Train to Malaga

This morning was a early wake up time morning, we had to be at the Atoche Renfe train station at about 7:00 am for our 7:35 am train to Malaga. Our wake up call was set for  5:30 am so that we could get ready and pack the few remaining items we left out from last night. Check out was very quick, and we were on our way walking to the Sol metro stop at 6:30 am. There were a few more people on the street this morning, most looked like they were still out from last night. Today is a holiday in Madrid, so there were probably quite a few late night celebrators on the street. It was an uneventful walk to the metro station, and thankfully, there were not too many stairs to roll the luggage down to our platform.

The metro ride took about 15 minutes, and then up a few stairs into the train station. Unfortunately, none of the vendors were open yet for us to get breakfast. We proceeded through security with our luggage, and only had to wait about 5 minutes before they started boarding our train. Today’s train ride is on one of the highest speed trains in the Renfe AVE system.

Stephanie got us coffee and Coke on the train while we were waiting for it to depart. Today’s train coach was situated with all of the seats facing in the direction of travel. I guess for the longer rides (this is a 2 hr., 20 min trip) all of the seats face forward, unlike yesterday’s slower “high speed” train, which had half of the seats facing in each direction.

The train departed right on time, and was about 3/4ths full. It was a beautiful and sunny day in Spain, and the sunrise on the train was very nice. The train’s highest speed that was posted on the information screen in the coach was 297 kilometers per hour. This particular train was non-stop to Malaga, some of the later trains make a few stops on the way, and take a little longer. The seats were spacious, with power plugs for the computer, and headphone jacks for music. There was also a movie being shown on a small TV screen at the front of the coach. Of course, it was is Spanish, with Spanish subtitles. We wondered if there was anything shown here with English sub titles.

Our plan for today, once we arrive in Malaga, is to try and store the luggage in lockers in the train station, and then try and see a little of the town before we head over to the port. We arrived on time at the Malaga train station, and unloaded our luggage. We went into the station and found the lockers for storing our bags so we could spend a few hours touring the city. The “large size” lockers for rent were huge, so we were able to get all three of our checked bags into one locker. When that was done, we went to the information booth, got a map of the city, and some directions to the Cathedral de Malaga. We walked for about 20 minutes and arrived at the Cathedral. With entry tickets purchased, we went inside.

It is a very large cathedral, but somewhat smaller then the one in Toledo,  and also not quite as decorative. However, it was of the same style. Apparently, it only took about 150 years to construct, not the 250 years it took  to build the Toledo Cathedral. It was also nice because we could take non-flash photos inside, and got some nice pictures.

After we finished with the Cathedral, we asked the ticket attendant where the taxis were so we could take one to the Castillo (Castle) Gibralfaro. We went over to the taxi stand and hired a cab for the ride there. It was a little comical, we thought our destination was another building that we could see  was not far from the cathedral. However, the Castle was much farther away than we had thought. Our first impression was that the driver was “taking us for a ride” so to speak, which can be a common occurrence in some cities. However, later we learned that he had indeed taken us the preferred route, and was not trying to make an extra fare. We found this out by being forced to ride the bus back into town after we learned from the taxi driver that there were no taxis back into town from the Castle. They would come if called, but were not there normally waiting there for passengers. This concerned us at first, wondering how we would get back. However, we learned from the ticket attendant  at the Castle that there was a bus back into the city every hour.

We spent about 30 minutes walking around the top of the walls of the castle. There were some really good opportunities for photographing Malaga from these walls, the castle was on one of the highest mountains in Malaga.

We did not want to miss our bus, since they only depart every hour, so we went back out into the parking area and waited for the next bus. It showed up right on time and after purchasing our tickets, we rode back into the center of town, and then walked the rest of the way back to the Malaga train station to claim our luggage from the storage locker. There was a shopping mall inside the train station, along with several restaurants. We picked out one of the resturants and finally ate lunch about 2:45 pm in the afternoon.

Next we went outside of the station to take a taxi from the train station to the pier to board our cruise  ship (finally). That all went without a hitch, and we were even able to bring one bottle of wine on with us in Stephanie’s backpack. The security and bag screening was all done through the port security, I guess they don’t care about bringing on alcohol until you actually board the ship using the ship’s security personnel. We were going to try and bring some wine on in the first port, just to check  out how it operates on Royal Caribbean, which was not our normal cruise line.

From the time the taxi dropped us off at the pier until we were in our room took about 40 minutes, not too bad. Some of that time was spent looking at the duty free stores in the terminal. There was one small liquor shop selling items, mostly wines, and a few bottles of liquor. It was not what we expected, especially after hearing about the duty free “stores” in information posted by previous cruisers. All of the stores were more like small kiosks than real stores, and they had very limited selections. It did appear that you could take these items onto the ship, so that was good, but since these shops did not have anything we normally drink, we bypassed the whole idea. We were able to use the rum runners bags, already stored in our checked baggage, and successfully take on our supply of “spirits”.

We found our cabin and went in to freshen up before exploring the ship. Our cabin steward, Anna came by and we all met. She seems really nice, so I am sure we will all get along fine.  We started our exploration of the ship, a new experience for us since our last few cruises had been on Princess Cruise Lines ships we were already familiar with.  The inside Promenade Deck was pretty spectacular, it was a large open space designed to replicate a New Orleans street.  There were interior cabins with windows that have a view of this area, and the main “street” consisted of some different types of bars, several stores, and a coffee shop.

It took about an hour and a half for our luggage to show up, and then we spent about an hour unpacking. Then it was time for the Lifeboat Drills. Once that was concluded, the ship was ready to sail. We pulled away from the dock at 5:00 pm and headed out to sea.  It was a calm and clear evening, so we had a great sunset over the mountains of Spain

Although we were tired, and thought about just going to the buffet for dinner, the menu looked inviting for the regular dining room so we just headed in, glad that it was casual night. Dinner was just fair, we had a odd waiter we did not like, and the food was just not that good. We went to the buffet to see what they had for dessert, and learned that the buffet has the sane food as the main dining room, just served on a buffet.

After dinner, we went out on the deck to watch as we passes through the Strait of Gibraltar.  This was our second time doing this, and both happened about 9:00 pm, so once again, all we could see was the outline of the “Rock”.

Then our plan was to see the parade down the center of the ship on the promenade deck, a replica street from New Orleans. By this time, it was almost ready for their parade so we found a spot to watch from. It was a lavish affair, with very colorful costumes, and starred actual staff from the ship, who at times seemed ready to go, or be somewhere else. I guess they do this every week, or so, and I am sure it gets tiring. Overall, the parade was just OK, there were too many people crowding onto the limited space, making it difficult to see.

After the parade concluded, we were both tired, and so we headed up to the room for a good nights rest.  Tomorrow is a sea day, so we will be able to sleep in and relax.