The romance of rail travel is hard to define. Even the grandest terminus is often grubby and crowded, and there is little allure in most station shops or cafes. Yet a journey by train has a contemplative appeal that no other form of transport can offer. Security mayhem is minimal, and there is generally a lot more comfort in a rail carriage than in a car. You can stare out of a window, read or simply contemplate the good things in life – a prospect that has just been spectacularly enhanced with last month's launch of the new Paris-Barcelona TGV link. This has cut the journey time from London to 10 hours, and this will be cut by another hour in May. You can leave Paris in the early afternoon and reach the Catalan capital by evening, making it possible to breakfast in London, lunch in Paris and dine in Barcelona in a day.
Certainly, for a train enthusiast and a glutton, such a prospect was irresistible. I persuaded my partner Sarah to join me and on a wintry Monday last month. After a St Pancras breakfast of eggs, croissants and coffee, we caught the 8.30am Eurostar that reached a snowy Paris just before noon – in time for a leisurely lunch of omelettes and beer at Taverne Karlsbrau opposite the Gare de Lyon, before boarding the 14.05 to Barcelona.
This is rail travel on a different scale. The TGV Duplex trains that run on French rails, and now on to Spanish ones, are mighty affairs with double-decker carriages that carry up to 540 passengers at 180mph – although the experience feels anything but frenetic.
We sat on its upper deck and sipped Macon Villages (there is no restaurant car, just a well-stocked buffet) as we swept south through snow-covered country that slowly transformed into a greener, warmer countryside of cypress trees, sage and gorse bushes, and whitewashed houses with terracotta roofs. At Sète we got our first glimpse of the Mediterranean. We had travelled the length of France in a matter of hours with nothing to stress us. The woes of winter dropped from our shoulders.
At Figueres, just over the Spanish border, we had to change to a local high-speed train for the final leg into Barcelona – an inconvenience, but not for too much longer. From May (or 28 April according to a hunch from train guru the Man in Seat 61, seat61.com) the Paris TGV will run directly into Sants station in the heart of Barcelona in just under 6½ hours (or nine hours from London, excluding the change of train and station in Paris).
We spent one day in Barcelona ticking off the sights and tapas at Café del Centro, the oldest cafe-bar in the Eixample district, but our final destination was the port of Sitges, half an hour away by local commuter train. A few boats moored here offer bed and breakfast. We picked the Willowmoon, which looks like a traditional English trawler but which was actually built in 1942 to hunt U-boats. You can have an evening drink on the spot where its main gun was mounted.
Our cabin was compact but comfortable: a bit like sleeping in a large cigar-box. The plumbing is basic, as befits a boat, but the overall experience is snug. Owners Lisa Ruby and Vick Hall also provide superb breakfasts – coffee, croissants, boiled eggs, cold meats, cheeses and fresh fruit – which we had on deck in the lukewarm February sun. In summer, Lisa and Vick also offer dinners.
Sitges is a town noted for its gay community, but is attractive as a standard tourist destination in its own right: a bit like Brighton but warmer. The high point for us was lunch at the Eguzki restaurant which offers platefuls of great pinchos.
Lisa and Vick offer trips further afield, including visits to nearby Montserrat and a five-hour tour of the Penedès region. These are undertaken "in the comfort of an open-top Saab", according to the website. This is not a phrase I would have used. After our trip to Barcelona airport, I emerged from the Saab bent double like a rheumatic octogenarian and I suspect that comfort depends on the car's jammed seating being repaired.
It was a calming break nevertheless, especially enhanced by our choice of transport to Spain. The soothing nature of rail travel was underscored at Barcelona airport on our return journey. The security queue resembled a rugby scrum; I was frisked twice for no discernable reason other than incompetence, or possibly my shifty demeanour, and the flight was so full our hand luggage had to go in the hold.
A Rail Europe ticket to Barcelona allows you to break your trip in Paris, not just for a few hours but for several days if you wish, at no extra cost, before you move on to Barcelona. Thus for under £200 return, you can have not just a meal in these three great cities but a lengthy break in each.
• Train travel was provided by Rail Europe (0844 848 4070, raileurope.co.uk) which has return fares from London to Barcelona from £185. (The Rail Europe website will only allow you to book an overnight train from London to Barcelona; to book the faster daytime train reserve the London-Paris and Paris-Barcelona legs of the journey separately.) Accommodation was provided by Willowmoon (+34 699 794983, willowmoon.uk.com) which offers B&B from €50pp pn
