Reading the railway article about Portbou made me nostalgic. I had taken the same route as the article in 1999 on an overnight train from Geneva to the French-Spanish border town of Portbou. At that border, I was waiting for the train to Barcelona. This article recommends a slow journey, and it was indeed a relaxing journey. The TGV now runs quickly through this border section in a tunnel. I took the TGV from Barcelona to Montpellier on my 2018 trip. This is exactly the kind of slow train and rapid express journey described in the article. Portbou is a city I haven’t visited yet and I hope to one day.
¶[…] The only trains from Avignon Centre that still venture beyond French borders are the thrice-daily regional services to Portbou in Spain. This is an extraordinary 4hr 15min journey made all the better by being on a slower train, which makes 25 stops en route. […] Full text is here. Referenced from The Guardian, 6 September, 2022
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