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Railway stations enroute

Kanga

Veteran Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Francés x 5, Le Puy x 2, Arles, Tours, Norte, Madrid, Via de la Plata, Portuguese, Primitivo
In another thread @SabineP posted a photo of Antwerp railway station. It reminded me of all the stations I’ve passed through on the way to or from walking a camino. Some very beautiful. I always find them interesting, even the pedestrian ones.
At the end of my very first camino, in 2001, I had a week left before my flight home and I went to the station at SDC with the intention of taking the first train out, regardless of where it was heading - feeling serendipitous and completely free. It went north, and I then took the narrow gauge train that did a milk run along the north coast. Such fun.

Anyway, as we are all enjoying trawling through our photos in the absence of being able to actually walk a camino, I thought it might be interesting to post a few photos of railway stations or experiences connected to our camino journeys.
Here is my first one - Porto
7F9DDA14-573B-432C-9CE5-77D2B3F661A0.jpeg
 
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The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Wonderful topic!

My travel by train in 2014 ( to get to Ferrol for the Ingles ) resulted in average pictures ( not half as stunning as yours @Kanga ) but it was memorable to say the least.

Flew from Brussels to Santander. Stayed the night there. Then Feve train ( see pic with logo outside station ) from Santander to Oviedo ( pic with the oldfashioned advertisement ) Deboarding for an hour ( having a coffeebreak at Cafe Estacion of course ! ) and then Oviedo to Ferrol. In total more or less ten hours in the train. Stopping at , I believe, more than eighty stations in total. For a big part the route follows the Camino del Norte. And from the trainwindow I saw many pilgrims walking.
Slow travel indeed...No prebooking , just come into the station in Santander and buy your ticket.

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The minute I saw your post, Sao Bento sprang to mind! There are loads of stations along the camino... I guess. Abando, in Bilbao, would be a good one, not my photo, but this gives you an idea, the stained glass reminds me of the province parliament in Gernika

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Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

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I love them too! Here are mine from Porto, Lisbon, Bordeaux and Bayonne.
 

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The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Nightfall at Oriente Station in Lisbon (the same as the second photo in Faye's post above) en route to Madrid and then Oviedo for the Primitivo:

View attachment 95956
I just adore this station.
But I also love that the station in Bordeaux had a fabulous patisserie... and I had a pretty nice lunch on a layover at Valladolid, actually. Madrid station seemed reminiscent of Montreal’s Gare Centrale so I didn’t photograph it. I wonder if they had the same architect...
 
I just adore this station.
But I also love that the station in Bordeaux had a fabulous patisserie... and I had a pretty nice lunch on a layover at Valladolid, actually. Madrid station seemed reminiscent of Montreal’s Gare Centrale so I didn’t photograph it. I wonder if they had the same architect...


Are you referring to Madrid Atocha? Gorgeous indeed.


 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Sadly, no. The other station. 1960’s brutalist. I *wish* I had been going from Atocha.
However, I was super fortunate to make friends with a young man who was heading to the north from Madrid to visit family, and he helped me get settled ont he very nearly empty train. He explained that a Spanish holiday had started 2 days prior and *everyone* had already left Madrid, so not to worry about boarding the desolate train.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Sitting outside Bayonne station waiting for a train to SJPP, which would never arrive , owing to a general strike. Travelled instead an a very full replacement bus.

View attachment 95958
I once fought with a cash machine in France during the general strikes of 2003, unable to get my money out. The machine kept telling me to contact my home branch.
Finally, a very elderly woman explained to me, "C'est a cause des gréves, madame. Il-y-a un caix privé a la prôchéne coin du rue." and I high-tailed it to every private bank machine I could find util I had enough money to last me 3 weeks (I was living in the Cité Universitaire that spring/summer) and hid my money in multiple spots in my little studio apartment because I felt more secure having that money in my apartment than I did about the thought of not being able to get money from the machines that French workers were not re-filling.
What a summer that was!!
 
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Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

€83,-
The minute I saw your post, Sao Bento sprang to mind! There are loads of stations along the camino... I guess. Abando, in Bilbao, would be a good one, not my photo, but this gives you an idea, the stained glass reminds me of the province parliament in Gernika

View attachment 95949
When I arrived at Bilbao station, early after sunrise, I was so pleasantly surprised to see this Window!
 
