Our 世界 Blog

After a night train from Nice followed by two other connections we finally arrived midday at Barcelona’s Sants Station. Sants station is a very large and very modern railway station commensurate with a large European city-it had been a while since either of us had visited such a place and we were excited. We soon made our way to our hostel downtown via Barcelona’s impressive subway system direct from the railway station. The network is huge and getting around is a breeze. A one-trip ticket is 1.30 Euro; 1-day, 5 Euro; and a 2-day 10 Euro, but as the Euro has been really weak against the Yen (about 123 Yen to 1 Euro), it worked out to be quite cheap. Problem is the gate reader often refuses to recognize 1 and 2-day tickets for no apparent reason. Add to that the fact that there is never any staff member at or near the gates, and you find yourself buying the relatively expensive one-trip tickets. Thanks for nothing!

ニースから夜行やら急行やらを乗り継いて、お昼ごろバルセロナのサンツ駅に到着。サンツ駅は近代的で巨大な鉄道駅で、久々に先進国の大都市に来たという実感がわいてきて心もウキウキしてきた。早速、駅からメトロに乗って市内中心部のホステルに向かう。バルセロナでは地下鉄（メトロ）網が発達していて、路線数も多く、市内の移動には欠かせない交通手段。メトロは1回乗ると1．3ユーロ（約160円）、1日券が5ユーロ（約600円）、2日券が10ユーロ（約1300円）。最近はユーロ安だから本当に助かる。でも、1日券や2日券は改札機に差し込んでも正しく読み取ってくれず、改札ゲートが開かないことがしょっちゅう。駅にスタッフがいないことも多いので、止むを得ず1回券を買って改札をぬけたことが何度かあった。ああもったいない。 (続きを読む…)

Barcelona is connected to Madrid by Spain’s Renfe national, high-speed rail train, the “AVE” (Alta Velocidad Española). We took the so-called “tourist” second class, but had we not seen first class we would have assumed that we were in first-it was that comfortable. Shortly after leaving the station earphones were handed out, and no sooner did we look around than we found out why-there is a wide selection of music available and monitors mounted to the roof of the car which show movies! They even pass out com complimentary sweets. The train itself does not disappoint, either: fast, sleek, and stylish. Oh, and we were greeted at Madrid’s main station by a Jungle, yes, a jungle inside the station. Who wunnda thought that a state-owned company could get creative? Via take note.

バルセロナ～マドリード間の移動は、スペイン国鉄Renfeが誇る高速列車AVE（Alta Velocidad Española）。私たちは「ツーリスタ」と呼ばれる安い2等車にしたが、それでも車内はモダンでとても快適。発車後はイヤホンが配られ、座席の手すり下にある穴に差し込めば、音楽を聴くこともできるし、天井に据え付けられたモニタで流れている映画を観ることもできる。飴も配られたりする。その外観もとてもスマートでございました。そういえば、マドリードのアトーチャ駅に着いたら、構内にジャングルがあった！びっくりした。 (続きを読む…)

Upon arriving in Seville we were greeted by blue skies. Finally some good weather. Sun, we took you for granted. Seville is the capital of the province of Andalucia, and as such is a fair sized city. And I don’t know if it was the weather or what, but the whole town had a bright feel about it. Home of Flamenco and bull fighting, too-or so we’d heard. But then for reasons unknown (well, more than likely because we were feeling cheap), we left without seeing either one.

セビリアに 着くと、こちらも晴天。やっとお天気に恵まれてきた。久しぶりのお日様はとてもありがたい。セビリアはアンダルシア州の州都だけあって、かなり大きな街。 お天気のせいかもしれないけれど、街の雰囲気も明るい。フラメンコと闘牛もここが本場なんだとか。貧乏性のせいで、どちらも見ずに通り過ぎてしまったけど。 (続きを読む…)