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First time in a while that I wake up this early, before the alarm, because I’m scared to miss a train.

A first suburban train brought me to the Campanhã station, where the long distance lines pass. A bit late, but it’s a very short ride and I was quite early anyway. I gaze a last time upon the dramatic Douro river banks and its bridges, this time under the morning light.

The train to Spain looked quite ancient, and was graffitied. However, it turned out to have some of the most comfiest seats this side of the Danish Railways.

Goodbye Portugal! You were amazing! Sintra and Porto, and also Lisboa [Lisbon] to be honest, were very appropriate places to end this epic trip.

¡Hola España!

The last foreign country…

Good thing that I have 56 min to change train, because once over the border, we kept acumulating delays, for a whopping 45 min total. At least we had great view over the bay between Vigo and Pontevedra.

Which were respectively my starting point and destination for the following train. It went around the aforementioned bay for just half an hour, much faster than the previous one.

Talking about half an hour, I only had that much time to grab some food at the store for lunch. But I needn’t have rush: the train to Madrid is delayed by 15 min. All but the previous one had delays today!

Anyway, once it arrived, it was just a smooth four hour ride, where I even managed to fall deep asleep, and to finish reading The Two Towers. And also to prepare some good stuff for the Great European Train Tour after-party.

However Madrid… It was immediately confusing. And buzzing. Way too buzzing. I look at Maps for itineraris to the hostel. 1 h 20 min walk. What else? Commuter train + metro. Ok. The ticket machine required you to have some serious rocket science knowledge as well as a Spanish literrature PhD., alas I only studied Spanish for eight years at school so I don’t know more than three words. I finally paid the two euros for the ticket (that is not valid for any other destination). I check the itinierary again. There’s a metro going there directly… Are you kidding me Maps??

Grrr… I go to the metro, and buy the extortionate four euros metro card + one travel. At least it was quick.

A friend warned me that Madrid was more similar to Paris, and I have to agree. The small bit I saw was enough. I stayed at the hostel, getting out only for a burrito. See, I eat local.