Neither Don nor I had been to Spain before, so we had no idea of what to expect. I think we both thought it would be similar to Italy, and in some respects it was. But the Spanish train and metro are much superior to any other public transit system we have ever ridden.
We took six or seven long train rides - from Madrid to Cordoba (2 hours); Cordoba to Seville (2 hours); Seville to Granada (4 hours); Granada to Madrid (5 hours); Madrid to Toledo and to Segovia (both 30 minutes). All of the trains were absolutely clean. The riders were courteous (cell phone talkers went to the area between cars to talk, for example), some of the trains had a cafe car, and the train blitzed along sometimes at more than 120 miles per hour. And they ran on time. Exactly on time. Not one train was late.
Although the Granada to Madrid train was not considered a high-speed train, it certainly seemed fast to us. It made a few stops on the way, but certainly nothing like the trains in the US. We ride the train back and forth to New Mexico at times. Now that is a slow train! The Spanish trains put our US system to shame.
The train to Segovia is new. The previous train trip or bus trip would take 2 hours, since they both had to wind through the mountains. But the high-speed train goes through the mountains in two long tunnels that shorten the trip to 30 minutes. Delightful!
The metro is equally clean and fast. Although the cars were sometimes jammed, they were clean and nice, and unless a street performer or beggar would get on the car and sing to us (highly annoying because then he would beg for money), they were wonderful. Some of the newer cars are even air-conditioned.
I know that Spain has invested a lot of money in the infrastructure for their mass-transit system, but we applaud them for it. It was such a pleasure traveling through Spain in such nice style!
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