Paris to Barcelona - 2011

Journey from Paris to Barcelona - TrainHotel (12 hours)

The Journey
There's something deeply reassuring about a sleeper cabin on an overnight train. Close the door and your travel experience becomes entirely private - unless, like me, you open your cabin curtains at 7am on the outskirts of Barcelona and encounter a platform of commuters staring straight back in. And you're dressed only in underwear !!

This startling moment comes after a surprisingly restful night on the Elipsos Trenhotel, or Train Hotel. Surprising because sleep on rails is often tricky - small beds, rocking trains, loud carriages.  However, I seemed to sleep rather soundly and when I woke up I looked out of the teeny windows and there gleaming back to me was the 'Sunny City of Barcelona'

Cable Car
As soon as we got off the sleeper train we went on the famous cable car.  Where we enjoyed the amazing views of Barcelona from 100 meters in this 1300 meters-long trip in an historical cable car, where we saw the most important buildings of the city from a bird-eye's view.

 

At the end of the 12 hour train ride from Paris to Barcelona and all the sightseeing shown above I was greeted with a Seafood Paella.  Which in case you don't know is my favourite dish !!!