Spain Trip Diary 3: Spain by Train with the Spain Pass

A view of Spain's vast central plains... en route to Madrid.

This is one thing I love about train travel: the window becomes one big screen through which you see your destination unfold before you, placidly.  And with high speed trains, one is offered a most enjoyable contradiction: one gets somewhere fast, unhurried.  It's something wonderful, really. When going speedily, doesn't mean rushing. For me, to be on a train is to sit still, in quiet contemplation of the scenery. There's time for a long cup of coffee, and a chance to write down thoughts in my travel journal. It's a great way to see a country, especially Spain, where tracks are lain on very scenic routes through the Iberian peninsula's variegated landscapes. Where many breathtaking ancient fortress-cities sit atop hills, and can be seen from the distance.  Spain's railway system is one of the best in the world: extensive, efficient, and exciting.  Covering the country's plains, and hugging its coasts, crossing its rivers and ravines, and cutting through cities, it is a truly rewarding experience to be on a train in Spain. So when I found out there was a new SPAIN PASS offered by RENFE, Spain's railway operator, I was absolutely thrilled. 

Our first trip with our Spain Pass, from Barcelona to Valencia.

The SPAIN PASS is a product designed exclusively for foreign tourists. One must present a passport to purchase it.  The cheapest one costs 165 Euros for 4 trips anywhere in Spain! No matter the distance! And on the nice kinds of trains too - any of them! - from the popular high speed AVE, or the sleeper-car equipped Trenhotel, or the coastal Euromed and Alaris trains.  Whether one wanted to travel from North to South from Bilbao to Sevilla; or East to West from Barcelona to Santiago de Compostela... one could do so for the price of one regular-prized trip on a high-speed train! One could choose more trips, for a higher price, ... and the ticket would be valid until the following year.

In the past, travelers to Europe relied on the EURAIL Pass for this kind of flexibility and convenience.  When my father first visited Europe in 1979, he used his EURAIL pass extensively, fully exploiting the unlimited rides by visiting 33 cities.  When he took us to Europe in the early 1990's, he bought EURAIL passes again, but by that time, there were many restrictions already: we had to apply for visas for all the countries we'd pass through, and some trains required supplemental fees.  Nowadays, with the Schengen visa, crossing borders is no longer as tedious for Filipinos touring Europe (thank God!).  We weren't planning on crossing borders though, our trip was dedicated solely to Spain, so I looked up the EURAIL SPAIN PASS and compared it with RENFE's own SPAIN PASS.  In the end, RENFE won the contest. And here's why: it was cheaper, and valid for longer, and could be bought at the train station, and it measured usage by the number of trips.  In contrast, the EURAIL SPAIN PASS cost just a little bit more, was valid for a shorter period, had to be bought overseas, and measured usage by the day.  Both options have their pros and cons, and I would still consider the EURAIL alternative when planning future trips, but for this particular trip, RENFE's Spain Pass suited our requirements best. 

Unlike in planes, they don't make you turn off your gadgets on a train :-D

In this age of budget airlines, taking the plane may be cheaper than the train, but it may involve a bit more pain... it would mean queueing up at the airport, going through check-in and boarding procedures, waiting to board, being squished into cramped seats, then traveling from the airport to the city center. Trains, on the other hand, especially in Spain, usually mean comfortable seats, and strategically located train stations in the heart of the city. And with high speed trains, the travel time has been reduced tremendously that it is comparable to flying. Train travel is really attractive, if only it wasn't so expensive! My initial search showed a plane ride from Barcelona to Madrid could cost as little as 39 Euros on Vueling airline, while the AVE train would cost 139 Euros... whoa! - that's a big difference. Good thing the Spain Pass arrived! It was released to the market days before we traveled to Spain. I was using RENFE's website to plan our trip, and I visited the site daily to study the timetables, and one day, I saw the announcement: "New!" it said, "Discover Spain with the Flexible Spain Pass". Woohoo! I felt the universe conspiring to give me a great trip :-D  

The product was so new, that when we arrived in Barcelona, the attendant at the sales counter had to ask for help from colleagues in inputing our information and preparing our pass - "It's my first time to do this" he explained.  It was the same story in Valencia where another first timer prepared our ticket and had difficulty fulfilling our request to be seated together.  "The system only allows me to book one person at a time and it chooses the seats"...he said, "but let me try to figure out how to assign you seats that are together", and he patiently worked on it, while we patiently waited. By the time we got to Madrid a few days later, the railway staff had gotten used to the Spain Pass. Our tickets were processed quickly, and we were assigned adjacent seats in a flash.  Just like that, in a span of a few days, it was no longer "new"... even the website removed the "new" label formerly attached to the Spain Pass icon.  They've ironed out the kinks, fast.  

