'Trains of the world': the book that collects 20 journeys for travellers.
If 2019 brought us something good, it was the need to return to train travel . It is not that we did not do it before, but it is true that the airplane had gained ground at the beginning of the century. The Flygskam movement, the shame of flying, in which he also participated Greta Thunberg had a lot to do with it. Countries like the Netherlands gave priority to train travel in favor of the plane to reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.
Traveling by train has always been inspiring because what matters is the journey, not the destination . The photojournalist Sergi Reboredo knows a lot about this and has wanted to bring it together in a book, 'Trains around the world' (ed. Anaya Touring), 20 routes that invite us to travel without waiting , without traffic, with more space, more comfort, being able to enjoy the views, good gastronomy and even make new friends.
‘Trains around the world’ with the prologue of Francisco Polo Muriel , director of the Madrid Railway Museum, offers** a detailed first-person account of train journeys across all continents**.
“After more than 20 years in the photojournalistic business and many articles published in emblematic travel magazines about different train trips around the world, I thought it would be a good idea to collect them in a book. Anaya's editors loved my proposal and we got to work. We included the trains that I already had and I got on others that we thought would be interesting if they were in the book”, Sergi told Traveler.es.
Al Andalus, one of the trains that the book recommends in Spain.
Sergi has been traveling by train since he was very young . “I still remember when he was just 7 or 8 years old enjoying many weekends going to the beach by train. On the mythical commuter line that linked Barcelona with Mataró and that bordered all the beaches of the Barcelona coast. The commuter trains, green at the time, were always overflowing and you never knew what time they were scheduled to run. It was very funny. I loved it".
His first big train trip was from Barcelona to Algeciras in 1990 . “I am not very graceful in the draws and I had to do the “military” in Ceuta. Although today we can do that journey in a few hours, at that time it took about 20 hours, including a change of train in Alcázar de San Juan. They were different times. Trains with compartments for six with rickety leather seats, and an environment in which tobacco smoke reigned omnipresent”.
Nothing to do with two of the Spanish trains that appear in his book: the Transcantábrico, which goes from San Sebastián to Santiago de Compostela, and the** Al Andalus**, 900 km that starts and ends in Seville, but that covers almost all Andalusia.
"In both cases they are tours of practically a week discovering Andalusia or the Cantabrian Cornice . I like green better, so I would lean towards the Transcantábrico. In Europe I would recommend the Glacier Express or the Arctic Circle Train in Norway . Specifically, Norway has been one of the European countries that has been least affected by the coronavirus, so it is a safe bet, ”he adds when we ask him which ones he would choose if he traveled this summer.
On board the Trans-Siberian by Lake Baikal.
Because the train has not only become a more sustainable means of transport in the long term, but a way of traveling respecting the distances . "Train trips have become the best valued alternative in these times, and if we talk about tourist trains in which you can have the possibility of having a cabin for yourself, the source of contagion is practically nil”.
'Trains around the world' takes us to know the Royal Canadian Pacific , two routes that take us through Natural Parks where there is no lack of lakes and rocky mountains; the Belmond Machu Picchu , a route that goes from Aguas Calientes to Cuzco to discover the refuge of the Incas or Rovos Train , a rail safari from Cape Town to Pretoria.
Of course, there is no shortage of references to mythical trains like the trans-siberian that runs through Russia and part of Mongolia. “It is an incredible country, different from the rest. You only have to get on the Moscow metro to realize the power and opulence of the Soviet Union. One does not know if one is in a means of transport or in a palace . But the Trans-Siberian is much more than that, there are 10,000 of railway , Or what is the same, one third of the length of the Earth , at an average speed of 70 km/h. Perhaps, one of the things that surprised me the most was crossing Lake Baikal, between cliffs and tunnels, and especially Siberia, where behind the window, for hours and hours of travel, you only see desert steppe landscapes”, he explains to Traveler. .is Sergio.
The Jungle Train in Madagascar.
Also discover in detail, with a map of the route, price and practical information, in addition to the historical, other more unknown such as the Afrosiyob , the train to discover Uzbekistan in two hours or the tea train , a tour of ancient Ceylon in Sri Lanka.
we ask him which of all would you recommend to someone who has not yet taken a long train trip and he tells us... “I would recommend to those who have never traveled by train to start with Europe. An Interrail for the very young is a wonderful way to get started. With a little more budget I would follow some of the tourist trains in Switzerland. See the Swiss Alps through the train Glacier Express with its glass ceilings it is a luxury. Although for ostentation, nothing like those who can give themselves the whim of going up to the Eastern Express . To the less avid travellers, I would not recommend a Trans-Siberian or a Trans-Tibetan from the outset. It can be very hard."