Intrepid White's Travel Adventures: 2018

Wednesday, 18 July 2018

Santiago, A Coruna, Madrid - July 12-17. Home via Barcelona, Paris & London.

Short break before home

After a day recovering from our Camino on July 9 we reverted back to more 'traditional' holiday activities. Our last day in Santiago de Compostela on July 11 was spent on a small group of 12 bus tour to the 'Death Coast' of Fisterra and Muxia named as a result of the treacherous North Atlantic coastline. Pre Columbus's circumnavigation, Fisterra was regarded as the 'end of the world' as no land could be seen from where it's coastline finished.

Out of the 12 on the tour, 5 of us had walked the Camino and we had all met up somewhere at least once. Our meeting on the tour was purely random, yet another example of the Camino's synchronicity.

After a reflective final evening in Santiago, spent with the group on the tour, we departed the next day for a short 40min train trip North to A Coruna for some relaxing time in the holiday destination by the sea. A Coruna is famous for it's World Heritage ancient Roman lighthouse The Tower of Hercules, dating back to the 1st Century and the not so famous family home of the Picasso family from 1891-5 prior to their move to Malaga on the Southern coast of Spain when Pablo was aged 14.

After a pleasant 3 night stay we departed on Sunday July 15 for the 5 1/2 hr train trip to Madrid where we spent a very short 2 nights and a full day. Madrid is on the return bucket list as what we saw in such a short time did not do this beautiful city justice. The highlight was being hosted in a private home for dinner with locals booked through an agency which arranges such events throughout European cities. It was worth every euro and more.

Our departure from Madrid is the beginning of our return home, by train to Paris via Barcelona ( from where this is being put together) and EuroStar to London after a night in Paris for our flight home via Singapore and Melbourne departing Wednesday night July 18. This has been a most memorable time away.

Finisterra Day Trip July 11

The 'end of the world'

A Coruna July 12-15

Tower of Hercules-1st Century lighthouse

View from the tower

Home of Pablo Picasso aged 9-14

Madrid July 15-17

All good things come to an end until next time

Friday, 22 June 2018

Paris to Leon June 20-21

Paris to Leon

This leg of our journey so far is the conclusion of the R&R prior to the commencement of our hike (camino) from Leon to Santiago de Compostela 300+ kms across most of the remainder of North West Spain .

We caught the high speed French SNFC tgv from Paris Gare de Lyon to Barcelona Sants via Nimes, Montpellier and Girona (Spain) taking 61/2 hrs over aprox. 1000 km's reaching a top speed of 303 kp/h. The photos tell the story.

Morning departure 0630 from Hotel with view of Gare de Lyon clock tower from our room

Gare de Lyon

Ngaire looking comfortable in 1st class upper deck

Short 4 hr layover at Barcelona so we jumped on a metro Line no 5 for a 10 min journey to see the UNESCO World Heritage Listed Sagrada familia. This unfinished catholic church, proclaimed a minor basilica by the vatican in 2010, was built commencing in 1882 by an archirect named Villar who resigned a year later. The construction was taken over by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi at age 31 and who devoted the rest of his life to the project. Gaudi died age 73 in 1926 and less than a quarter of the project was complete. Construction has progressed intermittently since that time and reached the half way mark in 2010. It is hoped to be completed by the centenary of Gaudi's death in 2026. The funding of the project has all been by private donation and it has been and still is a controversial work amongst Barcelonians. The work has been described by experts in the field as "the most extrodinary personal interpretation of Gothic architecture since the Middle Ages"

Next train back to Barcelona station 1min 28sec

On time

Back to catch the 1800 Spanish renfe ave high speed train for the 1hr 40min trip over 294 km's reaching a top speed of 301 kp/h. In my opinion, a better train with much better service than the French tgv.

renfe ave high speed train (r)

Arrival at Zaragoso

Hotel on station concourse

Thursday June 21 left Zaragosa for our 1128 service 6hr aprox. 550 km's journey on a renfe alvia regional train to Leon. Top speed for this train is 160 kp/h.

Zaragosa

Arrival at Leon

Short walk to our hotel, settle in and explore the local neighbourhood and experience a local non tourist hardly any english speaking restaraunt which is the best way to get a 'taste', no pun intended, of the atmosphere and local culture.