July 14, 2023 – Day 9

Today we visited the Port of Barcelona. We had private transportation to and from the port, and I would suggest this for everyday for the trip next yet. Once we arrived to the port we met with Julie and she gave us a small presentation (notes to follow), and a tour of the port. The tour of the port very interesting and fascinating. We got to go on one of the arms and we’re able to see all the terminals of the port. We were also able to watch a ship leave the terminal! That concluded our educational day! Below are notes from the port.

Valencia port is also know as the port of Madrid

Spain is #1 in container imports

Porta of Spain are public

Harbor is 20M in depth

Improving railways from 2 to 4

1556 is when we see the port start to develop

The Spanish port System

28 total port authorities

2 subsidiaries:

• • Sagunto (north)
  • Ganndia (south)

For environmental aspects the Port of Valencia can not grown more terminals into the ocean

3 main alliances

• maersk
• Ocean Alliance
• The Alliance

Valencia is 7 hours from the main Mediterranean route (closest in EU)

12-14 container ship per day and turn around time can be between 24-48 hours

2.6 million TEU in 2022

Ranked #4 in the top 15 ports in the EU in 2022

In 2021 Valencia was ranked #1 Port of Spain

Sustainability:

Wants to be 0 Carbon emissions by 2030

• • Adding windmills
  • Electric cars

Day 6: 7/13/23

After breakfast at our hotel this morning we took public transportation to The Port Authority of València.

Presentation notes:

Valenciaport: autoridad portuaria de Valencia

• they manage three ports: Sagunto, València, and Gandia
• Valencia facilities: container terminal, future container terminal, liquid bulk, solid bulk, vehicles and Ro-ro cargo, passengers, and future passenger terminals
• 75.47% of traffic through the port is contained
• 40% of container traffic goes through the València port in Spain

New northern terminal

• Private investment: 1,021 mil
• Public investment: 400 mil
• Job creation or 5,000 new jobs
• Energy self sufficient

Influence

• Resides half of the Spanish population and generates 55% of the gdp

Project: zero net emissions by 2030

• Energy transitions
• Clean terminals
• Environmental bonuses
• Renewal of hybrid/electric vehicle fleet
• Use of LED technology in lighting both buildings and on public roads.
• Promotion of the circular economy

Question: On our way here we walked by a river outside with an odd color caused by pollution. I asked our presenter if that was caused by the port’s pollution to which he answered no because that is the end of a river which comes from another direction, but the port works to clean the river and they use cleaning systems to keep their port clean.

Foundation Valenciaport

• A center for applied research, innovation, and training
• Serves the port-logistics cluster

What they do

• Innovation
• RDI projects
• Training human capital
• Cooperate technical assistance worldwide
• Internationalization
• Market intelligence
• Supporting port logistics communities
• A collective social responsibility strategy

The numbers

• 500 partners
• 692 training courses
• 309 projects
• 60 countries

Clients

• International institutions
• Exporters and importers
• Governments
• Logistics zones
• Inland terminals and dry ports

Knowledge areas

• Port maritime market
• Port planning and management
• Port logistics
• Integration between the port and the city
• Digital transformation
• Sustainability and energy transition
• Security and protection

Question: Does Valènciaport use AI or artificial intelligence to analyze traffic data or predict vessel demand in the port. They answered that they are currently working on a project to incorporate more artificial intelligence into their ports everyday operations.

Working methods

1. Needs
2. Analysis and benchmarking
3. Market and innovation
4. Project organization
5. Coordination and management of high added value activities
6. Solutions development
7. Pilotage: implementation or deployment: market

Open top is an innovation hub that…

• Is used and created for Valenciaport
• Bring open innovation to Valenciaport cluster
• Connects startups and tech companies within the port sector

How they create connections

• Hackathon: idea and solution generation
• Incubation or acceleration program: early access to new technologies and business models for the partner, and access to potential customers for the startup
• Pilots: test and pilot technological solutions in a real-world environment
• Funding: investment opportunity in interesting startups

After our visit we went to lunch and ate some yummy chicken Paella! Finally, we headed back to the hotel for class and then enjoyed the rest of our free evening by going to dinner and shopping.

