Last day in Madrid and on to the train to Paris

 Thursday

 One of the downsides of an overnight train is you get a part of a day when you have checked out of an hotel before you are ready to travel. The hotel in Madrid was fine with this and had a luggage room where we could leave our luggage.

We sorted ourselves out, backed our bags and were ready to check out at 9.00 a.m. We left the hotel and walked up to Puerta del Sol, to say goodbye to Madrid. We stopped just off the square at a cafe called Uvepan where we had Zuma de Naranja, Café Solo and I had Tostados de Tomate y aceite olio while Drew had a Pan au Chocolate which was very full of chocolate.

Having had breakfast we decided to walk out of the Puerta del Sol in one of the roads we have not strolled on before. We have left or come into the Puerta del Sol by 5 routes so far (Carrera San Jeronimo, Calle Carrretas, Calle Mayor, Calle Arenal, Calle de Alcala). This time we took the road called Calle Montera, unbeknownst to us this is known locally as ‘prostitute street’ luckily it being early in the morning there was no signs of this. Calle Montera lead on to the road called Gran Via and we walked along this street which was an area of posh shops and old cinemas and other buildings. It was a nice walk along the street.

The Gran Via leads on to Plaza Espana a location we had not seen before and was very impressive. In addition to the big statue to Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand there is a smaller one of the Cervantes characters’’ Don Quixote and his squire Sancho Panza. Of the statues it was this one that got most attention with lots of Spaniards climbing up on the statues for photos.

We sat in the Plaza and watched people coming and going for about an hour. We walked on back into the centre of town passing the convent of the Discalced Carmelites who have such strong roots in Spain under the guidance of St Teresa of Avila and St John of the Cross.

Crossing Puerta del Sol again, we walked back down to Plaza Anton Martin where we had come up from the Metro. Given our focus had been on finding the hotel we did not see the strange statue of people in a huddle on the plaza. This was in memory of the murder of a number of lawyers and political operatives of the Communist Party of Spain in this street on the 24^th of January 1977 by right wing supporters.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we had come to enjoy the Cervecería Mery-Cruz and had noted that they did a good lunch menu for only 8 euros each. The Menú da la día is a choice of five starters and five main courses with a drink, plus dessert or a coffee as part of the deal. Drew opted for the Gazpacho Andaluz and it was amazing to see the range of fresh vegetables and croutons that were available for Drew to add to the soup. He was very impressed. I went, on one of the owners recommendation, for the Paella Valenciana which was freshly made. My first paella of the holiday, and a very tasty one, the right amount of saffron to give the other ingredients a real zing.

For the main course I opted for Lacón a la Gallega, having enjoyed the Lacón two nights and I thought it would be worth trying it hear. Again it was salty and tasty served here with soft boiled potatoes and with lots of the smoked pepper that tastes somewhat like paprika which is common in Spain. Drew opted for Huevos en Chistarra and had a plate of two lovely fried eggs with a chorizo type sausage and chips on the side. A very nice meal at such a ridiculously low price.

Having been without webaccess during our stay in Madrid (the hotel Wi-Fi needed to text a mobile) we managed to get online for 30 minutes to check e-mails and then went and collected our luggage from the hotel.

Madrid Chamartin station is 14 stops from the Anton Martin station where we got on, but 30 minutes later we arrived at the Madrid Chamartin metro station. This station has an amazing light display which Drew photographed. We realised why they had to have something for you to look at as it was 6 floors, via escalator, from the metro station to the level for the RENFE railway station. As we had booked the Gran Class version of the TrenHotel we were able to use the RENFE guest lounge, so had a nice air-conditioned wait with free nibbles, coke and coffee until the train was called at 5.30 p.m.

The Elipsos TrenHotel is a collaborative venture between RENFE and SNCF, the Spanish and French Railways, and travels from Madrid to Paris nightly. We arrived at Coach 68 and the steward gave us our key and showed us to our cabin. Unlike the Paris-Milan sleeper this train has a toilet and shower room in addition to the Cabin (for those travelling in Gran Class). However the sitting space in these trains is smaller than on the earlier one.

We left Madrid at 6.12 p.m., on time, and travelled north through some fascinating countryside that could, if it was in America, be called bandit country.

We were invited, when we got on the train, to select dinner at 8 or 10, and opted for 8. Dinner is included in the tickets for Gran Class and it was a lovely meal. The motion of the train was far less bouncy than on the Paris - Milan sleeper, so Drew didn’t need to hold on to his water bottle to stop it falling off the table as he had then. The menu for the meal is on the left. Drew started with an Omelette with salad while I had potato and spinach gnocchi in a foie gras sauce with truffles and parmesan – a really engaging set of flavours.

The train stopped at Valladolid as we eat our dinner. For main course Drew opted to have a loin of tuna with carrots and Mediterranean veg in a vinaigrette sauce. I had roast chicken with potatoes and tender leaf salad. This was nicely roasted and rich in thyme, surprisingly good food for a train.

Dessert for me was a selection of cheese and for Drew a yoghurt. The cheeses were served a little cold, but after being left for a few moments they warmed up and provided good flavour.

We went back to the cabin and the beds were ready for us, so at 9.45 we went to bed. The train while we were in bed called at Burgos  and Vitoria it then spent about an hour in Irun on the Spanish-French border in the Basque lands. The delay allowed for passport and customs checks (we had again had to hand our passports to the steward at the beginning of the trip) plus for the RENFE engine to be replaced by a SNCF one and the wheels rebalanced so that they were changed from Spanish to French gage.

This gentle pulling back and forth going nowhere was not conducive to sleep. So it was after Irun when we were back travelling at 250k that I fell back to sleep. I awoke at 5.30 and got up at 6.00, having a shower on a train was a strange experience. I’ve been in smaller showers (Nottingham University halls were the smallest I think!) but the idea of having water pouring on you as you are moving along felt strange, though in face it worked really well and I felt helpfully refreshed. Drew got up at 6.30 and at 7.00 we went to breakfast while the train pulled in to Poitiers.

Breakfast involved an omelette, jamon, toast with tomatoes and oil (croissant for Drew) and fruit. These were followed by a few cups of coffee.

The bed had been replaced by seats again when we returned and we watched as the train stopped at Blois then Orleans and finally arrived at Paris Austerlitz at 9.03 a.m.

There was no excitement with our passports this time, they were given back to us after we got up this morning, it was nice to have this work so simply compared with the previous experience.