Day 30 and 31. Trip back from Grenoble to Lisbon.

Grenoble - Monday, 26 November

Left in the morning to take the TGV to Paris. Its odd to think that from Grenoble to Hendaye one has to take a TGV to Paris and then another to Hendaye when both cities are in the south of France. But the truth is that the train connections do exist but require many train changes and since the TGV costs me 3€ reservation only it's better to pass by Paris.









The strikes are over and when that's the case the train travels are reliable and comfortable. The travel till Hendaye was without problems. I still had time from 1PM to 3.50 PM to have lunch in Monparnasse TGV train station in Paris after having changed station using the underground.














On the trip from Paris to Hendaye I met a couple of retired Portuguese that had lived for 23 years in France and that came to Paris to meet their daughter. She came with them when she was 6 years old and now she is more French than Portuguese. They spoke about their sorrow of not having her closer to them in Portugal :). I also met another Portuguese that lives for 37 years in Paris. She was going to the Basque region of France to meet her son. A successful 33 years old architect. This person was a true Parisian :) Saying that Paris is the best place on eath to live. Complaining about Marseille when I told her that I had been there in the last week end. And finally getting mad at me when I opposed her fierce critic to the American people saying that her opinion about the Americans was true but only for half of them... there was another half that did not fit her idea about them. I must say her opinions about Americans were not very nice :)

Finally I took the train in Irun, Spain (5 km from Hendaye, France) to Lisbon. I had a full compartment just for me again but I imagined that this would not last forever... at least last time it did not :P and that was again true :). Thanks Max for the shoes. Since Belgium that I have been using them all the time. :)








First I met a couple (she was Mexican and he was from Filipinas) that lived in California and was traveling in Spain and Portugal. He had just been stolen the wallet in Barcelona and was struggling just to get a Visa to be able to be back in US where he lives for 10 years. Tuff !!. They were really friendly and we had nice conversation till late night. Then we slept a bit and they left in Salamanca. I have them advices of places to visit in Portugal since they were going there after.



It always great to arrive to Portugal and Lisbon. The weather was great with temperatures above 16ºC. A wonderful blue sky !











When I started this InterRail trip I though that when back to Portugal it would be almost Christmas. This was really true. While arriving home we had to wait for a bit. The city mayor has already ordered to put all the decorations in place. Lisbon is not like Grenoble where the decorations stay all year long :) Check the video bellow.

From InterRail2007