Bill and I started making annual trips to Europe soon after we met. Because I was working for a British company at the time, those vacations were initially limited to within the UK. Sometimes, however, we were “daring” enough to venture across the Channel for a day trip to the coast of France that we eventually extended into Paris (Notre Dame in this photo) and beyond. With our discovery of self-catering holiday rentals, we could base ourselves in a town or village (like Saint-Jean-de-Côle above) and pretend for a week or so that we lived there. Given that we’ve been French residents for over 8 years, that idea obviously stuck with us. Those short visits always ended with a longing to return, typically discussing our next make-believe location on the flight back to the US. Based on a survey of other travel-loving Americans, we’re not alone.

Although Bill and I are definite fans of rail travel, we seldom pay close attention to the station. For us it’s usually just the place to check the departure board and to pick up some buttery croissants or a freshly made sandwich to take onboard. If we’re changing trains along the way we might not even go inside the building; instead, we look at the display screen as we arrive to see from which platform our connection will be departing and then walk directly there. Oh sure, who wouldn’t notice the massive open interior of New York’s Grand Central Terminal, London’s impressive red brick facade of St. Pancras International, said to have been the world’s largest enclosed space when it opened in 1868, or the beautiful tile covered walls inside São Bento in Porto, depicting the history of Portugal. While we’ve seen those and one or two others that come to mind, we had never made travel plans specifically to route ourselves a particular way in order to visit a station…until we went to Canfranc, Spain.