{"id":1865,"date":"2023-05-29T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-29T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/?p=1865"},"modified":"2025-06-02T09:50:57","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T07:50:57","slug":"interrail-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/en\/interrail-12\/","title":{"rendered":"My crazy Interrail journey – Chapter 12: Madrid, Segovia, \u00c1vila"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<< Introduction<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<< Chapter 11: Carcassonne, Toulouse, Bordeaux<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To enter Spain from Bordeaux I had to take a train to the border seaside town of Hendaye, where I arrived after an almost three-hour-long ride. From there, there are no direct connections between French and Spanish railways, since the Iberian countries use a different track gauge than the rest of Europe, so I had to walk from the Hendaye train station in France to the one in Irun, Spain. The two are about three kilometers away from each other, and on the way I crossed the border passing the international bridge on the Bidasoa river.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now it\u2019s time for me to go on a lenghty rant about trains in Spain, with which I had some problems. Usually, with an Interrail pass, only a few trains require reservations, and most of the times you can easily book them online. This is not how it works in Spain. There, every train requires a reservation except for the local commuter lines (cercan\u00edas<\/em>) that just run between a central city and its suburbs. Basically you need to book every transfer between large cities. However, you cannot do it online, only by phone or at a train station. Not all train stations though, just at some considered to be \u201clong-distance stations\u201d. Also, if you book by phone you can only reserve a ticket three days before traveling, not earlier, and then you need to physically retrieve it at a long-distance station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knowing this, I was a bit anxious in the days leading up to my arrival in Spain, as I had to book the hostels way in advance to avoid having to pay too much, but without knowing if I could actually travel around the country. When I was in Carcassonne and Toulouse, three days before arriving in Spain, I spent the entire day trying to call to book a ticket, and every time I got put on hold for several minutes before they hung up. After many failed attempts, and a long and tiring walk with high temperatures and a broken suitcase, I had a bit of a mental breakdown in Toulouse, wondering if I should just stop and go home, or if instead of going to Spain I should change plans and go north to explore more of France, after all I was enjoying my time there a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, at almost 10 p.m., I tried to call again and this time they answered. I asked about train reservations and I got told that not only you have to reserve not more then three days before your journey, but also you can only retrieve the ticket more than twenty-four hours before the trip. So, you only have a forty-eight-hour window to book your ticket and retrieve it, otherwise it expires. According to my plan however, I was not going to be in Spain twenty-four hours before taking the train from Irun, so calling to book the ticket was useless. The operator literally told me that my only option was to go there and hope that there were still available tickets. In any case, I got really determined and decided to follow through with my plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was really worried, and when I arrived at the Irun station I got told that only local trains could be booked in that ticket office, for long-distance ones I had to go to the part of the station on the other side of the tracks. Why there are two separate ticket offices on different sides of the tracks in the same station is beyond my understanding. On the other side I was finally able to get my reservation, and then I waited a few hours for the train. I had to change in San Sebasti\u00e1n and take a connection to Madrid from there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the five-hour journey the train suddenly stopped about halfway and every light went off. We stayed in the dark for several minutes and the ticket inspector came to inform us that there was some kind of electrical failure. The train then departed anyway, with the lights still off, and only after stopping at the next station they started working again. In total it took more than six hours from Irun to Madrid, with the change and some delay. After arriving at the Madrid Chamart\u00edn station I needed to take the metro to the city center, but I first had to buy a transportation card and then load my subway ticket there. Only a few days later I found out that the metro stop where I needed to go, Sol, doubles as a commuter train station and so I could use my Interrail pass instead. Anyway, I took the metro to the city center, arriving at the hostel almost at midnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I began my visit to Madrid the following morning from the central Puerta del Sol square, which unfortunately was undergoing heavy restorations and thus was mostly closed. I went to have breakfast and enjoy some churros with chocolate at one of the most historic bars of the Spanish capital, before visiting the large Plaza Mayor, which is surrounded by beautiful decorated buildings. From there, I moved on to the Royal Palace of Madrid, one of the most stunning, impressive, and splendid palaces I have ever seen. The huge complex hosts numerous magnificent adorned halls and a large amount of wonderful art pieces, and it was truly one of my favorite places of the entire journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bridge
<\/a>

Bridge between Hendaye, France, and Irun, Spain<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"Churros
<\/a>

