Taking a
speed train to Malaga, Spain/ Carlos Pueblo
Back to
Barcelona Sand Station again, I took a speed train AVE to Malaga,
on the
southern tip of Spain. It is a 6 hours ride from Barcelona to Malaga,
the speed is
not so fast, as 300 km per hour Madrid route, yet still 250 km
and above.
It stops at Zaragoza, but not Madrid, hastening through Spanish
farming field,
the olive, the vineyard, the almond, and some of the wheat
etc. I feel
Spanish farming is very much different from Taiwan, Japan, and
U.S. The
land looks dry with red clay yet it is not a desert soil. There are no
tall trees
as U.S. may be the result of low rain fall. You can see some old
castles on
the top of hills, long existed since middle age for the defense
of castle
kingdoms. On the train, you can see the small village near or far
away. Most
of the houses are white color with red roofs. Spanish are not
aggressively
managing their solid waste, you can some decay building on
the side of
railroad track and pile up junk on a small lot. There are many
graffiti all
over which are prohibited in most of U.S. cities.
Malaga contains 570,000 population, with a
mild weather, is a sea port
facing the
Mediterranean. My hostel is in downtown area near by the
harbor, the
Cathedral, the castle, the city hall, the tropical park etc. I wrote
down the
direction to the hostel, yet I met a gentleman on the railroad platform
, he was
very kind to take me to the hostel. We did find the Alameda Principal,
Did make a
left turn between a Burger king and a McDonald, we did reach the
Busy plaza;
however, we were lost. I invited him for a cold beer and figured out
the reason.
The name of a restaurant on my note was changed. He is an interesting
person who works
for a Toyota plant, his father is a Santong Chinese and an Italian
mother.
Three days later, I ran into him again on a bust stop on Alameda Principal
and I tried
to invite him for a dinner and he said that was not necessary.
The hostel
also arranges a tip tour guide. There were two, one was from New York
who had been
in the southern Spain for several years, the other one was his Spanish
assistant as
an intern. The guide is very well learned in history, introducing Cervantes,
Picasso who
was born here, Andersen who immigrated here, the city hall and its rose
garden, the
cathedral, and the Moors Castle. He also mentioned the Civil War and
how the
Malaga citizen sided it with. After the bombardment during the civil war,
Franco did
start build the current city hall as long as the Bank of Spain, and the
University
of Malaga all at the same street facing a city park and the sea.
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