Perth to Córdoba cont’d…

One of my challenges this year was to travel with carry-on luggage only. I studied Emirates rules for size and weight (55X38X22 cm and 7 kg). In order to squash my Aarn backpack down to size, I removed the front balance pockets, thinking my pack would be a lot lighter without a sleeping bag. No more albergues! When I checked in at Perth airport, they were only interested in weight, which was just over 6 kg. Result! However, I found it very hard work carrying this load around the 3 airports where there is a long, long trek from plane to exit. I had based my plan on the need to get quickly from Barajas Airport to Atocha train station in 1.5 hours. I didn’t want to have to wait around for baggage to be unloaded onto the carousel. Theoretically this was a good move, except for the long queues at Security and Immigration in Madrid due to huge numbers of arrivals.

I knew that the busy main Atocha station would be difficult to navigate. I got there in about 45 minutes on the Cercanias train, which was free with my Iryo train ticket to Cordoba. I just had to show the Iryo ticket on my phone, which I kept doing at Atocha to get directions to the Iryo lines. I was dying of thirst, but dare not stop to buy a drink!

It was a huge relief to board the train, find my seat and get to the buffet car for an aqua con gas. The woman sitting next to me was a native of Cordoba and talked to me non-stop about what to see, what to eat and where to eat it. She wrote the places down in the back of my guide book. Fortunately, Hotel Maestre was within walking distance of all of them.

One last hurdle: as the train was pulling in to Cordoba, there was a signal failure. The train was stuck for 40 minutes from 5.00 pm. After more than 24 hours on the go, I was pretty exhausted and completely fed up by this time! When we finally got there, the platforms in Cordoba station were chaotic: packed with angry travellers. Our train must have caused a bottleneck and other trains were stuck behind it. It was the main line to Malaga, so lots of people were going there!

Outside the station were lots and lots of taxis, the drivers standing around chatting. I jumped in the first one and we drove at speed through the narrow streets of the old town to Hotel Maestre. My tiny single room with ensuite is a bargain at €45 with a view down into the central courtyard and no noise! Perfect for a good night’s sleep (3 in fact).