Europe 2008 Part 29

A Fascinating Journey

On Sunday 2 November we booked seats on the train from Valencia to Granada.

 

Standing at the platform at the main station in Valencia, the train looked like a modern European express, streamlined and sleek. We climbed into our carriage, the first on the train, with its label at the door telling us this was the car for Granada. Just before midday we pulled out.

 

You can follow our route on this map.

 

 

A few kilometres out of Valencia along the coastal plain beside the Mediterranean, the train reversed direction, so that we were now the last car. At Xativa, our first stop, we started to climb into the hills that lie behind the plain, up to La Encina, where the line of hills parallel with the coast was topped with dozens of wind turbines, much like the wind farm to the east of Palmerston North.

 

At 1 30 we stopped at our first major junction, Albacete. From here we went on across virtually flat plateau, the La Mancha region, expecting to see Don Quixote riding beside us at any minute! We stopped at a couple of smaller centres: Villarrobbledo and Socuellamos, before reaching the major junction of Alcazar de San Juan. By this time we were little more than 100k from Madrid - certainly much nearer the capital than we were to either Valencia or Granada.

 

At Alcazar de San Juan, the train again reversed direction, so that we were immediately behind the locomotive, and now heading not Northwest, as we had been, but due south, across the same type of plateau as before.

 

By 3 15 we had reached Manzanares, and not long after that Valdepenas, where the plateau came to an end and we started travelling through hilly country. From here on, towns were few and far between, people were scarce, and once it got dark there were few lights to be seen.

 

We stopped at Vilches, and then at a station which served both Linares and Baeza. From here on we were pulled by a diesel engine rather than electricity, and there was only our one car behind the loco.

 

We were stopping only to let other traffic pass us in the opposite direction now, at country stopping places like Cabra de Sante Cristo, and then, later still, Iznadoz. For the last section of this 7 hour journey, olive trees covered the hills - so picturesque.

 

At just on 7 pm, right at the scheduled time, we pulled in to the main station at Granada.

 

We had not booked accommodation at this famous city. Across the square in front of the station was a bar, so we went in and asked the few diners if anyone spoke English. A young British guy called Jules, obliged and in response to our enquiry pointed us to the main street (Gran Via), just around the corner, where he assured us we would find any amount of accommodation.

 

So we took our back packs half a kilometre along the street and sure enough there were hotels and hostels everywhere. We found a suitable one at a reasonable price and settled in. We had already felt a drop in temperature - not quite as balmy and warm as Valencia, but very exciting.

 

Then we set out to explore the town, finding a tapas bar in the Plaza Nueva (New Square).