Xavier Nienaber

¡DÍA LIBRE!

In preparation of returning to Madrid tomorrow and then back to the United States on Sunday, we were awarded a full free day to do whatever we pleased. Troy, Sammy, Michaela, and I met up with David and Kirt around 11:15 to travel to the Old Quarter of Valencia to explore. We decided to tour the Roman Ruins Museum, which only cost us one Euro each with our Student ID. This museum is designed for you to be able to experience what basic roads, artifacts, and ceramics from the Roman Era were like.

After we exited the museum, Kirt and David had to part ways for lunch while we continued to the Mercat Central. This is a market where hundreds of various food traders can sell their products, which range from fruit to freshly caught fish. Fun fact: this is one of the oldest markets of its kind dating back to 1839! Once we made a full round of the market, we decided to head to a café called Santutxu for lunch. We ordered a variety of tapas, Sammy had a calamari sandwich, Troy had paella, and Michaela topped it off with the house sandwich (Sandwich de la Casa).

We then walked around the city center square enjoying the weather, where we came across a beautiful fountain. We proceeded to take some pictures before continuing our journey.

Then, we split up again as Troy and Sammy didn’t want to tour the Valencia soccer stadium, Mestalla, unlike Michaela and me. After a short coffee break, we continued to the stadium to meet with Kirt and David, once again, for the tour. All I knew about this stadium was that it was our frequent meeting point for really any activity we had planned for the day, but this tour allowed me to learn the history and facts behind this beautiful stadium. Fun facts: Mestalla is the 2nd oldest stadium in Spain being built in 1923, it has a capacity of around 50 thousand people making it the 3rd largest capacity stadium in Spain, and the huge bat symbol is common for both the Valencia Club de Fútbol and the other Valencia team, Levante, because of an old tradition. We walked through the stadium, saw important trophies, toured the locker rooms, and concluded with a visit on the field. I am not a huge soccer fan; however, this tour was one of my favorite tours on this trip!

After we ended our tour, we met back up with Sammy and Troy to head to the mall where we walked around and bought souvenirs. Overall, this day was a lot of fun and I’m glad that I got to spend it with some amazing people. It’s crazy to think our trip is essentially over; however, having a free day right before we head back was well needed.