  THE TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN OF MAY 28, 1900. This Appendix deals solely with geographical and transport matters as to which accurate information is not easily obtainable, the European locus in quo of the Eclipse being in the benighted and somewhat untravelled countries of Portugal and Spain. The intending Eclipse excursionist must first make his choice between (practically) a journey of all sea or of all land. The several sea routes are one and all very much cheaper than any possible land journey, and almost as quick in point of time, with the minimum amount of personal knocking about. But (some persons will say) sea is sea, and so it is. On the other hand the land journey is exceedingly expensive; and beyond France the trains are very incommodious as regards hours, speed, and connections. Moreover, there being more frontiers than one to cross, there are extra opportunities for Custom-house squabbles, and Spain especially is famous for this sort of thing. As the Eclipse shadow will strike Europe in Portugal and quit Europe in Spain the intending traveller must first decide for himself whether he will prefer to go to Portugal or Spain. This The line of central eclipse passes across the Peninsula diagonally from N.W. to S.E. It enters Portugal on the coast not far from Oporto in latitude 40°50' N., longitude 8°38' W. of Greenwich. It quits Spain on the coast at Cape Santa Pola, not far from Alicante, in latitude 38°13' N., longitude 0°30' W. At Ovar in Portugal (pop. 11,000), 23m. S. of Oporto the duration of the total phase will be 1m. 33½s., and the Sun’s altitude at totality will be 42°. At Talavera de la Reina in Spain (pop. 9700) the duration will be 1m. 27½s., and the altitude 39°; whilst at Alicante (pop. 40,000) the duration will be still less, 1m. 19s., and the Sun’s altitude only 34°. The three towns of Ovar, Talavera and Alicante are selected Nautical Almanac Eclipse stations, for which special calculations have been made. Hotel accommodation may be had at all the foregoing places, Oporto, Ovar, Talavera and Alicante, as will be stated later on, but the Hotels at Ovar and Talavera are not of much account. Other towns more or less handy for the central line are few in number, and as a rule deficient in lodging accommodation conforming to the English Vizeu (pop. 7000; hotels, Mabilia, Cadite), on a branch of the Beira Alta Railway 31m. from Santa Comba Dao Junction, which itself is 88m. from Oporto. Mangualde (pop. 3000), on the Beira Alta Railway, 115m. from Oporto, and 49m. from Pampilhosa Junction. Plasencia (pop. 6000; hotel, F. de Eusebio Sierra), 6m. N. of the station of that name on the Lisbon and Madrid Railway. Navalmoral (pop. 3300, buffet), a station on the Lisbon and Madrid Railway about 8m. W. of the central line of eclipse. Urda, a small station on the Madrid and Ciudad Real Railway, crossed by the central line. The nearest accommodation would seem to be at Ciudad Real (pop. 14,000; hotel, Baltasar Garcia), 33m. to the S. Alcazar de San Juan Junction (pop. 8400; good buffet; hotel, Casa BriseÑo). Alcazar is 92m. S. of Madrid; the central line crosses the railway about 15m. to the S. of the town. Tobarra (pop. 7500), a station on the Chinchilla and Cartagena Railway, 212m. S. of Madrid, and 115m. N. of Cartagena, lies about 6m. S. of the central line. Novelda (pop. 8000), a station on the Alicante and Madrid Railway, in a beautiful valley about 20m. N. of Alicante. In addition to the above places it must not be A traveller from England to Portugal or Spain by sea has the following choice of routes:— 1. Southampton to Oporto, fortnightly, on Fridays, by the steamers of the “Royal Mail Steam Packet Co.” Fare, first-class return, about £11. Time, about 54h. The return tickets are conveniently grouped in various ways, e.g. Southampton to Oporto, and back from Vigo or Lisbon; or Southampton to Lisbon and back, or back from Vigo (but not back from Oporto). Where the booking is to Vigo, or Lisbon, of course the local railway fares have to be paid in addition. Lisbon is 209m. S. of Oporto; Vigo, 110m. N. of Oporto. One objection to making any use of Vigo is the extra Custom-house formalities which have to be gone through on the frontier, and Spanish Custom-house officials are specially objectionable. 2. Liverpool to Corunna, Carril, Vigo and Oporto, fortnightly, on Thursdays, by the steamers of the “Pacific Steam Navigation Co.” Fares, to the Spanish ports, first-class single, £6, 10s., return, £9, 15s.; second-class single, £4. To the Portuguese ports, first-class single, £8, return, £12; second-class single, £5. Time, about 4 to 5 days. This does not mean that the steamers are very slow, but they call also at La Rochelle, in France. 