Published on Nov, 2024
This tour starts in Barcelona at the Sants train station early in the morning. You will be sent tickets the day before and have to find your train and check into security @30 minutes before departure. The high speed train ride is smooth...and we reached speeds up to 300 km per hour.
At the Madrid Atocha Station, our guide Natalia met us at the train station. Our train was a tad bit late, and came in a different track than expected, but we eventually found Natalia. We walked over to the Prado Museum, less than a mile away. It was raining, and Madrid is not really made for lots of rain, so drainage was slow. So if there is rain in the forecast,bring an umbrella and waterproof shoes.
The museum is quite large, so we focused on paintings going back centuries - Spanish painters like Goya. Natalia explained the life of the artists, as well as the possible meanings of the paintings. We stayed at the Prado for an hour to two hours.
We then took left and walked through the city center of Madrid for a few hours, stopping at some of the governmental sites, historic restaurants, historic shops, and city architecture and sites. Natalia explained the significance of these sites and how they played into the success of Madrid over the years. We ended at a city marketplace and bid Natalia farewell.
We had about 2 -3 hours to walk back to the Atocha Train Station, which allowed us time to eat, take photos, or buy interesting souvenirs along the way.
Our tickets for the train were for the early evening. We boarded the train and spent the last 2.5 hours of the tour speeding back to Barcelona at 300 km per hour.
Overall, we enjoyed this tour immensely. We got to ride a high speed train, see the antiquities of Spain as explained by Natalia, either in art or architecture, spend time exploring on our own, and sampling Spanish cuisine.