At the train cafeteria with my cafe con leche, bocadillo, and guide books!

As soon as we boarded our Euromed train to Valencia, I just had to visit the train's cafeteria for my cafe con leche and bocadillo de jamon y queso.  I bit into my first taste of Spain in over a decade since I last left it when I turned in my MA thesis and left for home back in 2002.  As a graduate student in Spain, I've taken this train many times, and memories came flooding back as I viewed the unfolding landscape. We passed by the dry mountains of the Costa de Azahar...and I remember climbing those mountains before. Oh wow! When did I last have the energy to climb a mountain?  Then we saw endless rows of olive trees; then orange groves; and stretches of beaches and the vast blue sea.  It was all so exciting, and calming at the same time.

Valencia's charming Estacio de Nord, right next to the bullring.

We just came from a long haul flight from Singapore, and we've been traveling for nearly 24 hours straight since we left our house in Manila, and I was neither tired nor energized - I was in that confusing zone between wanting to move and wanting to rest, too excited to sleep, but too tired to run... and for this ambivalent state of mind, being on a train was perfect. I was moving, while standing still (or should I say, gently swaying) in the train's cafeteria.  I was traveling - by looking out the window, but also resting, retreating into silence, free from the obligation to talk.  I was looking out, and looking in, reconciling past and present, I was both cooling down from the flight, and warming up for the days of traveling ahead. A train ride, is like an incubator of sorts, a place to extend gestation for a bit longer, after already being delivered into the world.   A trip, like an idea, can benefit a lot from a period of incubation.  Plans can develop and mature appropriately in situ, and no amount of pre-planning can compare to being there at the destination, at that very moment. Then, and only then can you tell how many layers of clothing will be sufficient for the current temperature; and how much money you'd willingly spend for a good meal. Guide books and on-line fora can provide advice, but only you can gauge for yourself, your personal threshold of comfort.  All these qualitative assessments can happen only in context, when you arrive. A train ride, after a plane ride, is a perfect occasion for such  musings.

And in Spain, some train stations are destinations in themselves.  Valencia's Estacio de Nord, for instance, greets visitors with proud displays of the region's locally produced ceramic tiles. The ornate old mosaics on the walls and ceilings are often accompanied by contemporary art installations and exhibits, making the train station a museum-gallery of sorts.  In Madrid, the Atocha train station is like an indoor garden, an oasis of sorts, teeming with plants from rain forests.  The shops and restaurants under the grand garden atrium give a taste of the bustling scene outside.  We lunched at Samar Kanda, an elegant restaurant on a terrace overlooking the train station's tropical garden.  Like a secret little place, the restaurant was shielded from view, and located far from the busy corridors of the huge train station.  We "incubated" for a moment, hatching our plan of attack for taking on Madrid.  The restaurant gave us a sense of being outdoors on the street, without the biting cold, and fear of pickpockets. We felt warm and safe, and after a good meal, we felt ready for our adventure.

At Samar Kanda Restaurant in Madrid's Atocha Train Station.

When I traveled with my mother in Spain back in 2000, we took the train and she mentioned how she used to take the train from Manila to Bicol.  "I took you when you were a baby, you were in a bassinet on my lap, and I held you throughout the ride, lifting you when the train swayed and jumped, so you wouldn't wake up".  Wow. I could imagine my mom, my indefatigable, self-sacrificing, nurturing and tender mom, not being able to sleep so I wouldn't wake up.  That's the kind of mother she was.  And maybe that's why I feel happy in trains, reminded of my mother, and how she lulls me to sleep, swaying me from side to side when I was a baby, the way she does with my children now.

I can't wait to take my children on train rides, so we can see the world unfolding, together. I find myself now, echoing the dream once made by my father when he first went to Europe: "someday, I'll bring my children here".