Atocha

When I looked out the window this morning, there was a lot of snow out there.....20 cm to be exact. After breakfast I spoke to the front desk clerk and learned that no buses or taxis were running. She said this was not normal as they occasionally get only 2-3 cm of snow. We decided to store our luggage and headed out once again to see another highlight of Segovia, the Alcazar, a Middle Ages fortified palace which is now a museum. It is one of 3 European castles that the Disney World castle is modelled after. It was a 20 minute walk only to find that it was closed. Very few people were out and definitely no cars as they were buried in snow. It appeared that no one owned a shovel as they were using a piece of wood, a dust pan, or broom to clear the snow.

We returned to the hotel wet and cold at 2 pm and found out that the buses were running but no taxis. Since we had a non-refundable apartment reservation in Madrid we decided to make our way to the bus stop 1.8 km away. Tire tracks through the snow looked like it might be doable, but they were too narrow to be of any help. It was a real struggle for both of us. When we finally got to the airport by bus I discovered that all trains were sold out for the day! No!!! Travellers who couldn’t get to the station for the earlier trains had rebooked for the later ones. I had checked online in the morning and could have bought tickets but at that time we weren’t sure if we would be able to get to the train station. For the next 3 hours we sat in an unheated train station and I kept checking the train website to see if any tickets would come available. And they eventually did so we were happy. But awhile later I realized that our tickets weren’t jiving with the posted schedules. I spoke to an employee who informed me that our train left from the old train station in the centre of town! No!!! A well-dressed man overheard our conversation and approached me with an offer to join him on his train. I was puzzled until he revealed his identity....”Supervisor”.

I thought our luck had changed but because of the snow our train was delayed nearly 2 hours. With wet feet, no heating, and an outdoor temperature of -3, I felt I was getting hypothermia as I couldn’t stop shivering. When we finally boarded the train there were no seats available so the Supervisor told us we could stand at the back. Thankfully it was a high speed train that only took 27 minutes and it was warm! I yelled “Muchas Gracias” to the Supervisor and he reassured me this was not normal and we had to return again to Segovia. A pretty city, but not likely to make a return visit in winter. I took a wrong turn coming out of the railway station in Madrid so our 10 minute walk to the apartment was more like 30 minutes at John’s pace. We made it “home” at 11 pm.

Travel days are a bitch!Read more