AlDisneyland

[fingertrouble]

So being in Cordoba of course the first thing you do is jump on a train to Granada to see the world famous Alhambra gardens. Or try to.

There is amazingly only 1 train a day Cordoba-Seville. The train goes through amazing mountain scenery, and apart that they only seem to have two films dubbed in Spanish, Click and Who Killed Harry Crick? (the scriptwriters that ripped the Truman Show seemingly).

Which leads me to a question - why given that a lot of the station have a few trains a day, or a couple of trains an hour, why are stations like Cadiz massive multiplatform expensive productions that would shame most London stations that have trains every few minutes, not hourly/daily? Most of the platforms even at AVE stations are unused. I sense an EEC money scam.

Also they style them like airports, which given the massive production of security, Xray machines, security guards, long lines, and tickets checked at least 2 times by different people; well one gets the sense it's a large job creation scheme, and like British Fail will eventually become totally uneconomic, not that railways ever can be profit making, but given the overstaffing and bureaucracy of the system it feels scarily nostalgic.

Anyway onto Alhambra, to queue and queue and find all the tickets to the garden sold about 10 people before us. What most of the guide neglect to tell you is you need to book MONTHS in advance or chance a ticket in the morning...which of course because of the one train means we missed. Which was the whole point of getting to Granada anyway. 

So we are back here today to try our luck in the rain!

Comments

[gorkabear.livejournal.com]

Gosh, I think I should have told you about the Alhambra. They did that to protect it, because massive hordes of tourists were seriously damaging it. But you still get access to el Generalife and the city itself, which is nice

The Córdoba-Sevilla services, except one, are mainly AVEs... And it takes very little from one city to another. From Córdoba to Granada, the best option should've been a coach.

The thorough inspections in trains come from a simple reason: ETA is still active. Remember also that back in March 2004, 191 people were killed when travelling on trains by muslim integrists. So I think it's a well spent money...

[fingertrouble.livejournal.com]

strange cos we've done the Seville Cordoba AVE several times and it's no frequent than every hour, usually much less.

Interestingly there has been as much if not more bomb activity on London trains and buses, but we don't implement those security measures - there is no proof that they work: the Atocha bombs were in radios and plastic or nitrate explosive which would pass through Xray.

It just slows everything down (something I have gotten used to here in Spain) and gives a false sense of security. It won't stop a commited bomber as Xray machines at airports didn't stop 9-11, or hijacking before or after. So why have it?

[gorkabear.livejournal.com]

It's clear that you're in the south, because I was the one whining about everything being too slow in England... I could never get a meal done in less than 1 hour unless it was junk food.

(yet I still think that controls are better than none)

Alhambra tickets

[ursine1.livejournal.com]

I visited Granada back in 2003 and bought my tickets to visit the Alhambra when I landed at the Madrid airport through a bank (BBVA) branch. As the FAQ on the Alhambra website says, that is still the recommended procedure. Apparently they have changed banks and now use "la Caixa", which happens to be my bank.

The added security is only for the AVE and long-distance trains. The commuter trains (called Rodalies here) and the regional trains don't have any security to speak of.

It's too bad that you didn't post your itinerary before your trip as I would have e-mailed you some suggestions.

Chuck