This trip was in September 2017 and came about after I’d spent time reading the excellent Seat61 website and discovered the relatively new Paris – Barcelona TGV service, that linked the two beautiful cities in six hours.

I’d never been to Barcelona before and had always fancied it so planned a route that involved a Eurostar to Paris and a night in a budget hotel near the Gare De Lyon, before catching the TGV to Barcelona the following morning.

I had three nights in Barcelona staying at an apartment not far from the Camp Nou, and returned via TGV and another night in the same hotel in Paris, before catching the Eurostar back the following day.