4. London (Tilbury) to Gibraltar, weekly, on Thursdays, by the “P.&O.” steamers. Fares, first-class single, £10, return, £16. Time, 4 to 5 days. 5. London (Tilbury) and Plymouth to Gibraltar, fortnightly, on Fridays, by the steamers of the “Orient Co.” Fares and time the same as the “P.&O.” Travellers journeying to Oporto from England will probably not attempt to do any more local sight-seeing than what can be readily accomplished by simple railway trips in Portugal to or from Lisbon; but travellers landing at Gibraltar will have it within their power to visit some of the important towns of Southern Spain, such as Granada, Seville, Cordova, Toledo, Cadiz, Malaga, &c. An Eclipse excursionist who finds himself at Gibraltar, and who wishes to avoid as much as possible land travelling in Spain by going on to Alicante and stationing himself in that neighbourhood, must take shipping locally at Gibraltar. There are Spanish steamer services from Gibraltar, and Malaga, to Alicante. An overland traveller to Spain (it is presumed that none such will go as far as Portugal) has the choice of two routes to eclipse stations in Spain, both starting from Paris:—(1) vi Bordeaux, The foregoing paragraphs will furnish the reader with an outline of the whole problem of how to reach from England a suitable eclipse station in the Peninsula. This outline will pave the way for further details as to land journeys, which will be exhibited somewhat in the order of relative complexity and expense, beginning with the simplest. VIGO to OPORTO.Chief stations and distances from Vigo:—Redondela (8m.), Guillarey Junct. (24m.), Tuy (26m.), Vianna (57m.), Famalicao Junct. (88m.), Oporto (108m.). Vigo (pop. 17,000; hotel, Continental) is an important commercial centre with fine scenery all round. Redondela is one of the prettiest towns in Spain, especially as viewed from the railway viaducts. At Guillarey carriages may have to be changed for Tuy, the last station in Spain and a Custom-house. There is a fine cathedral at Tuy. The boundary is formed by the river Minho, spanned by a magnificent bridge 400 yards long, railway above and carriage road OPORTO to OVAR and LISBON.From Oporto to Lisbon by the direct line it is 211m. Fares—first, single, £1, 11s.; second, single, £1, 3s. But forwards from Pampilhosa (66m.) there is a loop line to Lisbon, running along the coast, and 25m. longer than the direct line. If it is proposed to visit some of the sights which will be mentioned presently, the coast line must be taken. Chief stations between Oporto and Lisbon by the coast line:—Ovar (23m.), Pampilhosa Junct. (66m.), Figueira da Foz (92m.), Leiria (132m.), Torres Vedras (192m.), Lisbon, Rocio station, (236m.). Oporto (pop. 120,000; hotels, Grande Hotel do Porto, Hotel de Paris) is a busy commercial city with much English colouring; e.g. church, hospital, doctor, club, and full modern facilities for locomotion by tramways, cabs and excursion carriages. The chief sights are:—(1) Cathedral, (2) Bishop’s Palace, (3) Church of St. Francisco, (4) Palacio da Bolsa, (5) Museu Portuense, Ovar.—This town being the nearest eclipse centre to England may be expected to draw many travellers in 1900. Being only 22m. or 1½ hours from Oporto, a day trip may be made thither from Oporto, and this will suit the convenience of those who prefer for lodgings a large city to a small provincial town. A train from Oporto at 7 a.m. returning at 7.45 p.m. will suffice for the requirements of all who will go armed only with small instruments. Pampilhosa Junction (Good Hotel).—Within 10m. to the N.-E. of this station is the first of the special sights which can be seen in connection with the Oporto-Lisbon railway. Take the train from Pampilhosa to Luzo (6m.), omnibus thence (½ hour) to Busaco (Good Hotel), and see the battlefield, the site of one of Wellington’s least successful victories. The panoramic views in all directions are superb. The famous convent is now a Government School of Forestry. After seeing Busaco progress may be made to Figueira da Foz (38m. from Luzo—Good Hotel), where the tourist may pass the night, unless he prefers to stay at Pampilhosa. Figueira is a seaside bathing-place of repute on a branch line. Lisbon (pop. 250,000; hotels—Braganza, Avenida, and some adjoining the railway station) owing to its great length from E. to W., and narrow breadth from N. to S., is a less easy city to find one’s way in than many other cities. This difficulty is aggravated by the want of leading thoroughfares and an efficient system of street naming and numbering. The sights are the usual ones of every large Continental city, such as churches, museums, and picture galleries; e.g. the Church of San Roque, the Church of San Vincente with its remarkable Royal Mortuary Chapel, the