From Girona to Luz St Sauveur

From Girona to Luz St Sauveur

After 10 days in Girona, three days after the incredible Girona Gran Fondo, it was time for us to move on. We had reserved our next holiday residence, kind of summer cottage, in Luz St Sauveur, in France high-Pyrennees. The goal was - and still is - to ride up the famous Col de Tourmalet. 

So, how to get to the base of Tourmalet from Girona? We considered renting a car. A car would cost maybe 30 euros a day plus gas. It would take some 8 hours to drive to Luz. The drive would be crossing the Pyrennees, which we did not really fancy. We once drove from Mt Ventoux to Morzine and 450 kilometres took 11 hours. Nice views, interesting road, but maybe a bit too much driving. And we would have to drive the car back to Girona. No deal.

The other option would be train. There may well be bus connections, but we did not even consider trying to find out where and how to get tickets. 

Getting the train tickets turned out to be hard enough. The Spanish railway operator Renfe claimed that the first train from Girona to France would leave after 10 am. That would have been too late for us - we would have missed our last connection, a bus from Lourdes to Luz. 

Fortunately, the always reliable Deutsche Bahn knew about an AVE fast train from Girona to Narbonne at 9.06 am. We took it. It was a nice train, coasting through valleys and mountains up to 300km/h. We were in Narbonne in an hour!

In Narbonne, we were able to get tickets via Toulouse and Tarbes to Luz. The first train was full, so we had time for some Ricardo Pastis and coffee. The train from Narbonne to Toulouse was an old one, without air conditioning and other modern comforts. The train from Toulouse to Lourdes was a modern one. The prices of all trains were the same per km, which I find strange. 

Lourdes in a strange place. According to local tradition, St Mary revealed herself 18 times to some young maiden in early 1800s. Since then, Lourdes has been a place for pilgrimage, especially for the sick and the invalid. Millions of them seek help from St Mary, in the cave she revealed herself. 

We did not bother. We took a bus Luz. The views kept on getting more magnificent, gorges steeped, I more and more afraid. I concentrated in looking at my finger nails. So scary. 

Luz in a small place. Our hotel, Residence Chili, is some 2km (and 100 vertical meters, up!) from the village centre. It took us 28 minutes to walk only to find out that the only open restaurants were next to the bus station. So we walked back after settling in. Only one pizzeria was open and full of drunken cyclists. Pizza was good. 

Some views from the hotel. Rather nice.