a world of difference compared to me buying train tickets in China last summer.