07/13/2023

Day 8

I was up all night sick, so I was not able to attend Fundación Valenciaport. Dr. Gonzalez sent us a video of the lecture and Nik sent us some notes, so we would be caught up. Once I took some Tylenol and went to the pharmacy to get some medicine, I was feeling a little better. By 7:30, I felt even better. I went to get a spray tan with Elizabeth and Victoria since we are going to Ibiza tomorrow. After getting spray tans, Elizabeth and I met up with Matt and Nik at a sushi restaurant called Fuji. It was super good and we got a lot of food. After that, we went back to the hotel! Here are notes from the tour today:

Notes:

• Puerto de Estado

• the public body in charge of the central governments port policies

• valencia port

• port authority is the development and maintenance of the respective maintenance

• the València ports consist of Sagunto, València and Gandia

• Valencia facilities

• container terminals

• a future container terminal

• liquid bulk

• solid bulk

• vehicles and Ro-ro cargo

• passengers

• future passenger terminal

• the future terminals will increase the capacity capabilities of the port

• Northern terminal expansion

• private investments 1,021 million euros

• public investments 400 millions euros

• job creation – 5000 new jobs

• energy self sufficient terminal  aligned with 2023 zero emissions objective

• 98% of the machinery will be electrics and 100% from renewable sources

• on shore power supple

• will take it up to 5 million containers

• Sagunto facilities

• multipurpose terminal

• future multi purpose terminal

• vehicles and Roro terminals

• liquid bulk

• solid bulk

• Tons/type presentation

• 75% of traffic is general containerized goods traffic

• 40% of container traffic is through the València port in the Spanish port authority

• Ranking

• top global container port – #27

• Top European port – #4

• Top container traffic – #1

• Teus load, unload, transit

• #1 in spanish ports

• mixed gate/hub – foreign trade and transshipment port

• 5.6 million TEUs

• Valencia port container traffic:

• doorway to the mediterranean to other countries worldwide

• China is the #1 country of origin/destination of container traffic handled with València

• Container shipping lines in operating in Valencia port

• 3 main alliances

• 2M – Maersk line, MSC

• Ocean Alliance – oocl, cosco, evergreen, CMA CGM

• The alliance – Hapag, ONE, HMM, Yang Ming

• Some other global and regional shipping lines such as sealand, hamburg, etc.

• Mediterranean gate-Hub

• a competitive offer from Valencia port

• In the area of influence of valencia resides half of the spanish population

• generates 55% of the GDP

• Intermodality and railway corridors

• Madrid is largest dry port

• 3 railway corridors and reefers

• Project: zero net emissions

• Energy transitions

• wind and photovaltaica

• installation of 132 KV electrical substation

• use of hydrogen port machinery

• Use of LNG in ships

• clean terminals

• zero im mission terminal in northern expansion

• yard machinery electrified

• zero emission passenger terminal

• environmental bonuses

• Objective 2023 zero emissions

• complementary València – Sagunto rail

• energy self sufficient

• smart port

• intermodal ports/transport centers extended ports

Questions:

⁃ In comparison to the Barcelona port, does the València port or Barcelona handle more international movement? I feel like València location wise would have more of an opportunity but size wise I also feel like Barcelona has the machinery and traffic to move more internationally

⁃ railway comparisons and domestic shipment capabilities in camparison to Barcelona

⁃ Warehouses associated with the the València port

Fundacion Valeciaport Notes:

• Valencia poet knowledge hub in charge of innovation, projects, and running the information system

• who they are

• center of applied research and an innovation training center

• developing projects in other countries

• serves port logistics cluster

• they have their own board of directors

• sea boat lines and universities etc

• innovation and R&D&I projects

• knowledge and management

• cooperation around the world providing technical assistance and promote internationalization

• market intelligence

• supporting the port logistics community and social responsibility strategy

• Numbers:

• 500 partners

• 309 projects

• 60 countries

• Clients

• intl institutions

• government

• exporters and importers

• inland and dry ports

• railway

• Ro-ro

• bulk and multipurpose

• etc

• Team

• over 70

• backgrounds from engineers to lawyers etc.