Night train/ Paris to Bayonne
photo taken October 14, 2014

Night train 14.11.2014.jpg


I often took the night sleeper from Paris/ Austerlitz to Bayonne. Since I bought the senior ticket well in advance on line the 30 euros price was great for a voyage of roughly 1000 km. However it was hardly the Orient Express! Five other women plus baggage were squeezed in the cabin but luckily I had requested a bottom bunk; sleep passed in relative comfort.
 
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Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
I once fought with a cash machine in France during the general strikes of 2003, unable to get my money out. The machine kept telling me to contact my home branch.
During one walk we detoured to Pau to meet up with some friends who were walking part of the way with us. We intended to catch the train from there to Bordeaux and on to SJPDP. Arrived at the station, but alas, the ticket machine would not accept our overseas credit cards. A kind woman offered to buy them on her local credit card, and we paid her the cash. Great, thank you. She left. Then the station announcement - no trains due to a strike. All tickets purchased that day would be automatically refunded to the credit cards of purchase....

Sometimes kindness pays!
 
Night train/ Paris to Bayonne
photo taken October 14, 2014

View attachment 95969


I often took the night sleeper from Paris/ Austerlitz to Bayonne. Since I bought the senior ticket well in advance on line the 30 euros price was great for a voyage of roughly 1000 mm. However it was hardly the Orient Express! Five other women plus baggage were squeezed in the cabin but luckily I had requested a bottom bunk; sleep passed in relative comfort.

Yes, I've experienced this too - but I did not sleep, and it was after an exhausting flight from Australia! Never again.
 
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
When we walked the Portuguese Caminho, we flew into Glasgow first from Australia to visit family before heading to London to catch the Eurostar to Paris, then the TGV from Montparnasse to Hendaye and the night train to Lisbon from Irun. These are some of our train photos from that trip in April, 2016. We have also included a photo of the beautiful, tiled station at Vila Franca de Xira which we walked passed once we started the Caminho.
The night train to Lisbon was an interesting experience, we had a two bunk cabin with ensuite. We could hardly move in the cabin with our luggage around our legs. Once we were ready for bed and had done our ablutions we had to put our suitcases in the shower so there was room to put the beds down. We actually both slept very well, probably because we were exhausted after our very early start that morning and a very long days train travel. But it was worth it as we had an amazing experience.
P4183125.JPGIMG_2522.JPGIMG_2525.JPGP4183137.JPGP4193139.JPGThis is the night train arriving into Lisbon on time at 7.30am.
P4243459.JPGVila Franca de Xira train station.
 
Abandoned station between Hinojosa del Duque and Monterrubio de la Serena on the Mozarabe. Two days later, in Campanario, where the albergue was located in the old station, the building in the back on the right.
 

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Join our full-service guided tour and let us convert you into a Pampered Pilgrim!
Walking the route from Paris we stopped overnight in Tours (❤️) and took the train from there to Druye, walked to Villandry, to enjoy its wonderful chateau gardens, and then made our way back onto the route via the chateau at Azay le Rideau (yes, I know, but it all seemed logical at the time). The gardens and chateaux are, of course, very beautiful. We really enjoyed the railways station at Tours, not the least because SNCF was putting on free breakfast for its customers. Ian, who was working for NSW Railways, was delighted to meet the SNCF area manager.

IMG_1042.jpeg
 
Night train/ Paris to Bayonne

I often took the night sleeper from Paris/ Austerlitz to Bayonne. Since I bought the senior ticket well in advance on line the 30 euros price was great for a voyage of roughly 1000 km.
Yes, I've experienced this too - but I did not sleep, and it was after an exhausting flight from Australia! Never again.
Same here @Kanga. 2013 top bunk after long haul from Oz. I didn’t sleep a wink. Fear of falling ‘off the shelf’ and not getting off at right stop. I guess we both survived 😂
 
Before we all knew Covid was going to find us everywhere!!! A last minute change to my March 2020 camino route. Decision made to start on the camino Levante at Toledo. A beautiful city to spend a few days and only 20-25 minutes by train from Madrid Atocha.

