Train to Valencia

  Valencia, Valencian Country, Spain and Canary Islands
Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Endless Olive Fields of Spain

Our early morning train from Granada to Valencia pulled out of the station at 8:45. I'm not sure you can really call it a train since we only had the engine and the one car. I did notice that the day train only runs on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday but the overnight train runs daily. Most backpackers tend to take the overnight trains to save money and time, but I like the being able to see the varied scenery out the window during the ride. When you're hopping from city to city, riding the train is the easiest way to get up close to the rural areas and still be sitting in the air conditioning. One other interesting fact about the day train is that nearly all the other passengers are older retired people who are just traveling about visiting relatives. Spaniards tend to be short, but with a train full of old Spaniards, I feel like I boarded the next train to oompa-loompa-land.

Olive Fields of Spain

Similar to the last train ride, most of the view is just solid olive tree groves rolling over the hills as far as you can see. Someone on the train mentioned to me that Spain is the number one olive producing country in the world. I expect that must be true. The ride was a little more interesting than usual because at each major stop, they would cobble together more and more other train cars until we had a train of 8 or 9 cars. I find trains really interesting so my wife just rolled her eyes every time I'd get up close to watch them unhook the cars from the engine or connect the cars together. Awesome, and by awesome I mean totally sweet.

Endless Olive Fields of Spain

We arrived in Valencia around 5pm and made our way to the hostel. This place is probably the best hostel I've ever stayed in. It seems to be newly renovated and all the things work that should work. The kitchen is the best one I've used with all the right cookware, a new stove, microwave, etc. When you check-in they give you a little card to carry around and whenever you come back from your day in the city you show it to them to get the right key. I find this to be a really good idea because I'm always worrying that some thief is just going to walk up to the desk and say "room 15" and yank all my stuff. I know it'd work in just about every other place I've stayed. The room to ourselves is nice too and even has two fans and a window that looks out on the patio area.

A Veritable Treasure Trove of Funny Signs

Dinner tonight was just pasta we cooked up. It's nice being able to save a bit of money now and again. We would have cooked a little more often but the places we've been staying at have been a bit nicer with rooms to ourselves at the expense of not having a kitchen.