It was quite a small train of about 4 carriages numbered 531, 8 and 9 and the bar car. (We later realised that 531 was bookings in carriages 5, 3 and 1)
We had booked 'Gran Class' which means that we had proper beds to sleep in and our own shower room. This really is the smallest shower room that you could imagine, but it does the job.
We had read our tickets carefully, so we knew that we would not have dinner on the train included in our ticket, as we had on the previous two occasions that we had used the service (Paris to Madrid and Barcelona to Milan). We had therefore eaten before we got onto the train, but walked down to the bar for a glass of wine. A Norwegian couple were there discovering what was available to eat. Here they are at the train bar.
Now picture the Portuguese version of Manuel from Fawlty Towers showing them what is available: a piece of cod or some meat. 'Manuel' was explaining that it was cod 'a la planca' (on the hot plate) or in the micronde (microwave). They settled for cod. On the the hot plate and then asked for a glass of wine. Wine only came in bottles, so that had to be it. We managed to get a half bottle of white, but other than that, it was a full bottle of red or beer.We were chatting to the Norwegians for a while and then to some Canadians from Toronto.
Here we are in our compartment.
Our train arrived on time and when we got off, we understood some of the noises in the night. Out train was now about 12 carriages long, so we had obviously been merged with other trains during the night
- Pat and John on tour