Toledo waiting room.
 

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The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
In another thread @SabineP posted a photo of Antwerp railway station. It reminded me of all the stations I’ve passed through on the way to or from walking a camino. Some very beautiful. I always find them interesting, even the pedestrian ones.
At the end of my very first camino, in 2001, I had a week left before my flight home and I went to the station at SDC with the intention of taking the first train out, regardless of where it was heading - feeling serendipitous and completely free. It went north, and I then took the narrow gauge train that did a milk run along the north coast. Such fun.

Anyway, as we are all enjoying trawling through our photos in the absence of being able to actually walk a camino, I thought it might be interesting to post a few photos of railway stations or experiences connected to our camino journeys.
Here is my first one - Lisbon
View attachment 95939
Lisbon is one of my favourite cities and I remember the stations well, especially going North. Sintra and Ericeira are two places high on my memory list. Local buses and trains are always good finds!

Samarkand.
 
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
Surely someone will have a picture of Canfranc. I think my phone must have died from Somport down to Jaca, because I don’t have any pictures of that glorious walk!
indeed, how did I not think about that one??? Getting off the train after the scenic route on a late afternoon in September, only the engineer and myself on board, the blue greyish light... it felt like I had travelled in time. Amazin place! So old, so empty, so beautiful! The French side of the station, on the back, is in worse condition, but also remarkable

1616584556583.png
 
Here are a couple of bad photos. I am about the worlds worst. They are taken from the Porto train station. Met my fantastic older daughter in Porto after my Nov/Dec 2019 Camino Frances. Not very good but pretty similar to the Lisbon train station. Across the street from our hotel there was a tile mural very similar to the train staition in color and design. I saw quite a few tile murals all over Porto like that. If memory serves me correctly from walking from Lisbon in 2017 this style is seen throughout Portugal.
The last photo is not my photo but it is the albergue in Deba on the Camino Norte. It is an old train station. I didn't stay there as I got to Deba about 11:00AM. There was a detour because of bridge construction. I went into the tourist office to ask about the route and two old friends of mine who I had not seen in about 15 years were in the office too. They were walking part of the Norte and were taking a day off in Deba. We had a wonderful lunch and I was on my way!
 

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The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Here are a couple of bad photos. I am about the worlds worst. They are taken from the Porto train station. Met my fantastic older daughter in Porto after my Nov/Dec 2019 Camino Frances. Not very good but pretty similar to the Lisbon train station. Across the street from our hotel there was a tile mural very similar to the train staition in color and design. I saw quite a few tile murals all over Porto like that. If memory serves me correctly from walking from Lisbon in 2017 this style is seen throughout Portugal.
The last photo is not my photo but it is the albergue in Deba on the Camino Norte. It is an old train station. I didn't stay there as I got to Deba about 11:00AM. There was a detour because of bridge construction. I went into the tourist office to ask about the route and two old friends of mine who I had not seen in about 15 years were in the office too. They were walking part of the Norte and were taking a day off in Deba. We had a wonderful lunch and I was on my way!
Sao Benton Station is beautiful indeed!
 
In another thread @SabineP posted a photo of Antwerp railway station. It reminded me of all the stations I’ve passed through on the way to or from walking a camino. Some very beautiful. I always find them interesting, even the pedestrian ones.
At the end of my very first camino, in 2001, I had a week left before my flight home and I went to the station at SDC with the intention of taking the first train out, regardless of where it was heading - feeling serendipitous and completely free. It went north, and I then took the narrow gauge train that did a milk run along the north coast. Such fun.

Anyway, as we are all enjoying trawling through our photos in the absence of being able to actually walk a camino, I thought it might be interesting to post a few photos of railway stations or experiences connected to our camino journeys.
Here is my first one - Lisbon
View attachment 95939
Isn't this Porto?
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
I still vividly remember entering Bayonne train station for my first train ride to Saint-Jean-Pied-de Port, feeling very excited but also a little fearful of the challenge ahead, and meeting my first fellow pilgrims.