Churros with chocolate<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"Plaza
<\/a>

Plaza Mayor<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"Plaza
<\/a>

Plaza Mayor<\/h4><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Just in front of the Royal Palace is the similarly lavish and monumental Almudena Cathedral, which is also filled with rich decorations. I went to the top of the cathedral to enjoy some amazing views of Madrid, before going to another one of the city\u2019s main squares, Plaza de Espa\u00f1a. There, there were some stalls selling Latin American foods and products, so I took the opportunity to get a Bolivian salte<\/em>\u00f1<\/em>a<\/em>, a kind of empanada filled with meat and spicy sauce. After that, I also got a huge palmera<\/em> as dessert, the Spanish version of the palmier pastry covered with chocolate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following this quick but really tasty meal, I went to see the Temple of Debod. This is an Ancient Egyptian temple that was dismantled and reassembled in Madrid as part of a relocation effort to rescue various monuments from being submerged after the construction of the Aswan Dam. Only a few people are allowed inside at any time and there was a long queue, so I had to wait for one hour and a half to enter. The temple was really nice but also small, and maybe not worth such a long wait. I then walked around the large green area of Parque del Oeste until I reached the monumental Arco de la Victoria. I made my way back toward the city center walking along the popular shopping street Gran V\u00eda and the famous Callao Square, both of which host a large amount of ornate buildings. The last stop of my first day in Madrid was the opulent Church of Saint Anthony of the Germans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Royal
<\/a>

Royal Palace of Madrid, seen from the Almudena Cathedral<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"View
<\/a>

View of Madrid from the Almudena Cathedral<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"View
<\/a>

View of the square between the Almudena Cathedral and the Royal Palace of Madrid<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"Almudena
<\/a>

Almudena Cathedral<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"Salte\u00f1a\"
<\/a>

Salte\u00f1a<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"Temple
<\/a>

Temple of Debod<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"The
<\/a>

The frescoed dome of the Church of Saint Anthony of the Germans<\/h4><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I went out early the next morning to the Chamart\u00edn station to book some reservations for my next trips, and then I took a train to Segovia. Since only very few trains still stop at the old station, I had to take one to the new Segovia-Guiomar stop. However, this station is in the countryside and kilometers away from the city center, so I then boarded a bus that got me directly to the Aqueduct of Segovia. This is a seriously impressive piece of Roman architecture still in a very good state of conservation and one of the best preserved of its kind. I walked around the lower part of the town, seeing the Church of Saint Mill\u00e1n, and then I went up the hill to the massive and elaborate Gothic Cathedral of Segovia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I went on to visit the other main attraction of the city, the Alc\u00e1zar. This spectacular medieval castle is located right at the edge of the hill with a perfect view over the countryside and features sumputous halls and a museum. After visiting the Alc\u00e1zar, I spent some time walking around the delightful old town and then I had lunch at a nice restaurant. I ate a delicious dish of stuffed peppers with spicy meat, then a veal steak and for dessert an arroz con leche<\/em>, the Spanish version of the rice pudding, which I fell in love with after trying it in Greece for the first time. After this tasty lunch I went back to Madrid, where I walked a bit around the city center before returning to the hostel. I really enjoyed the visit to Segovia, it\u2019s a small city but filled with a lot of history and impressive landmarks. The only unfortunate thing about this day was that it rained for most of the time and the wind was quite strong, so much so that my umbrella broke, just a few minutes before arriving back at the hostel in Madrid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
<\/a>

The Aqueduct of Segovia<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"The
<\/a>

The Aqueduct of Segovia<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"Church
<\/a>

Church of Saint Mill\u00e1n<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"Segovia
<\/a>

Segovia Cathedral<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"Segovia
<\/a>

Segovia Cathedral<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"View
<\/a>

View of the countryside from the Alc\u00e1zar of Segovia<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"Alc\u00e1zar
<\/a>

Alc\u00e1zar of Segovia<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"Stuffed
<\/a>

