Hello all,
Our day started out early for everyone as we had an 8:25 train to catch that ran from Malaga, Spain to Barcelona, Spain. Everyone was packed, had eaten, and was out the door by 7:30 in order to make it to the train station on time. We left in two groups: The crazy early morning walkers (Jen, Kayla, and Gage), and the lazy Uber riders (Matt, Connor, and Griffin). The walkers arrived at the train station first but had to wait for the Uber riders to arrive because Matt had the tickets (Connor had also been a fantastic Fiancé and as such took Kayla's luggage in the Uber so she didn't have to walk with it).
Matt and Jen, with the help of Connor booked the train tickets back when we were still in Lagos and we found out that it was in fact a bullet train we would be taking. This was very exciting for Connor, who REALLY likes fast things! So, when we got to the train station, he was so mesmerized that he forgot to actually take a picture of the train itself and so the picture below is a stock photo of a very similar bullet train (specifically the one on the right in the picture).
Our train ride was approximately 6 hours and took us not straight to Barcelona which also lies on the coast of Spain (in the far northeastern corner). It instead took us through Madrid, Spain first which is located in almost the dead center of the country. In all, our train ride took us roughly 700 miles to our destination. Along the way we saw some of the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range near Madrid, Spain, albeit from a distance.
Ho-hum. Random castle and village seen from the train.
Mountain range in distance and fancy church on a hill
The train had a digital speedometer visible for passengers and as hard as I tried, it didn't show up in photos or videos. but the highest speed I saw was 307kph (190 mph). In this picture it was 300kph.
Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range in the distance from the train.
When we finally arrived in Barcelona's train station we went and retrieved the rental car which was a large van built to fit 7, which made for a much more comfortable ride for everyone. Especially since the drive to our stay in Palamos would be around another 2 hours of driving. However, we had a couple misjudged turns before we got onto the highway. Matt, who is our driver (the only one of the group with an international driver's license) turned into the "Buses and Taxi lane" which we were unable to turn out of and got stuck in for a bit. Suffice to say, it was a little bit of a mess from the start! But once we got onto the highway it was smooth sailing the rest of the way.
Don't actually know what that building is but it looked cool enough to take a picture of from the car! So here is something we saw!
Upon arriving in Palamos, we unpacked and got settled into our new Airbnb by immediately taking a group trip to the grocery store to pick up some things to make for dinner. We picked up some chicken fajita stuff which was delicious, and ate that together as a family.
(Parent note: for the first time since Lagos we have a real kitchen - with an oven! And an eating area that has room for us all! Hopefully this will spark some kitchen creativity. Kayla is excited at the prospect of making tater tot hot dish. Gage is hoping for frozen pizza. This week should be faily low-key in terms of activities, so we should have time to try some new things. Tonight we went with quick, easy and delicious - pre-made frozen chicken fajitas. With what may have been our cheapest bottle of wine yet - about $1.50 for the bottle. (Connor and Kayla have done cheaper box wine, but Matt and I have SOME standards!))
Connor, Kayla, Griffin, and Gage all went on a walk after dinner to explore the new area even though it was dark out, and Matt and Jen stayed back (probably to do some planning for the coming days). (Parent note: nope! This time I actually did go to bed! Fortunately I had 6 hours in the train to do some planning, and I was ridiculously tired, so I was in bed at 7:30. Quite happily! The kids were all very busy in their phones during the train trip so I am certain they were doing planning as well. Can't wait to hear their ideas!😊)
Tune in tomorrow for more exciting adventures!
- Connor
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