Freixetren

Today I'm making an excursion nearby Barcelona, to the town of Sant Sadurni d'Anoia and to the Freixenet winery and caves.

The trip is promoted as "Freixetren" - a combined ticket to the winery and train to/from the town.

First I'm taking R8 train from Granollers to Martorell, which is using Castellbisbal / el Papiol - Mollet line, which is a 27,3km Barcelona bypass railway linking lines Barcelona-Vilafranca and Barcelona-Girona. The line is a mixed gauge, and connects here near Mollet to the high speed line to France.

 Mixed gauge line has three rails instead of two.

 This line was built in 1982 as a bypass railway to prevent freight trains passing through central Barcelona, especially the so-called nuclear train. R8 line started 2011.

 Escola Barcanova

 It's unusual to see Tibidabo and TV tower from the north instead of south.

 The train is of Class 465 (Civia), commuter train manufactured by Alstom (earlier Classes by CAF).

 Renfe Class 253

 The line for El Papiol

 We have now entered Barcelona-Martorell-Villafranca-Tarragona line.

 The high speed line to Madrid is running in parallel, opened in 2008. Behind is the Montserrat mountain.

 El Llobregat river

 R8 line end station is Martorell. Here it's possible to change train to line R4.

 Martorell station

 Here in Martorell it's also possible to change trains to narrow gauge FGC (Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya) line.

 Arriving to Sant Sadurni d'Anoia with Renfe Class 447.

 Cavas Freixenet is just next to the train station.

 Freixenet is a world famous producer of Cava sparking wines.

 There were some time before the tour so I'm visiting the nearby town.

 Small and cosy town

 A popular lottery in Spain where each town has its own number.

 Now the tour starts, we are visiting the caves with wine

 The tour takes 1,5h

 The bottles with all sizes. One glass of cava is included at the end of the tour.

 For those preferring wine instead of cava, there is another train tour to Torres.