ROLLING HOTELS, A DIFFERENT WAY TO DISCOVER THE WORLD
SARA SANTAMARIA ARRIBAS
Bearable narrownesses on luxury waggons, and, of course, delicious meals which can be eaten on beautiful restaurants, are some of the appeals which offer the called Trains-Hotels, a different way of travelling thought by the public company Renfe for some of its international services. The Francisco de Goya, the Joan Miro, the Pau Casals, the Salvador Dali or the Luisitania are some of the examples, which remember us to those big European trains which travelled at the first of the last century, as the Constanza Express (Ostende-Estambul) or the Rome Express (Paris-Rome-Napoles), which circulated into the rails of all Europe. We can't forget the national routes which do the Transcantabrian and the Al-Andalus train.
Interior view from one of the Al-Andalus compartments.
Borned to combine the tradition of the old sleeping cars and the confort of the modern Talgos, these trains are managed by the Spanish-French Company Trans-Pirineos. The current rolling hotels join, since two years ago, Madrid and Barcelone to the different European capitals as Lisboa, Paris, Zurich and Milan. They offer an excellent service of restaurant in the charge of a professional cook, where they don't use precooked, tinned or packed foods to improve the taste into the meals. Their lunchs are delicious and because of the trains are visited by different kind of passangers on foot along the journey between Barcelone and Geneva to sample their succulent menus.
By the way, the current waggons show some lacks into their lodgings, because their compartments are narrow to a travel which is even 13 hours long. They haven't got a table to work or to sit down where the passanger could think about his or her problems; moreover, they haven't got the assistence service to the traveller when he or she must put the luggage into the boot. But, anyway, those people who want to travel on tourist class the trains have confortable tip-up seats which can be transformed into beds, and they are more confortable than the narrow compartments. By the way, to compensate the users for these small faults, the toilet cases made of cloth which are into the bathrooms have all the necessary for the complete hygiene.
There is the first class, class which includes towels, hangers, bottles of water, telephones near the bed, service at the compartments and alarm clock, newspapers, personal key and air-conditioned, thus, the magazines Paisajes, published by Renfe, and the French France TGV. In relation to the luggage, there is an space reserved. Into the compartments reserved as the complete or family cabin, the passangers can't carry more than two suitcases which are 70x55x25 centimetres wide each traveller.
The restaurant service is one of the most outstandings.
Francisco de Goya
This train everyday travels and during all the year between Madrid and Paris, and it stops in Burgos, Vitoria and Poitiers (France), where the travellers will be able to visit the technological park called Futurescope. This train leaves from Chamartin station at seven o'clock and arrives to Austerlitz station (Paris) at eight and a half in the morning next day, although these timetables can be changed during the year. The price can range from the 14,300 pesetas (85.94 euros) the outward journey on tourist class to the 44,500 pesetas (267.45 euros) the round trip ticket on first class.
Joan Miro
This train daily links Sants station (Barcelone) to Austerlitz station (Paris). It leaves from Barcelone at five past eight in the evening, it crosses Girona, Figueras and Dijon, and it arrives at the French capital at a quarter past eight in the morning of the following day. In relation to the price, we can travel on it from the 19,600 pesetas (117.79 euros) the outward journey on tourist class, to the 51,000 pesetas (306.51 euros) the round trip ticket on first class.
Pau Casals
This train circulates between Sants station and Zurich all days on high season and four days on a week the rest of the year, it stops in Girona, Figueras, Perpignan (only during July and August), Geneva, Lausana, Friburgo and Berna. To Perpignan station it travels close to the rolling-hotel called Salvador Dali, city from where the Pau Casals continues its journey alone to Milan. It leaves from Sants station at thirty-five minutes to nine in the evening and it arrives to Zurich at a quarter past nine in the morning of the following day. The price of the tickets ranges from the 14,300 pesetas (85.94 euros) the outward journey on tourist class, the 17,800 pesetas (106.98 euros) on preferred class to 26,200 pesetas (157.46 euros) on first class.
There are different compartments, where the traveller can sleep placidly during the whole night.
Salvador Dali
This train daily travels on high season between Barcelone and Milan, and it stops in Girona, Figueras -where the travellers can visit Dali's museum-, Perpignan -where it continues its journey alone- and Turin. During the rest of the year, the frequency is lower. We must emphasize that, as in the last case, includes seats on first class and on second class. Its prices range from the 14,300 pesetas (85.94 euros) on tourist class, 17,600 pesetas (105.77 euros) on preferred class and 27,400 pesetas (164.67 euros) on first class, all of them include round trip ticket.
Lusitania
In the same way as the AVE train was the railway service to go to the Expo in 1992, the Lusitania was the railway service during the Expo in Lisboa in 1998. It everyday links the Iberian capitals leaving from Madrid at thirty-five minutes to eleven in the night and arriving to Lisbon at fourty minutes to nine in the morning of the following day. The prices include seats on first and second class, thus beds on tourist, preferred and first class. The outward journey tickets cost 9,240 pesetas (55.53 euros), 14,300 pesetas (85.94 euros) and 18,700 pesetas (112.38 euros), respectively.
The coffee shop is another place for the relaxation during the journey.
In the same way, we can't forget the Transcantabrian train, which is FEVE's (Spanish Railway of Narrow Gauge) luxury train. It links Santiago de Compostela and San Sebastian runing along the Cantabrian Coast. It has two different compartments: suite or standard, but both of them are perfectly equiped to obtain that the costumer would be as confortable as possible during the journey.
With similar philosophy, but in the other Spanish end, the Al-Andalus runs the Andalucian tracks, offering to the passangers all the qualities of a luxury hotel.
*The tickets to travel on any train managed by Renfe can be bought at Renfe stations where are sold tickets or at the travel agencies. In the other side, there is a service to reserve seats and a delivery service to buy tickets in the telephones: 913 28 90 and 934 90 11 22, or on the following web: http://www.renfe.es.