And taking off from Santiago de Compostela weeks later, somewhat tired but happy, with loads of beautiful memories of paths walked, places seen, people met, friends made and aches and pains overcome.

Bayonne.jpeg Santiago de Compostela.jpeg
 
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I’ll add my pics to the Canfrac love fest.
Coming down the hill, past the tunnel, across the line to see it in all its glory is something I will never forget.
I hope someday the money and enthusiasm can be found to restore it.
 

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Love this thread. Okay, 3 pictures
1. Bordeaux, where I connected. 2011 my very first Camino and my very first experience with European train travel (except the Charles De Gaulle in Paris where I boarded). Travelling solo, I was so excited.
2. The train from Bordeaux to Bayonne broke down, I shared a car with these 4 strangers, we became friends, my first "Camino" family. The lady in front spoke french and guided us through the ordeal.
3. An old joke I had to thrown in, and we thought cell phones were isolating us, haha.
 

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The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Surely someone will have a picture of Canfranc. I think my phone must have died from Somport down to Jaca, because I don’t have any pictures of that glorious walk!
Heaven indeed... I scooted round the site and went in from the rear!
 
I hope someday the money and enthusiasm can be found to restore it.

I think your hopes will soon be realized! This older thread talks about the proposed renovations to the station.

A quick google search to see what’s happened in the last few years is encouraging. The station was almost ready in 2020.


Highlights of the article — Station will occupy 1,000 square meters, and an international train route between Pau and Zaragoza will be inaugurated.

The rest of the historic building will be a hotel. The facade and the platforms have been restored, all windows changed. The target date for opening was April 2021, but I assume covid has pushed that back.

A more detailed article in English about the renovation here:


I don’t use twitter, but one source I saw said that Turismo de Canfranc has a twitter account, so there is surely more recent information there. If you use twitter, let us know what you find out.

Buen camino, Laurie
 
Has the collapsed bridge on the French side been rebuilt?..
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Love this thread. Okay, 3 pictures
1. Bordeaux, where I connected. 2011 my very first Camino and my very first experience with European train travel (except the Charles De Gaulle in Paris where I boarded). Travelling solo, I was so excited.
2. The train from Bordeaux to Bayonne broke down, I shared a car with these 4 strangers, we became friends, my first "Camino" family. The lady in front spoke french and guided us through the ordeal.
3. An old joke I had to thrown in, and we thought cell phones were isolating us, haha.
efdoucette,
Re.your point 2.

This happened to me in 2010. The TGV train was late arriving in Bayonne so three other pilgrims and I missed the connecting TER train to Saint Jean Pied de Port.
I led them all to the Station Master's office and explained.
The Station Master was able to produce and pay for a taxi which took us immediately on our way! Thus we arrived in SJPdP before the next TER would have left Bayonne. ...Never understimate a powerchat.
 
Valencia station is another winner! Camino de Levante

Gare de Lyon in Paris as start for reaching Route de Vézelay (used in film Travels with My Aunt. Le Train Bleu restaurant up the staircase is a must...
 
efdoucette,
Re.your point 2.

This happened to me in 2010. The TGV train was late arriving in Bayonne so three other pilgrims and I missed the connecting TER train to Saint Jean Pied de Port.
I led them all to the Station Master's office and explained.
The Station Master was able to produce and pay for a taxi which took us immediately on our way! Thus we arrived in SJPdP before the next TER would have left Bayonne. ...Never understimate a powerchat.
Good for you Margaret, squeaky wheel gets the grease so they say.
I was scheduled to overnight in Bayonne anyway so the delay was no big deal, was due to arrive during the daylight hours but arrived after dark, a bit of a bummer but it was all adventure at that point.
Eric
 
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Has the collapsed bridge on the French side been rebuilt?..
If you are asking about the bridge from Canfranc to France. There are long sections of the track in major disrepair and likely never to be opened. I walked part of the route a few years ago and portions of the rails had been washed away into the river below.
 
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Our Atmospheric H30 poncho offers lightness and waterproofness. Easily compressible and made with our Waterproof fabric, its heat-sealed interior seams guarantee its waterproofness. Includes carrying bag.

