Barcelona again, Bracing Beach, Bunk Beds

The overnight Trenhotel at Barcelona Franca station

Today we sadly had to leave Valencia and begin travelling home. But to let us down gently we would have some time in Barcelona and Paris on the way. The first leg was the Talgo train to Barcelona which was going to take a few hours. So after checking out of the apartment, we popped into the market hall and got some cheese to go with the bread we had left over to make up a lunch we could have on the train. The Talgo trains are quite basic but are very cheap if you book early. Our tickets for this journey were just 15 Euros. 

When we got to Barcelona, it felt a lot cooler than Valencia had been so we had to change our clothes around a bit before leaving our luggage in a locker for the day. After sorting ourselves out, we had a walk through the Jardines de la Ciudadella, a relaxing park which houses the Catalunya parliament building. From there we walked down to the beach area. It was cool but not unpleasant and we had a coffee in a beachside cafe thinking how nice it would be in the summer. Although I would imagine it gets very crowded in the main tourist season.

We walked along the beachside for a while, watching people playing volleyball and walking their dogs, until we reached Poble Neu. This is a very untouristy part of the city and has an attractive wide rambla with pavement cafes. It was a bit cool to take advantage of that today though. Instead we took the metro to the centre and had an early evening meal at Taller de Tapas. They had the gas heaters on the outside tables so we sat outside and had some good food including a lovely Huevos Estrellados which is basically egg and chips with the egg all broken up and oozing over the chips. Then we had to bid farewell to Barcelona and get the overnight train to Paris which was leaving Franca station at about 9pm.

The Trenhotel as they call it in Spain is a fun way to travel. You can have a private cabin for 2 people with bunk beds, and this includes breakfast in the train restaurant. It’s not the cheapest option at around £200 per person return but it’s a great experience. It’s a lot cheaper if you just go for a normal train seat but I don’t think you would sleep very well in that. Tonight I had a really good sleep in the comfy bed and woke up quite refreshed for a day in Paris.