On March 6th my friend David and I went to Madrid. We went from Malaga on the AVE train. AVE is an acronym for Alta Velocidad Española which means Spanish high speed. Coincidentally, ave is Spanish for bird.
There are two train stations in Madrid: Puerta Atocha in the south and Chamartin on the north side of the city. The trip from Malaga to Puerta Atocha in the historic centre of Madrid cost less than 50 Euros. The AVE reached speeds of 300 Km/h and the 537 kms from Maria Zambrano Station in Malaga took 2 hours and 50 minutes.
The train is comfortable and free headphones are provided so that passengers can watch the movie. Light meals, sandwiches, snacks and beverages with and without alcohol can be purchased at the snack bar near the front of the train.
Since July 2008 the sculptures Noche y Día (Night and Day), by Antonio López have been on show at Atocha station in Madrid. They are three metres high and weigh 2 tons. We had to beg security to let us take pictures of me standing next to the sleeping baby head because they were shutting down the station. I asked our taxi driver why there were so many police and he said something about a minister (my Spanish isn´t great and people in Madrid have a different accent) so I´m guessing some high-ranking government official was coming into Madrid by train. Stay tuned for more about Madrid!
The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.
