TTR17 Your Ticket to Ride team usually tell you how to get from the city airport to down town, but this trip we arrive on a TALGO from France. This gives us the opportunity to watch the transfer from the European standard gauge to the RENFE broad gauge at Portbou before travelling on to the regional capital. Barcelona has always been a spectacular city, but since the 1992 Olympic games it has developed a transport system to match! We use it to get the most out of the city and your time. We travel the metro, the funiculars and the cable ways plus the extensive suburban rail system run by RENFE, the state railway, and the delightful FGC narrow gauge system run by the regional transport authority. We take a trip to Montserrat courtesy of the FGC and then enjoy the panoramic views of the Catalonian countryside and the railway! We take day trips north and south from the capital by rail. To the fortress town of Girona to the north by TALGO, to Blanes along the RENFE Matador Line and to the Roman city of Tarragona 50 miles south along side the Costa Dorada.-the Gold Coast. For the rail enthusiast there is plenty of RENFE’s finest to admire: Container trains, unit steel trains and one of the longest load of cars that we will ever encounter! TALGOs abound, we catch them at speed as they transit the Costa Dorada and at rest in Sants. The Euromeds are TGV “Clones” They make a great sight running next to some world class bathing beaches-what a mix! In Barcelona we visits the sites and pick some specials for rail fans: The Montjuic Castle, is an interesting journey by funicular and cable car. The reward is the view from the ramparts over Barcelona’s massive port and container terminals where RENFE can be seen going about its business. RT 80 mins