Spain : holiday notes and impressions / by Henry Rundle.

  • Rundle, Henry, 1845-1924.
Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Spain : holiday notes and impressions / by Henry Rundle. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    at least made it highly danger-us to attempt to enter the harbour of Calais. The steamer therefore went on to the sister port of Boulogne, which has the advantage of being sheltered by Cape Grisnez, and there we landed. Most of the passengers looked the very incarnation of sea-sickness. We reached Paris shortly before midnight, and a very good dinner quickly soothed our squeamish stomachs. The next day we started from the Gare d’Orsay. This station is one of the finest, and certainly the cleanest and quietest for its size and importance, in Europe. There is no smoke. The train is drawn by an electric engine for some little distance out of Paris, and by a similar engine both passengers and luggage are lowered to the station. Leaving at 12.15, we travelled across France through the valley of the Loire, a lovely country studded with old chateaux, reminding one of “the Dukeries” in our own country, and passing Tours, Poictiers, Bordeaux, and Biarritz to Irun, the frontier town, where the luggage was examined, and we and our luggage were transferred into a Spanish train. Here we first met with the Guardia Civil, a noteworthy feature of Spanish travel. The Civil Guard is a fine corps of nearly 20,000 men. It is the most trust- worthy body in Spain for the defence of law and order, and is under the control of the War Minister. Two men be- longing to this corps travel in every train. In case of any difficulty it is best to apply to them for help. About half an hour after leaving the frontier we passed through San Sebastian, the summer resort of the Court, and then entered the gorges of the Pyrenees, with magnifi- cent mountain scenery of the wildest kind. After travers- ing barren and treeless plains we reached Burgos. It was piercingly cold here; the streets were covered deep in snow. On arriving at the hotel we were glad to warm our- selves over the glowing embers of a brazero, for there were no fireplaces in our rooms. Burgos is the home of the Cid, the national hero of