12th January – Marseille – Madrid

Marseille St Charles – Madrid Puerta De Atocha

Another early start today, though not as early as yesterday. I had time for breakfast in the hotel, where I was joined by half a dozen Renfe staff (the Spanish national rail operator.) I’d not really thought about it before but I suppose it makes sense that crew on international trains also need a night away from home, like plane staff do. Especially on an eight hour service, as this one is.

I was glad to discover that the weather this morning was not as chilly as it had been last night. The first small challenge of my day was to go back up the steps I’d come down yesterday. I’ve evolved a way of doing stairs that doesn’t cause too much pain to my hip, so taking it carefully this was fine.

The station was quite busy and there was a short wait to board. I was a acknowledged by the staff member on the gate, who I’d been sat almost opposite at breakfast half an hour earlier. Renfe trains used to all be the wider “Iberian” gauge but the new high speed services are standard gauge, meaning that they can run into France. Even so they are large and impressive beasts.

We left on time and in just a few minutes were cruising through Provence at 300km/h. We stopped in Avignon about half an hour into the journey, a place I remember well from my 2023 travels. I have such great memories of Avignon, that I’d almost be nervous to go back and risk spoiling them.

The last section of the line towards the border passes through very flat country where there salt is harvested from shallow lagoons, which I presume flood at high tide. I saw several groups of flamingoes as passed, though the train was moving so quickly that I struggled to get any photos of them. The one here is zoomed in quite a lot.

At Perpignan I again remembered my 2023 visit, but for quite different reasons. We were turfed off the train here by rail strikes and I ended up taking a coach into Barcelona. It was good to bridge that gap in my personal rail map and it’s actually quite a nice section of line. The border is crossed in a tunnel. A Spanish border security team had got onto the train at Perpignan but they hung around in the vestibule directly behind where I was sitting and got off at Figueres, the first stop on the Spanish side, so I’m not sure quite what value they were adding.

As you pull into Barcelona the train passes through what appeared to be a brand new, but ghost station. It’s some way short of Sants so I looked it up. It is the new Sagrera railway station, which is expected to open in another couple of years.

Our service continued toward Madrid; now very busy indeed. I noticed work being done on a railway line adjacent to ours. It looked like they were adding an additional rail to the Iberian gauge line, presumably so that high speed trains would be able to use it.

In Zaragoza, a number of either apartments or offices seemed to have been built into one side of the station. Very odd, though I bet there is a demand from some people for such a place. Doesn’t appeal to me, but I thought it was visually interesting.

I’m not a big fan of central Spain, its all very barren and even on a sunny afternoon didn’t inspire me. I was quite happy when we rolled into Atocha. It’s a curious place. There has been a station here since the mid 19th Century and much of the old structure remains and is presently being renovated, but arrivals are into what feels more like an airport.

My hotel was only a few minutes walk from the station. I’ve not stayed here before and immediately warmed to the place. The breakfast room is on the roof, but they leave it open in the day for guests to use as a work/rest space. There are even complimentary (self service) hot drinks and snacks available. I was there for a couple of hours, and just about resisted the jar of pastries.

I’ve been to Madrid several times in recent years so know the city reasonably well, but with a free evening was happy to go for a wander. I’m happy to walk without a map and have a reasonable sense of direction so followed my nose with only a vague concept that I’d like to get to the central square. I don’t think I’ve been in Plaza de Santa Ana before. I also spotted a number of fabulously decorated bars, though declined the invitation to see the inside of one of them when the doorman saw me taking photos.

When I was last in Madrid the huge Puerta del Sol was largely fenced off while work was being done. I do like a city square and thought it would be good to see it now. Unfortunately the work still hasn’t finished, but it is more open than it was.

From here I walked to the more historic Plaza Mayor with the idea of continuing to the amazing food court, Mercado de San Miguel. The Plaza still had a huge Christmas Tree decoration up in the middle (see the top photo.) I noticed quite a few places still have them out. Unfortunately, the market is closed for refurbishment, so I needed a new plan for what to eat tonight.

I quite fancied tapas so retraced my steps to a place that I’d spotted on my way into the city. Unfortunately it had closed for the evening, but I found another one open, just a short way off. The first couple of things that came were OK but not especially distinctive. However, the second two were both excellent. I particularly enjoyed the broad beans with ham and fried egg, which was bursting with flavour, as was the brava. Very enjoyable with a glass of the local beer, for a touch over €20. An ice cream as I walked back to the hotel rounded the evening off very well.