13th April. Briefing

[20:10] The train from Salou arrived at Barcelona - Sants Station, where you can change to Sants Estació, the metro station.

I stayed at Kabul Backpackers Hostel, which is located heart of Barcelona.

After checking in the hostel, I headed out to the city again, and found a nice tapas bar in La Ramblas.

14th April. Barcelona

There was a little market in front of the hostel (Plaza Real).

Walking along La Ramblas, I found some historical monuments in the side roads.

I found a nice market at Santa Maria del Pi Church.

Walking around the city, I found the Cathedral of Santa Eulalia, the Barcelona Cathedral.

Walking down the small street from the cathedral, I found a nice bakery and bought an ice cake. It was really nice in such a sunny weather.

Taking a metro, I went to see the Sagrada Família.

I then took a metro again to look around northwest part of Barcelona. This quiet park seems Jardins del Palau Reial de Pedralbes.

Getting lost for a while, I found the entrance of Pabellones Güell.

I took a metro back to the city center, went to see Casa Mila and some others around.

Taking metro to Vallcarca, I found escalators leading to Parc Güell.

Walking around, I found the park is really big.

On the way back, I finally found the famous spot of the park.

Back to city center, I went to Centre Comercial Maremágnum near the port.

I found a buffet restaurant called Fresc Co, and had a really nice dinner.

Walking La Rambla back to the hostel, I picked my bags and headed to Barcelona - Sants station.

There was one problem. I could not make the reservation for the night train I was going to take, but anyway, I waited the train with my luck.

[23:00] Night Train Departed. At the end, the train was fully booked and they even could not offer a first class... and I stayed a night at Sants station.

15th April. Madrid and Segovia

[07:00] Ticket Office Opened. First thing in the morning, I bought a 7:30 train ticket to Madrid. I also made the reservation for following train journeys. Oops, it's already past 7:30. The train has just departed when I received all the tickets...

[09:30] Depart to Madrid. Pretending as having a valid ticket, I could board the 9:30 Altaria train to Madrid.

Rail pass holders are required to make Seat Reservation on every Grandes Lines trains you take including overnight services, costs €6.50 (in 2006). You may want to take Regional / Regional Express trains to avoid the reservation fee.

Well here is another problem. I don't have the valid ticket, this means that I don't have a seat...

Looking for a seat, I found a nice dining coach in the train.

[14:27] The train arrived at Madrid - Puerta De Atocha 5 minutes earlier than scheduled.

I was planning to go to Alcalá de Henares, but decided not to due to the huge delay caused this morning. I then had a nice lunch outside the Atocha station.

[16:01] Depart Madrid. I took a Regional Train from Madrid - Atocha.

[17:57] The train arrived at Segovia. The train station was 2KM away from city center, so I took a cab. I showed the driver a drawing, and he took me to the Aqueduct. (Cost €5)

It was really nice time of the day to see the aqueduct. The sunlight was making really nice effect.

City center was the other side of aqueduct.

Walking down the street, I found the Cathedral of Segovia.

Walking further down, I found a sign of Alcázar, the Castle of Segovia, known as base of Cinderella Castle.

Walking down the Castle, there is the Vera Cruz Church.

Walking back to the city center, it was already 10 minutes before departure of the last train to Madrid, and guess what? There was a long queue at the taxi stand.

[20:55] Depart Segovia. Hopefully, I found a bus going to the train station, got on the train just on time.

[22:34] Arrive Madrid Chamartin Station. The train arrived at Chamartin and changed to the night train towards Algeciras.

[23:10] The night train departed. The seating was compartment.

16th April. Córdoba and Sevilla

[04:42] The night train arrived at Córdoba - Central station. Of course in this early morning, everything was closed, but I headed out to the city.

Getting lost so many times without a map, I finally found Mezquita.

A doggy was following me all the way from the station.

I waited for an hour and half in front of the roman bridge until the sun rose.

On the way back to the station, I found so many un-touched historical structures along the river.

[09:36] Depart Cordoba. Back to the station, I took Andalucia Express to Sevilla.

[10:56] The train arrived at Sevilla - Santa Justa station. I then took a local bus for the city center.

The street was very crowded with the festival.

I arrived at Oasis Backpackers Hostel Sevilla where I stayed a night.

The hostel has a nice terrace and the weather was really nice.

Back to the city, I walked around to look for a lunch.

I found a cafe, which was quite crowded with local people.

Then I ordered a famous dish, Paella.

There are so many churches and temples in Seville.

Many people were wearing white costume for the celebration of Semana Santa during Holy Week in Seville.

Getting lost the way in narrow streets, I happened to find the Cathedral of Seville and Giralda.

I also found a part of city walls in the middle of the road.

This is one of the most famous places in Sevilla, Plaza de España. You can find here in Star Wars Episode II and some other films.

Golden Tower (Torre del Oro Tower) stands next to the river.

This is Plaza de Toros de la Maestranza, the Maestranza Bullring.

Isabel II, Triana Bridge is the oldest bridge around and is one of the key building in the history of Sevilla.

17th April. Going to Morocco

[07:15] Left the Hostel. The sky was still dark, but I started walking down to the train station.

[07:50] Depart Seville. I took the Andalucia Express back to Córdoba - Central station. (arrived at 09:11)

[10:25] Depart Cordoba. I changed to Altaria train to Algeciras. There was a security check prior to boarding.

This Altaria train was quite comfortable.

[14:20] The train arrived at Algeciras. I found 2 agents selling ferry tickets inside the train station.

After purchasing a ferry ticket at the station, I walked to the ferry port. The terminal was around 10 minutes walk from the train station.

I also found some agents selling ferry tickets in the departure hall. There were also full of African style baggage in the hall.

Travel Continues to Part2 in Morocco

Click here to continue to Morocco.