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I am sursprised to see no photos of the old loco in the front of Santiago de Compostela rail station?
1616968713768.png

My happy memories of rail travel on the Camino start with a short trip from SdC to Ourense for a trial week of De Plata when I first learned of the difference between the High Speed service and the local stopping trains.
The other was a Del Norte trip after flying into Asturias-Oviedo airport (and simply walking off the airport almost straight onto the camino. I thought that I had overestimated by performance and wanted to leapfrog a bit of the Del Norte path - so climbed up the hill to Soto de Luina station and waited for the train. No one at the station, and no machine to be able to buy a ticket. The station was a quaint request stop, it arrived on time. There was no conductor on the train. I travelled to La Caridad, which was also a request stop, also without staff. And so, try as I might, I couldn't pay for my almost 2 hour long journey.
Therefore this little rail service gets my highest praise - the best value for money ever.
(I gave my unpaid fare to charity later)
 
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Station at Nueva on the Camino del Norte on the FEVE line. We walked passed here on our way to our overnight accommodation in Ovio in May, 2018. We actually stayed in two train stations on the Norte, one in Deba and the other in Llanes but for some reason we didn't take any pictures of them, unfortunately. Both were comfortable. The third photo was taken the next day between Nueva and Ribadesella, an actual train passing us on the FEVE line across the north coast of Spain.
We were interested to read Sabine's post at the start of this thread about her trip on the FEVE line, as we kept encountering it all across Spain on the Norte we both thought that sometime in the future we would like to experience this train trip ourselves, we would still like to do this, maybe when our walking days are over!!
20180521_140936.jpg20180521_141057.jpg20180522_105618.jpg
 
Cercedilla station - 26 March 2018
walking the Camino de Madrid ...in spring ...
between Cercedilla and Segovia , we were advised it wasn’t walkable due to snow covering the pass - El puerto de la Fuenfría ...(1.796m altitude) . so the option was to train it from Cercedilla to Segovia. Maybe I’ll squeeze that section in another time I’ve got some spare time. I was really looking forward to it. 7A810C68-AF6D-41AF-9570-0852716ED522.jpeg
 
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Same here @Kanga. 2013 top bunk after long haul from Oz. I didn’t sleep a wink. Fear of falling ‘off the shelf’ and not getting off at right stop. I guess we both survived 😂

At least you all had bunks!!
We slept in the ‘reclining’ seats.
The couple in front of us had brought pillows - I was so envious!
And I contracted an upper respiratory bug, which meant I walked over the Napoleon with a temperature of 102F (in wind, rain and mist) 🙃

But I received so much kindness in SJPdP before we left ❤️
 
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

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Cercedilla station - 26 March 2018
walking the Camino de Madrid ...in spring ...
between Cercedilla and Segovia , we were advised it wasn’t walkable due to snow covering the pass - El puerto de la Fuenfría ...(1.796m altitude) . so the option was to train it from Cercedilla to Segovia. Maybe I’ll squeeze that section in another time I’ve got some spare time. I was really looking forward to it.
Yes, do, it is a lovely walk over the hill.
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
@kohara so do I! Those painted tiles are wonderful. Love the ones on the bars in Madrid too. And the street signs.
 
I am sursprised to see no photos of the old loco in the front of Santiago de Compostela rail station?
View attachment 96343

My happy memories of rail travel on the Camino start with a short trip from SdC to Ourense for a trial week of De Plata when I first learned of the difference between the High Speed service and the local stopping trains.
The other was a Del Norte trip after flying into Asturias-Oviedo airport (and simply walking off the airport almost straight onto the camino. I thought that I had overestimated by performance and wanted to leapfrog a bit of the Del Norte path - so climbed up the hill to Soto de Luina station and waited for the train. No one at the station, and no machine to be able to buy a ticket. The station was a quaint request stop, it arrived on time. There was no conductor on the train. I travelled to La Caridad, which was also a request stop, also without staff. And so, try as I might, I couldn't pay for my almost 2 hour long journey.
Therefore this little rail service gets my highest praise - the best value for money ever.
(I gave my unpaid fare to charity later)
A locomotive outside Ourense station.
View attachment 96349
These locomotives look the same! Are they the same?
 
