| Date |
Time |
From |
To |
By |
Comments |
Pictures |
| 26.08 |
09:00 |
London |
Dover |
Car |
Eurallpass is not valid in UK |
| 26.08 |
11:30 |
Dover |
Calais |
P&O Stena Line Ferry |
Worth to purchase day-return ticket (8 pounds) instead of one-way ticket (26 pounds). P&O Stena Line bus to Calais-Ville station.
Opening the Eurallpass and reservation for TGV train from Lille to Grenoble |
|
| 26.08 |
15:48 |
Calais-Ville |
Lille-Flandres |
RE Train |
Double-decker train. Agriculture landscape: fields and channels. |
|
| 26.08 |
17:45 |
Lille-Europe |
Grenoble |
TGV Train |
From Lille-Flandres to Lille-Europe by Metro. TGV - feeling of speed. 22:05 in Grenoble. Next morning - in the office. |
|
| 27.08 |
10:38 |
Grenoble |
Lyon-Perrache,
Strasbourg |
RE and IR Trains |
At 10:30 AM I was in the railway station and took the first train from Grenoble:
slow TER-train to Lyon-Perrache. Then I took IR-train to Strassburg. Long and beautiful trip along the Rhone-Rhein channel. |
|
| 27.08 |
17:45 |
Strasbourg |
Karlsruhe, Hannover, Hamburg |
IC Trains |
Fast and very comfortable German trains. No need in reservation. Hamburg Hbf station at midnight is awful - a lot of strange people. Just opposite to station - small hotel "Phoenix" (45 Euro incl. breakfast). Reasonable. |
|
| 28.08 |
09:28 |
Hamburg |
Kobenhavn |
EC Train on Ferry |
Short train (3 cars) to be put on ferry between Puttgarden and Rodby (19 km - 45 minutes). Very impressive. Reservation compulsory, because the train is always over-crowded. Windmills all the way. |
|
| 28.08 |
14:20 |
Kobenhavn |
Goteborg |
IC Train |
Kobenhavn Central Station seems to be very old and dirty. No information for train complectation. Danish train to Goteborg - OK. Fantastic pastoral landscapes. |
| 28.08 |
20:07 |
Goteborg |
Laxa |
IC Train |
No hotels at Laxa - just a small railway junction. Fast trains to Oslo also do not stop here. |
|
| 28.08 |
22:00 |
Laxa |
Hallsberg |
Bus |
No more trains at night. Bus to the nearest hotel in Hallsberg. But all (two) hotels were locked. The night was spent at the station. By the way, very pretty town. |
|
| 29.08 |
07:23 |
Hallsberg |
Oslo |
X2 Train |
Fantastic service: breakfast, coffe and juices free all the way. Oslo - museum of Munch, museum of Viking ships, travels by buses and trams with a daily travelcard. Very nice (and expensive) city. |
|
| 29.08 |
16:37 |
Oslo |
Dombas, Andalsnes |
ST and R Trains |
Trip by "Signature" train to Dombas requests reservation (40 NOK). Tens of miles along Mjosa Lake - very impressive. Hostel "Alfe" in Andalsnes - 350 NOK for very basic accomodations, but at least this hostel was not locked (by case) |
|
| 30.08 |
09:25 |
Andalsnes |
Dombas, Trondheim |
R and ST Trains |
Rauma Line from Andalsnes to Dombas - the most impressive I've ever seen. Deep valley of Rauma River. High bridges. Very slow - you can see mushrooms from the car's window. From Dombas train rises to a level of 1100 meters. No trees, polar bushes.
Trondheim - typical northern city, standing on fiords - water seen in all directions. |
|
| 30.08 |
16:20 |
Trondheim |
Storlien |
R Train |
Another railway fantasy. The speed of this train - 10 km/h on the mountain pass. The wild forest with the trees fallen almost on the railway. Half an hour delay - just stopping at the station "Hell" |
|
| 30.08 |
18:20 |
Storlien |
Bracke, Lulea |
IC Trains |
More beauty of Sweden behind windows. May be a little bit rigorous. Delay to Bracke station - I thought I missed my train to Lulea, but this train was late for 40 minutes. In this private train I've ordered a sleeping place (250 Sw.Krone) and had a good night |
| 31.08 |
08:20 |
Lulea |
Haparanda |
Bus |
No more trains from Boden toward Finnish border. Bus driver accepts Eurailpass. Double-decker bus turns round the North end of the Bothnic Golf entering to small colourful villages. |
| 31.08 |
11:15 |
Haparanda |
Kemi |
Bus |
Eurailpass is OK. The nearest railway in Tornio, but this station is closed for passengers. Continue to Kemi - modest industrial city. I had a lot of time before my next train and visited a local supermarket and just walked on the streets |
|
| 31.08 |
15:29 |
Kemi |
Oulu, Helsinki |
R and IC Trains |
Pines and birches. Relatively small ones. No famous lakes. Boring. Oulu - big modern city. Helsinki at midnight - rain, all are drunk (Saturday), but all are very friendly drunk. Hotel Soros - 88 Euro. |
|
| 01.09 |
10:05 |
Helsinki |
Tallinn |
Nordic Jet Ferry |
Helsinki at morning - fantastic architecture ansamble. Market place - very nice. This trip to Estonia is for my nostalgy only and was not covered by Eurailpass.
