I always wanted to make a nice journal about my travel, but always failed. I'm blah when it comes to writing ....... and I always ended up posting more photos than writing practical information. But - let me try once again to make a nice travel journal. okay, humm. it will be cheesy, but i have no option haha :)

I went on X'mas break to Andalusia, Spain for 12 days. From Germany, it will take you minimum about 1 day to reach south Spain by train. As usual you could always count on Deutsche Bahn (German's Railway Company) in Germany. Clean wagon, complete information, ontime schedule, everything is correct! From Paris, I have to take night train. Actually there is this Euronight train leaving daily from Paris at around 8 pm and reach Madrid at 9 am the next day. Surprise surprise, only 1st class ticket available on this comfortable connection - which is expensive!

So no choice for me, I took a Lunea train from Paris to Irun (first city in Spain reached by this train - located in the France-Spain border) I supposed to arrive in Irun at 7.30 am, but darn SNCF (France's Railway Company) - the train arrived 1 hour late from scheduled time. And another surprise surprise, the train leaving to Madrid from Irun left exactly when I reached Irun. No time to catch the train at all, since I still haven't got the ticket for Irun-Madrid. For this cross country trip, I only could buy the train ticket on the spot. There's only 2 connection daily from border to Madrid, and the next connection is at 4 pm. I was forced wait for 7 hours in the middle of nowhere in Spain, yay or nay? YAY. The officer in the train station informed that San Sebastian is only 20 mins away from Irun, the the city is beautiful. Thanks RENFE (Spain's Railway Company) ...... you gave me opportunity to saw North Atlantic Ocean from San Sebastian.

Around 4 pm I continue my journey to Madrid. Everything was okay until I suddenly have to change train in the middle of nowwhere. The train arrived behind the scheduled time in Madrid, but okay no complain needed since there was snow overall Europe ..... and I was to tired after 35 hours journey. Fortunately it is very easy to find a hotel/hostel near Madrid Puerta Atocha Station. And finally the next day at noon I reached Granada with a direct 4 hours train from Madrid. Sharp 48 hours journey with train that makes me feel ........ young again, ahahahaha.

The train connection for my return journey was more ass-friendly. I spent 25 hours to reach Stuttgart, with no delayed schedule. I took AVE train from Cordoba Central to Barcelona Sants. (Spain's AVE train is exact same with German's ICE train ..... Spain bought the waggon from Siemens) Then from Barcelona Central I took regional train to Cerbère, France. It's near from the France-Spain border. There, I waited for about 3 hours ...... and then took 9 hours Lunea train to Strasburg. It took about 2.5 hours and 3 regional trains from Strasburg to Stuttgart. Actually there's TGV Strasburg-Stuttgart, but they're pricey and often fully booked in holiday season.

Oh my I'm such a train station freak and railway technology freak ..... I really enjoy typing this boring post. Excuse my lame interest ....



Ah ja, I rented a car when I was in Spain. The price - compare to other Western European countries : affordable and reasonable. I pick up an Opel sedan (as big as Toyota Yaris) in Granada and return it 5 days later in Sevilla for 112 Euro. Gasoline in Spain will cost you 1,03 Euro per litre. Driving in Spain is just okay ...... no serious traffic (except in the city center of course), and it is easy to find a parking spot. The highway are also okay (haha my standard is very low : highway in Indonesia) If you make a budget-group-trip in Spain and would love to see more, renting a car in Andalusia is recommended.

Except when reaching the hotel from train station with heavy backpack in Sevilla and Cordoba, in every city I didn't get in to any single public transportation. Any single historic sites in Sevilla, Granada and Cordoba are reachable on foot. I even walk all the way up to Alhambra in Granada (ngos ngosan juga sih akhirnya, haha) Very cheap than 5,5 Euro daily ticket in Paris, right? hhmmmmm ....... what else? around 10 minutes taxi ride cost around 11 Euro (Upi, I'll always remember that silly-euphoric-sad-rainy night in Cordoba haha..... met up with you really makes my trip perfect)

how to ended a post properly, actually? I'm out of words, bye.