church and convent at Belem, and the gardens of the Escola Polytechnica. But a day should certainly be set apart for a trip to Cintra (17m. by rail, trains about every hour). OPORTO to PARIS.This route for getting from or to possible eclipse stations in Northern Spain or Portugal is set out on the supposition that a certain number of Eclipse excursionists may wish to combine the Paris Exhibition with the eclipse. There is an International Express from Oporto (and Lisbon) every Tuesday and Friday, which does the journey to Paris in 40 hours, but no one travelling for pleasure would use this train, especially as much of the best scenery is traversed by night. The journey should therefore be performed in sections, which may be made up as follows:—
Use should be made as far as possible of the International Express. Where this is not done, and ordinary trains have to be taken, the delays are interminable and the combinations most exasperating to an Englishman. The hotel accommodation in all the smaller towns of Spain is so universally bad that it is not easy to suggest what otherwise would seem obvious, namely, how best to subdivide, at any rate, the first three of the above sections. The International Express has a connection with Lisbon, the main train being made up or divided as the case may be at Pampilhosa Junction. LISBON to TALAVERA and MADRID.Observers who think they will be able to do better as regards a clear sky inland in Spain than near either the coast of Portugal or that of Spain will still find in many cases that Lisbon is their most convenient port for landing. The chief stations on this route are:—Entroncamento Junction (67m.), MarvÃo (149m.), Valencia de Alcantara (159m.), *Plasencia (256m.), *Navalmoral (287m.), *Talavera de la Reina (328m.), Madrid, Delicias Stat. (412m.). The places marked (*) are all within the shadow track of the eclipse. MarvÃo (Custom-house) is the last station in Portugal but the actual frontier is 6m. further on. Valencia de Alcantara (Custom-house) is the first station in Spain. During the next 50m. the railway passes through much wild mountain scenery. Plasencia, Navalmoral, and Talavera as eclipse stations have been mentioned on a previous page. Many celebrated struggles during the Peninsular War took place in this part of Spain, notably at Talavera in 1809 and at Almaraz in 1812. Madrid (pop. 470,000; Hotel de Paris, Hotel de la Paix). GIBRALTAR to MADRID (with Excursions, on the way, to GRANADA and SEVILLE).From AlgeÇiras (opposite Gibraltar) there runs every Wednesday an International Express train to Madrid and Paris. The eclipse central line crosses this route about 15m. S. of Alcazar de San Juan Junction (pop. 8400; Good Buffet, Hotel, Casa BriseÑo) which is 368m. N. of AlgeÇiras and 93m. S. of Madrid. The chief stations between AlgeÇiras and Madrid are:—Bobadilla Junct. (110m.), Cordova (185m.), Alcazar de San Juan (369m.), Aranjuez (430m.), and Madrid (461m.). AlgeÇiras is reached from Gibraltar by a local steamer. About one hour is allowed to make the connection with the train. Eclipse travellers going to this part of Spain who wish to take advantage of their proximity to Granada and Seville will find the following time-table usefully suggestive:—
Corresponding to the above International train there is an express from Paris on Mondays reaching LONDON to ALICANTE.The central line of the eclipse quits Spain at Cape Santa Pola about 10m. S. of Alicante (pop. 40,000): it crosses the line of the Alicante and Madrid railway at Novelda (pop. 8000) a station about 20m. inland from Alicante. Alicante may be reached from England as follows:—(1) All sea, vi Gibraltar and Malaga; (2) all land, vi Paris, Biarritz and Madrid (1077m.), or Paris, Lyons and Perpignan (1126m.); or (3) part land and part sea, vi Paris and Marseilles, and thence by steamer to Barcelona and Valencia. As regards the two land routes there is not very much to choose except that the Biarritz-Madrid route is somewhat shorter and much quicker than the Perpignan-Barcelona route. As regards the two sea routes both are probably bad from the standpoint of comfort, the steamers in which the voyage would have to be completed being Spanish coasting vessels, but it is difficult to obtain particulars of them in England. The following are some of the chief places between Paris and Alicante on the Perpignan route:—Dijon (195m.), Lyons (318m.), Avignon (461m.), NÎmes (490m.), Perpignan (623m.), Spanish frontier at Port Bou (650m.), Barcelona Madrid is 285m. from Alicante, the journey occupying about 29h. USEFUL BOOKS for PORTUGAL and SPAIN.As the result of much inquiry and research, the following may be suggested:— Guide-books.
Dictionaries.
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