I have said before that I think that everyone should do a little travelling, that Spain is a nice place to visit, that trains are a great way to travel as you get to see the locations and coasts are good places to view as they have the rolling tides.
So imagine, an early evening trip when the sun is just beginning to dip low in the sky, a comfortable train journey where you have plenty of leg room, a table, a bar / restaurant carriage and even an ontrain movie. Now imagine that on this train journey the heat is enough for you to go around in just a t-shirt and shorts, and finally add to this the wonderful and possibly magical scenery that is Spain's eastern coastline for three hours of absolute travel heaven.
The guy next to me on the train must have thought I was a complete loon, as I was rubber necking and snapping away with my camera every few minutes, but honest If I had a video camera with battery and memory storage enough for a complete three hour trip I would have just set the tripod up and let it run the entire journey.
Barcelona train station is a bit bizarre, as it is all underground so you cannot really guess where it is from the maps, and it was also a bit like an airport in that they have luggage scanners before anyone can go through the barriers to the platforms, although thankfully it is not all glass wall partitioned off or anything that drastic. I was a bit dissapointed that the inspectors there would not let me change to an early train as I had arrived a bit earlier than planne, but then it just gave me a chance to freshen up and prepare for a great journey ahead.
From out of the window I saw a world like never before. This world has every colour you could imagine, spanned time zones across the ages and showed life in both simplistic terms and as complex as you could desire.
Green mountain ranges rose up majestically around you, with idyllic little enclaves on either sides where locals set up homes centuries ago.
High atop the tallest peaks could be seen ramparted battlements, fortifications long since abandoned yet still standing proud and immortal like something out of an epic fantasy novel.
Massive scarred swathes of earth lay all around, partially eaten away by erosion and passing glaciers millenias ago greeting me in a cascade of muddy oranges and terracotta reds.
Golden ellows are the sandy beaches that streched out for miles along coastline too far out to for tourists, yet alone and a king of his own beach laid a single sunbather on a towel, content to be at one and alone with nature.
Shimmering bright blues was the sea with its white foamy wave crests that came crashing against the dull grey rocks, defiant in their halt of the seas approach.
Fields upon fields of neatly alined orchards and chaotic tree groves surrounded the tracks for what seemed like an hour, only broken up by the intervention of man and his towns and hamlets.
Slate roofed bungalows and immensely tall apartment blocks and hotels battled for prime location space when the beach met the town met the train stations and roads.
An wisened farmer beside his aging bicycle leans up against a fence as he admires his harvest and decides his next daily chore.
A modern casino flashes its neon signs at you, beckoning you to enter in and spend some time, and some money, with promises of prizes and fun galore.
This was not just any old train journey, this was a journey that I would gladly take again and again and each time I would spot something new, appreciating it more each time. So my advice is that the best train journey I have ever seen so far is this one, from Barcelona to Valencia, and if you get a change to take it, do so and free yourself from the burden of your day and relax letting the world pass you by for a time.
So imagine, an early evening trip when the sun is just beginning to dip low in the sky, a comfortable train journey where you have plenty of leg room, a table, a bar / restaurant carriage and even an ontrain movie. Now imagine that on this train journey the heat is enough for you to go around in just a t-shirt and shorts, and finally add to this the wonderful and possibly magical scenery that is Spain's eastern coastline for three hours of absolute travel heaven.
The guy next to me on the train must have thought I was a complete loon, as I was rubber necking and snapping away with my camera every few minutes, but honest If I had a video camera with battery and memory storage enough for a complete three hour trip I would have just set the tripod up and let it run the entire journey.
Barcelona train station is a bit bizarre, as it is all underground so you cannot really guess where it is from the maps, and it was also a bit like an airport in that they have luggage scanners before anyone can go through the barriers to the platforms, although thankfully it is not all glass wall partitioned off or anything that drastic. I was a bit dissapointed that the inspectors there would not let me change to an early train as I had arrived a bit earlier than planne, but then it just gave me a chance to freshen up and prepare for a great journey ahead.
From out of the window I saw a world like never before. This world has every colour you could imagine, spanned time zones across the ages and showed life in both simplistic terms and as complex as you could desire.
Green mountain ranges rose up majestically around you, with idyllic little enclaves on either sides where locals set up homes centuries ago.
High atop the tallest peaks could be seen ramparted battlements, fortifications long since abandoned yet still standing proud and immortal like something out of an epic fantasy novel.
Massive scarred swathes of earth lay all around, partially eaten away by erosion and passing glaciers millenias ago greeting me in a cascade of muddy oranges and terracotta reds.
Golden ellows are the sandy beaches that streched out for miles along coastline too far out to for tourists, yet alone and a king of his own beach laid a single sunbather on a towel, content to be at one and alone with nature.
Shimmering bright blues was the sea with its white foamy wave crests that came crashing against the dull grey rocks, defiant in their halt of the seas approach.
Fields upon fields of neatly alined orchards and chaotic tree groves surrounded the tracks for what seemed like an hour, only broken up by the intervention of man and his towns and hamlets.
Slate roofed bungalows and immensely tall apartment blocks and hotels battled for prime location space when the beach met the town met the train stations and roads.
An wisened farmer beside his aging bicycle leans up against a fence as he admires his harvest and decides his next daily chore.
A modern casino flashes its neon signs at you, beckoning you to enter in and spend some time, and some money, with promises of prizes and fun galore.
This was not just any old train journey, this was a journey that I would gladly take again and again and each time I would spot something new, appreciating it more each time. So my advice is that the best train journey I have ever seen so far is this one, from Barcelona to Valencia, and if you get a change to take it, do so and free yourself from the burden of your day and relax letting the world pass you by for a time.
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