Worth to take a package: return ticket + hotel costs 102 Euro including single supplement. Catamaran Jet - 1 hour 45 min only. Sea was stormy.
| 
|
| 01.09 |
13:00 |
Tallinn |
Tartu |
Bus |
Bus number 2 from Jet terminal to Central Bus station. Bus to Tartu every half an hour.
80 Kron-5 Euro. Tartu - city of my childhood (from age 6 to age 13). Too personally. Wait for comments in the special Web site. Hotel Pallace - very comfortable.
| 
|
| 02.09 |
08:30 |
Tartu |
Tallinn |
Bus |
Wait for comments in the special Web site. Meanwhile see the pictures. |
|
| 02.09 |
12:55 |
Tallinn |
Helsinki |
Nordic Jet Ferry |
Quiet sea. Helsinki tour. Beautiful city! |
|
| 02.09 |
16:03 |
Helsinki |
Karjaa, Hanko |
IC and R Trains |
Upto Karjaa - modern double-decker for Turku. From Karjaa - old 2 cars train stopping by request. Real Finnish pine forest! In Hanko - taxi to the harbour (6 Euro) |
|
| 02.09 |
21:00 |
Hanko |
Rostock |
Superfast Jet Ship |
Very big, very comfortable and very fast ship. I've got (free) a place in the cabin. No rolling and pitching on this ship. Rostock - bus to the station (5 Euro) |
|
| 03.09 |
18:00 |
Rostock |
Hamburg, Hannover |
RE and IC Trains |
Nothing interesting. Good German trains |
| 03.09 |
22:43 |
Hannover |
Basel |
Night Train |
Sleeper? - 9 Euro, very uncomfortable night |
|
| 04.09 |
07:24 |
Basel |
Geneva |
IC Train |
Switzerland behind windows. Mountains, lakes, tunnels. Nice. |
|
| 04.09 |
10:30 |
Geneva |
Culoz, Chambery, Grenoble |
RE Trains |
French Alps. Very nice railway. Two hours in Culoz - a pretty sleeping vilage. Culoz-Chambery along a long lake. Grenoble - to visit the working place |
|
| 05.09 |
14:27 |
Grenoble |
Annecy |
RE Train |
Free afternoon. Annecy - the pearl of Alps: the medieval city on the lake and channels. |
|
| 05.09 |
17:40 |
Annecy |
Grenoble |
RE Train |
Very impressive mountain railways. Modern train. |
| 06.09 |
14:38 |
Grenoble |
Valence, Perpignan |
RE and TGV Train |
Business is finished. Going to Spain. Friday - all trains overcrowded. The last ticket for TGV train from Valence to Perpignan. |
|
| 06.09 |
18:53 |
Perpignan |
Girona |
Talgo Train |
No tickets. Continue without ticket. I've found the last unoccupied sit. No controllers! Spanish Talgo train - old, slow and noisy (comparing with TGV). |
| 06.09 |
20:50 |
Girona |
Maçanet |
S Train |
The last train from Maçanet to Costa Brava have gone. Maçanet station - just junction in the forest. Hitch-hiking to Maçanet town (10 km). Hostel for 9 Euro only |
| 07.09 |
09:30 |
Maçanet - town |
Girona |
Bus |
First bus from Maçanet to any direction. Nice landscape |
| 07.09 |
09:30 |
Girona |
Barcelona |
S Train |
Meeting with my friends at the main station of Barcelona. Who knew that Barcelona has 3 main stations! Bus sightseeng trip. Fantastic city |
|
| 07.09 |
19:30 |
Barcelona |
Calella |
S Train |
Railway along Costa Brava beaches. Calella - curort town. |
| 08.09 |
08:54 |
Calella |
Barcelona, Cerbere |
S Trains |
Nice views to the sea and to the Pirenean mountains. Colorful Catalonian towns and villages |
| 08.09 |
15:45 |
Cerbere |
Beziers |
RE Train |
Old and dirty, but very fast train. Sunday - no free space, even in the 1-st class |
|
| 08.09 |
17:43 |
Beziers |
Aeroport CDG (Paris) |
TGV Train |
No reservation in Beziers - no free place. Anyway I've entered to the train and have been fined for 16 Euro but have taken the permit to sit on the reserved place. |
|