Stuffed peppers with spicy meat<\/h4><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The next day I took another day trip, this time to \u00c1vila. During this trip I had some more problems with the trains. To get to \u00c1vila from Madrid you can take a commuter train, so no reservation should be required. At the Sol station I showed my Interrail pass and asked about the trip just to be sure, and they let me through the gates saying that I didn\u2019t need to book anything, I could just take the train until \u00c1vila, the last stop. I boarded the train and at some point the ticket inspector came and told me that I could only travel until Santa Mar\u00eda de la Alameda, and that any journey that goes further required a reservation, but he was going to let me go anyway. Curiously, it seemed like he was telling the same thing to everyone. I think that that train is considered a cercan\u00eda only up to a certain point and then becomes a long-distance train, so different tickets are required based on where you are going to stop. It looked like I wasn\u2019t the only one that was confused and didn\u2019t know about this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, in \u00c1vila I passed by the Basilica of San Vicente and then I went through the gates of the imposing city walls. The main attraction of the town is the impressive series of medieval walls and fortifications that completely surround the city. These are among the most complete and best preserved ancient defensive walls in the world and truly a sight to see. Inside the walls, I saw the Gothic cathedral, the nice central square, and the Church and Convent of Saint Theresa of \u00c1vila, which hosts the birthplace of the saint. I then walked along the walls and finally I reached a panoramic spot with an amazing view over the walled city. I went back to the city center and I had one of the best meals of the whole trip. Firstly, I tried the sopa castellana<\/em>, a type of local garlic soup, and then a cochinillo cochifrito<\/em>, a traditional dish of roasted pork. Both are classic foods from the region of Castille and were absolutely delicious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I was enjoying this awesome lunch it started to rain. My umbrella broke the day before and I forgot to buy a new one that morning, so I just headed toward the station anyway since I couldn\u2019t miss the train or I would be stuck there. It was manageable at first since my sweatshirt had a hood, but soon the rain turned into a massive downpour and I found myself just in the middle of it, without any place to take shelter and not much time to reach the station. I arrived in time but I was completely soaked head to toes. Thankfully my phone and wallet didn\u2019t suffer any damage. Despite all of this, \u00c1vila was still an enjoyable city, small and quiet with many historic buildings. I went to the ticket office in the station to get the correct reservation this time, and it was for free. I arrived in Madrid later and, even after the two-hour-long trip, I was still very wet. I was worried that I would get a cold because of this but luckily I was feeling great the next day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u00c1vila
<\/a>

\u00c1vila Cathedral<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"The
<\/a>

The central square of \u00c1vila<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"Church
<\/a>

Church and Convent of Saint Theresa of \u00c1vila<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"View
<\/a>

View of \u00c1vila from a hill outside the city<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"Walls
<\/a>

Walls of \u00c1vila<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"Walls
<\/a>

Walls of \u00c1vila<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"Sopa
<\/a>

Sopa castellana<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"Cochinillo
<\/a>

Cochinillo cochifrito<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"Countryside
<\/a>

Countryside near \u00c1vila<\/h4><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I had two more days in Madrid and I spent both of them going on with my exploration of the city that I left on hold to go to Segovia and \u00c1vila. The first one started by passing in front of the elaborate Palacio de Cibeles, the flamboyant city hall of Madrid. Soon, I was on Paseo del Prado, one of the main avenues of the city, which hosts the three great art museum that make up the Golden Triangle of Art: the Prado Museum, the Reina Sof\u00eda Museum, and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. I started by visiting the Prado Museum, one of the largest and most important art museums in the world, where I spent more than three hours being enchanted by the indescribable beauty of the works of art hosted there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afterwards, I had a quick but great lunch enjoying some montaditos<\/em>, the popular Spanish mini sandwiches, before moving toward the El Retiro park. I wandered around this vaste and lush green area which features various attractions such as the tall and ornate Monument to Alfonso XII, located at the edge of a lake. After passing by the Puerta de Alcal\u00e1 city gate, which was covered due to renovation works, I moved north to see two more museums. First, I visited the National Archaeological Museum, which houses a large collection of ancient artifacts including some of the most notable Iberian sculptures from the pre-Roman era. Next was the National Museum of Natural Sciences, which hosts interesting exhibitions on zoology, geology, and paleontology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I kept following the main boulevard passing in front of the huge government buildings of the Nuevos Ministerios, famous for being portrayed as the Bank of Spain in the series Money Heist<\/em>. I continued north until the Santiago Bernab\u00e9u Stadium, the renowned home field of the football team Real Madrid. That evening Real Madrid was playing there, and it was really fun seeing the area already crowded with the team\u2019s supporters. I went back to the hostel from there and I ended up walking a total of 26.2 kilometers throughout the day, the second most of any day of the trip just behind my second day in Hamburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On my last day in Madrid, I passed by the Royal Basilica of Saint Francis the Great on my way to the Reina Sof\u00eda Museum. This large art collection is mostly focused on modern art and hosts one of the most famous masterpieces in history, the Guernica<\/em> by Pablo Picasso. Next, I went to the last one of the three museums of the Golden Triangle of Art: the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. Here, another large amount of remarkable paintings are hosted, complementing the collections of the other two museums. After this art-filled morning it was time for lunch. It was Sunday and I couldn\u2019t find a cheap open restaurant in the area, so I went to a Chinese place where I had tasty dishes of Cantonese fried rice and Cantonese roasted duck. I moved on to another nearby museum, the Naval Museum, which hosts various ancient maps including the map of Juan de la Cosa, the earliest one to represent the American continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was my last stop in Madrid before taking the train to C\u00f3rdoba that evening. I went to the Madrid Atocha station early, since for this trip, and most of following ones in Spain, I had to go through airport-like security controls before boarding the train. My visit to Madrid was really satisfying and I truly enjoyed the extensive amount of artworks that I was able to see, especially in the Royal Palace and the various museums. Madrid can be chaotic and noisy at times, but the overall atmosphere is still pretty nice, at least around the city center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Palacio
<\/a>

