https://www.facebook.com/Greganddebstravelblog?mibextid=ZbWKwL
#Retiredlyf
Our driver picked us up at about 10:30 and took us to the train station next to the Valencia Bullring. I think it would be a great looking station, but at the moment it is covered in scaffolding, so you can’t really see it.
Our train was due to leave at 11:25, when we didn’t have a platform number by 11:20 Deb went to the platform entrance gate and got told our train was cancelled due to severe weather.
We got onto our tour company to try and get to Barcelona sometime today.
Ella at Unforgettable was on the case.
New plan. We are now going to Barcelona by car, leaving Valencia at 5pm for a 4hr drive.
We went back to our hotel, dropped out bags off and went out and had lunch. It was raining and bleak so we went back to the hotel to just sit it out.
We left the hotel at 4:45 Barcelona bound.
Our driver was Enrique and our ride was a 9 seat Mercedes van for our 350+km drive.
There were lots of trucks on the road and the skies looked very ominous.
We followed the Mediterranean coast, the land was very flat with hills/mountains to the north. Every now and then we could see old towers and fortresses on the hilltops.
The agriculture of this region looked like it was mainly oranges/citrus and, yes you guessed it, olives. As it turns out this region produces about 60% of Spain’s citrus fruits.
It’s never good when you see highway signs advising extreme caution. “Extreme Precaution y Evite Reisgo” (Extreme Caution and Avoid Risk.) Throw into the mix with the heavy rain a bit of thunderbolts and lightening (very very frightening, just ask Galileo), and then before you know it the roads were dry! But not for long. (6:14pm)
Now (6:20pm) torrential rain and lightening, a lane closed and water over road, all the traffic (cars and trucks) have their hazard lights on.
We crossed the Ebro River, the longest river in Spain.
And at about 150km from Barcelona we had dry road again.
Fun fact of the day: In Spain they measure rain in litres per square metre, 1 litre per square metre is equivalent to 1mm of rain in Australian terms.
Enrique drove us all the way without a break, a mammoth effort. It was 2 or 3 lane highway from Valencia to Barcelona, and a “speed limit” (mostly a suggestion) of 120kph.
We arrived at our hotel at about 8:10pm, thanked Enrique and wished him a safe drive back. We hoped he was going to have a bit of a break before hand.
We checked in without any issues, and a nice surprise, we got an upgrade. We got to our room, and celebrated we made it, albeit with a bit of a hiccup.
