I was awake early because of the noisy aircon in my room which went on and off like a fridge. Dawn is now at 8.30 am, so as soon as I could see, I was on my way for an early morning walk to the Cathedral. I knew it would be closed, but at least I beat the crowds and could walk round the outside in peace.
The Giralda is being cleaned, as this poster demonstrates, so there is scaffolding on the east facade.
On my way back to the hotel, I stumbled upon the downtown office of Renfe, so I was able to buy my train ticket without waiting in a queue at the station. I also spotted Hotel Simon, which rang a bell, and I realised that this is one of the places that supply a Credencial for the Via de la Plata.
At Santa Justa Train Station, there is tight security getting onto the train. Tickets are checked twice and there is an X-ray for baggage.
Once underway, the high speed AVE train reached 280 kms per hour, too fast to take photos, and reached Madrid way ahead of schedule in about 2 hours and 20 minutes.
Final luxury: this is a SKI holiday after all.
I don’t usually do afternoon tea, but this was just delivered to my door:
A lovely day.
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