The Spanish have clearly succeeded where the French failed. From Barcelona Sants station, we took the AVE express train to Malaga. Not to be too nerdy here, but the train, nicknamed el pato (the duck) is absolutely amazing (RENFE Series 112 trainset). If you want to know why it’s called the duck, just take a look at the thing.

Over the plains it clocks up to 330 km/h (205 mph). And unlike in France, everything works, the toilets, the water, amazing service – cellphone LTE service the entire distance. It was comfortable, quiet, smooth. The train whisks through the Spanish country – it was over 100F outside.

Can’t really say anything else about it. This has to be the best in Europe – this is on par with the Beijing/Shanghai train, if not better.

Anyway, we arrived in Malaga right on time (878 km). A short stroll to the C1 urban rail and then took the short 35-minute journey to Los Boliches, which, is the last place on our trip. The total distance from Berlin Hauptbahnhof to Los Boliches is 2,743 kilometers – 1,705 miles.

Now it’s time to relax on the beach for a few days.