Successful for the Spanish TGV passage between Toulouse and Barcelona

Successful for the Spanish TGV passage between Toulouse and Barcelona

3:05 p.m. Toulouse. Dated the Railway Station boarding docks narrow slice by its decay with our TGV SNCF signed Renfe-floured nose while a refreshing white ribboned elegant burgundy and gray border.

Aboard. This Spanish TGV is very different from the French model. In first class, the larger seats are leather, equipped with a single socket and plug headset with four channels of music (classical and three international and Spanish varieties). And, all five seats, flat screens are installed in the ceiling of the central span. Second class, the equipment is identical, except for seats, slightly less broad and dressed in beautiful colorful fabrics.

The welcome announcement. Safety conditions, hours, offers snack ... it is endless.Taught in French, Spanish and English, it will be renewed each station stop, namely Carcassonne, Perpignan, Girona and Figueres. Exhausting!

Staff. We essentially feminine edge, Spanish and youngish dressed as air hostesses a strict gray suit with a small scarf tied on the side. French language mastered with a slight accent, small music heard in the films of Almodovar!

Distractions. As a long-haul flight, a stewardess distributes the atria in a small plastic bag. We are all excited about the film now ... until we discover that it is Heartbreakerwith Romain Duris and Vanessa Paradis , released in 2010 ... In addition, the screen is a bit far from our head and if we understand well, it is hard.

A drinks trolley (pay) but nothing happens after snack. For that, you have to go to the bar! In the club car, so a Spanish host a sexy anything proposes the card, the same as our French TGV, lying some Iberian specialties such as high calorie donut glazed with sugar "Donuts" so popular in the kingdom .

Landscapes. Between Perpignan and Carcassonne, the path runs along the sea, while in the distance appear the peaks of the Pyrenees. What a postcard!This is the real movie of the trip in technicolor. A small masterpiece. Pyrenees are crossed by a long tunnel. Here we are in Spain, where the new high speed line makes its way into large tracts of Mediterranean vegetation: the Costa Brava campaign side.

Crossing the city is under ground. We are spared the blow what might offend our aesthetic sensibility. The no man's lands drafts disappear from the landscape. In Figueres and Girona station station access from the north (Cadaques, Roses, Estartit, L'Escala ...) and southern (Bagur beaches Pafrugell, Palamos, Platja d'Aro, Sant Feliu de Guixols ...), the Most shorts down, emptying the train a third of its passengers. It smells like the beach! It remains to our board, in first class, a few suits and ties and Barcelona's proud prim.

18.45. Our TGV fact, to the minute, its entry into Estacio Sants station in Barcelona.Two escalators here we are immersed in a new building near the city center and airport-like, with shops, security gates and lounges where passengers boarding the return journey waiting patiently.

What do we think? Successful for Trans-train with a respected 3:40 between Toulouse and the Catalan capital schedule Passage. One small regret the absence of newspapers and a restaurant instead, more substantial, like Thalys and Eurostar.

At what price? It is announced from € 39 each way ...

Open track. Services to Figueras, Girona and Barcelona are also from Paris (6:25), Lyon (4:53) and Marseille (4:17), operated jointly by the SNCF and Renfe. A total of five trains from thirteen major French cities with Spanish Catalonia. More than one million passengers are expected this year.

New for Summer. From Paris, we can now take the TGV at 16h07 to arrive at 22:48 in Barcelona. The new schedule connects the Catalan capital live from Sète and Agde. It also offers from Beziers in the afternoon, in addition to the morning on the TGV from Marseille.

In line Barcelona-Paris, a third daily service was also set up, with a departure at 13:20 for arrival Gare de Lyon at 19h53.

Information: www.voyagessncf.com and www.catalunyaexperience.fr