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A railway line that perhaps not many of us have ridden, but we've all visited the Estación Obradoiro 😀 Out of curiosity I just might ride that little white train sometime. I have no idea where it goes.
I wouldn't mind if the little white train used the square as a station - a place to make a brief stop allow passengers to board or alight. But it treats it like a depot or perhaps an advertising billboard for itself. And for that, I wish it a speedy trip to h***.
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
I wouldn't mind if the little white train used the square as a station - a place to make a brief stop allow passengers to board or alight. But it treats it like a depot or perhaps an advertising billboard for itself. And for that, I wish it a speedy trip to h***.
I've not been too fond of that little train either, but then I tell myself that I don't own the square and I'm just glad to have arrived!
 
After that curmudgeonly rant, I feel an obligation to offer something uplifting to this thread. Allow me to point you all to a random listing of the ten most beautiful stations in the world:


I note that Antwerp, St. Pancras (London), and São Bento (Porto) which have featured in this thread, are ranked in the top ten. I've never visited Antwerp or Porto, but I have been to four of the stations in the list.

[PS: The name of the station in Paris is "Paris Gare de Lyon" not "du Lyon" as it appears in the article above].
 
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The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
I love Atoche. I've spent happy hours there sipping a coffee while waiting for a train. Or roaming the little stalls inside the pretty planted area under the glass roof. Not so many happy hours waiting for tickets behind the "linea de espera" or, as it is known in our family, the "line of despair".
 
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Cercedilla station - 26 March 2018
walking the Camino de Madrid ...in spring ...
between Cercedilla and Segovia , we were advised it wasn’t walkable due to snow covering the pass - El puerto de la Fuenfría ...(1.796m altitude) . so the option was to train it from Cercedilla to Segovia. Maybe I’ll squeeze that section in another time I’ve got some spare time. I was really looking forward to it. View attachment 96379
ADEBAF63-A696-4265-8AF6-A450A11CEBA5.jpeg
Well, I managed to find this taken at the end of April 2018 on the ‘hill’. It was a very long day as accommodation was hard to find! Also very cold. Memorable though!
 
Found yet another one in my archives from Oviedo.

View attachment 96470
Jabón Lagarto — my preferred way to wash clothes on the Camino! I buy a big bar for a couple of euros, slice it in half and give half away. I usually have to buy another at the end of the camino, but I absolutely love it. My Spanish friends tell me it is the best thing for sensitive skin, which I don’t have, but maybe I should start keeping a whole bar in my pack and using it to wash clothes and body!
 
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A railway line that perhaps not many of us have ridden
No but I've been photobombed by the little white train, at the end of my epic 2019 camino. I was annoyed at first, but now it tickles my funny bone.
20190616_144216 (2).jpg

Edit - Also from Santiago (2015). The train station is nothing special, except what happens there. Here's that poignant moment when you know the camino for that year is really finished:
IMG_8994[1].jpg
 
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Gare de l’Est in Paris has the largest oil painting imaginable hung up high in the entrance booking hall, above the arch giving access to the platforms. By Albert Herter, an American who lost a son in WW1; donated in 1926. Worth a mini pilgrimage as it is very moving...

1618066235861.jpeg
 
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Retreating to the initial post of this Railway thread, my memories of Antwerp station stem from the fabulous novel Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald. I recommend.

Whilst on the subject of books, I am so grateful to members of the Forum for bringing to my attention The Great Westward Walk by Antxon Gabarain. This is the most profound appreciation of being a pilgrim I have ever read. Rebekah Scott has excelled in her translation.

image.jpg
 
No but I've been photobombed by the little white train, at the end of my epic 2019 camino. I was annoyed at first, but now it tickles my funny bone.
View attachment 97311

Edit - Also from Santiago (2015). The train station is nothing special, except what happens there. Here's that poignant moment when you know the camino for that year is really finished:
View attachment 97313
VN,
These are very poignant photos.
So glad to "meet" you in front of the cathedral; someday /somewhere perhaps we shall actually do it.
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.

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