Palacio de Cibeles<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"Church
<\/a>

Church of Saint Jerome the Royal next to the Prado Museum<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"Prado
<\/a>

Prado Museum<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"Monument
<\/a>

Monument to Alfonso XII in El Retiro park<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"Nuevos
<\/a>

Nuevos Ministerios<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"Santiago
<\/a>

Santiago Bernab\u00e9u Stadium<\/h4><\/div><\/div>
\"Puerta
<\/a>

Puerta de Toledo, on the road between the Royal Basilica of Saint Francis the Great and the Reina Sof\u00eda Museum<\/h4><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Chapter 13: C\u00f3rdoba, Seville, C\u00e1diz, Granada, Ronda<\/a> >><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To enter Spain from Bordeaux I had to take a train to the border seaside town of Hendaye, where I arrived after an almost three-hour-long ride. From there, there are no direct connections between French and Spanish railways, since the Iberian countries use a different track gauge than the rest of Europe, so I had…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3905,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":10,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Interrail_12_cover-scaled.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Stefano Cammisa","author_link":"https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/en\/author\/stefano-cammisa\/"},"author_meta":{"display_name":"Stefano Cammisa","author_link":"https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/en\/author\/stefano-cammisa\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Interrail_12_cover-300x100.jpg","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Interrail_12_cover-scaled.jpg",2560,853,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Interrail_12_cover-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Interrail_12_cover-300x100.jpg",300,100,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Interrail_12_cover-768x256.jpg",640,213,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Interrail_12_cover-1024x341.jpg",640,213,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Interrail_12_cover-1536x512.jpg",1536,512,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Interrail_12_cover-2048x683.jpg",2048,683,true],"trp-custom-language-flag":["https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Interrail_12_cover-18x6.jpg",18,6,true],"xs-thumb":["https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Interrail_12_cover-64x64.jpg",64,64,true],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Interrail_12_cover-300x100.jpg",300,100,true],"minimalistblogger-grid":["https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Interrail_12_cover-350x230.jpg",350,230,true],"minimalistblogger-slider":["https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Interrail_12_cover-850x283.jpg",850,283,true],"minimalistblogger-small":["https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Interrail_12_cover-300x180.jpg",300,180,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Stefano Cammisa","author_link":"https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/en\/author\/stefano-cammisa\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"To enter Spain from Bordeaux I had to take a train to the border seaside town of Hendaye, where I arrived after an almost three-hour-long ride. From there, there are no direct connections between French and Spanish railways, since the Iberian countries use a different track gauge than the rest of Europe, so I had...","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Travel<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Travel<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 3 years ago","modified":"Updated 11 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on May 29, 2023","modified":"Updated on June 2, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on May 29, 2023 3:00 pm","modified":"Updated on June 2, 2025 9:50 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1865"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12296,"href":"https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1865\/revisions\/12296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cosmundus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}