SLOW TRAVEL – cultural travel

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end”
Ernest Hemingway

We are all conscious of climate change and the damage we are doing to our living environment. Planes contribute disproportionately to global carbon emissions making travelling by plane increasingly problematic. When we decide we must change our route there are several things that should be acknowledged…

Flights have rightly become the epitome of excess when it comes to Co2 emissions. Avoiding flying seems a simple solution to cut down on emissions but if we do this, our individual carbon emissions should also be considered more holistically. How do I heat my home or my place of work, do I have a car, how often do I fly, do I purchase locally produced food, how much meat do I eat, is my food seasonal, from where am I purchasing the goods I like to consume etc? Whilst these are laborious to calculate, they all contribute to emissions.

Joya: AiR is an off-grid climate neutral cultural destination in rural southern Spain. Already existing as a partial desert this is a place that will more keenly see the reality of climate change. A week in residence at Joya: AiR will off-set the carbon expelled by a flight within Europe. Two weeks in residency and you are carbon positive. In addition, we have a Joya: carbon off-set / landscape restoration scheme (info coming) which will help us all in trying to clean carbon from the atmosphere.

Off-set schemes can be seen as problematic as there is an argument that they merely appease the guilt of someone who is not altering their lifestyle and individual attitude to the environment. This is true in some cases, but we hope that as a carbon neutral destination - with ongoing schemes such as creating a 20 hectare edible forest - our resident artists are contributing to the ideas and concepts of living life responsibly and spreading that message.

Systematic change is now crucial. This can only be brought about by political activism and by example…

So, we are proposing an alternative way to travel to Joya: AiR.

By train…

Yes, it takes longer, and yes it’s more expensive however with carbon emissions vastly lower these factors are a small price to pay. Travelling by train enables you to lower your carbon footprint whilst seeing more of Europe’s most captivating cities, landscape and cultural institutions.

Here are some simple itineraries and links to more information. We hope it helps.

London to Joya: AiR / Paris to Joya: AiR / Amsterdam to Joya: AiR / Berlin to Joya: AiR / Switzerland to Joya: AiR / Milan to Joya: AiR

London to Joya: AiR

Day one:

Take the 9.24 Eurostar from London St Pancreas to Paris Nord (2 hours 30 minutes). Next, take the TGV Duplex from Paris Gare de Lyon to Barcelona Sants arriving at 20.34. Stop the night in Barcelona.

Here are some of our suggested cultural highlights of Barcelona:

MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona

Museu de Disseny de Barcelona

Fundació Mies Van Der Rohe Barcelona

Day 2:

Option 1:

Take the 6.50 AVE-S112 high speed train to Madrid and change there for Granada.

Cultural highlights of Granada:

Granada is one of the three jewels of ‘Al Andalus’

The Alhambra Palace (this needs booking at least three months in advance)

The Albaicin, which is the old Moorish/Jewish heart of the city (opposite the Alhambra Palace, is a beautiful place to wander and soak in the atmosphere).

Option 2:

Take a later high speed train to Madrid and break your journey with a night here and…

Cultural highlights of Madrid:

Museo Nacional Centro de Art Reina Sofia Picasso’s Guernica

Museo del Prado Goya’s Black Paintings

Day 3: Madrid to Granada

Via high speed train arriving in time to catch the ALSA coach to Vélez Rubio (2 hours) where we collect you.

To return:

Vélez Rubio to Granada via ALSA coach (9.30 arriving 12.00)

Granada to London:

A direct AVE leaves once a day leaving at 15.35 to Barcelona arriving 22.00. You will need to stay overnight in Barcelona.

Next day leave Barcelona Sants at 9.25 via TGV Duplex to Paris Gare de Lyon then take the Eurostar from Paris Nord to London St Pancreas arriving at 19.39

You could choose an alternative route back: returning via Lille before catching the Eurostar (running between 08.35 and 21.00) to London. Lille has much to offer including:

La Piscine - an art deco museum of decorative arts

La Villa Cavrois - a modernist house built in 1932 for a local industrialist