Suzanna Shoppinga Barcelona

Barcelona, Sunday 18 October

I slept in till 10. It was bliss. Madrid is pretty quiet on a Sunday morning (except for El Rastro which I have already enjoyed) so I get myself to Atocha Station and onto the bullet train to Barcelona. This train does the 500km trip in just under three hours. This is because it reaches speeds of 300km, you would never know except the speed is constantly displayed in the carriage. The best thing is the Spanish train people ‘Renfe’ are so sure their fast trains will be on time that they provide a money back guarantee if they are late! We were due in at 3.27pm and arrived at 3.16pm today. (I was wishing for a delay though as my E110 could be well spent on other things I am sure). Wellington commuters eat your heart out.

I do hate train travel with bags in Europe. Trying to get a large suitcase and another cabin bag into a carriage is a major pain in the arse I have to say. Seems I was sitting amongst a Basketball team, so one of them easily sorted my smaller bag but I had to wait until they left in Saragoza to take control of the other which was left in the corridor. I was a little anxious until I could recover it, but that done it was a very pleasant trip soaking up the landscape, mostly dots of Olive trees and then the grape vines as we got closer to Barcelona.

I am staying at the swanky Barcelo Ravel hotel - www.barceloraval.com - as recommended by one of Jo’s friends. It is very swish… I like it a lot, especially after some of my recent experiences. Its best points are that it is round, it is bordering avant garde and it is just off La Ramblas, a Barcelona highlight.
There is such a thing as too modern though. The curtains are always drawn in the hotels to keep out the sun here and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out where the electronic curtain switch was to reveal the view. Took me 15 mins to discover it and that I have a great view from the seventh floor across the city, even from the loo (which is good because I am there more frequently than usual, still recovering a little from authentic Morocco food!. You do feel pretty silly not being able to pull a curtain I can tell you. Because the hotel is round there is a walkable 360 degree city view from the bar on the roof top. It is pretty special - although I note a lot of crane action especially around some of the sights I am hoping to see, I suspect another Madrid sightseeing experience is looming.

Pic is inside Madrid’s Atocha Station. It is lovely considering it is a train station. The Planetarium was included in a refurbishment in 1992 and covers 4000 m2 (You may also remember this station was bombed in 2004 - 191 people died. 1800 were injured).