• 100% technical staff with university degree

• 75% with master or doctorate

• Management

• port maritime

• port planning

• logistics

• integration between port and city

• digitalization

• Market intelligence

• valencia confainerized freight index

• economic environment analysis

• market insights

• port connectivity

• market and sectoral analysis

• demand and traffic

• port planning and management

• strategic and master plans

• port community quality systems

• financial and socio-economic analysis of logistics

• traffic and demand forecast

• provide solutions in regards to port planning in other port systems

• key decisions of Panama canal

• changes in industry

• economic and political changes

• design new terminals etc

• Port logistics

• integrating global supply change

• project planet

• understanding and assimilating global geopolitical and tradI

• I terminal project

• boost digitalization

• they can see efficiency and productivity analysis

• can study where there will be gaps and decide where they can improve

• sustainability and energy transition

• green C ports project

• development and installation of a network of environmental and meteorological sensors to be tested in different European ports and their port city interfaces

• internal users and external users

• H2ports

• starting to use hydrogen

• implementing fuel cells and hydrogen technologies in ports

• first ever implementation of hydrogen technologies in port handling equipment in Europe

• security and protection

• Praetorian

• protection of critical infrastructures from advanced combined cyber security

• digital transformation

• data and artificial intelligence

• Asignat project

• digital twin architecture and machine learning service for road and freight transport planning

• specify and develop a system for calculating and updating the ETA in real time

• design and develop intelligent tools based on machine learning

• implement a global digital twin model

• provide solutions in regards to port planning in other port systems

• Herit Data

• sustainable heritage management towards mass tourism impact thanks to a holistic use of Big and open data

• international cooperation

• digital transformation in efforts of improving the port system in portugal

• CMA-CGM

• project related to how the terminal can reduce emissions to turn to low or zero carbon

• Working Method

• understand needs

• analysis benchmark

• market

• innovation

• project management

• consortiums

• funding

• coordination management and high value activities

• solution developments

• implementation/deployment

• market

• Valenciaport Innovation plan

• zero emissions

• reduce carbon emissions

•

Questions:

⁃ Is there a Valenciano and Spanish language requirements?

⁃ is the zero emissions goal in 2023 something that’s being enforced on the government level or just an effort from the ports themselves?

Opentop project notes:

• Wfforts to make safer, smarter, and more efficient ports

• First steps in open innovation

• many projects to assist in implement open communication between external and internal parties

• digitalization

• trade tech fund

• Combatting climate change projects

• innovation hub of leading port

• 1st Med container traffic

• 1st innovation hub in the Spain port system

• >1M passengers

• Opentop:

• R&D innovation

• read watch and development on innovative concepts for port logistics

• training

• in and with new technologies

• startup incubation and acceleration

• support best startups whike testing technology

• establishing win-win relationships

• venture capital fund

• investment opportunities for companies and funding for start ups

• labs

• ideal environment and infrastructure to test new technologies and their applications to port and logistics business

• programs designed to create connections

• Hackathon

• idea and solution generation

• incubation/acceleration program

• early access to new technologies and business models for the oartner

• access to potential customers

• pilots

• test and pilot technological solutions in a real-world environment

• funding

• investment opportunities in interesting startups

July 13, 2023

We started the morning at a cafe, and I have found my new favorite way to drink coffee in the morning is an espresso shot with sweetened condensed milk. So so good! We then took a group trip to the Fundacion Valenciaport. We learned about the different locations the València ports consist of, Sagunto, València, and Gandia. The presenter discussed the plane for the northern terminal expansion. She emphasized that it is not possible for them to build further out into the water, so they have to expand longways. She explained how Valencia is more so a container port whereas Barcelona is more of a passenger terminal, which was very interesting to learn after hearing the stats of the Barcelona’s port. The emphasis on the importance of locations for ports. The Valenica port is what she considered the “doorway to the Mediterranean and the international sphere. For example, China is the #1 country of origin/destination for container traffic handled in Valencia. Along with Valencia’s geographical location near the canal between Africa and Spain, Valencia is also closest to the largest dry port in Spain, Madrid. The Valencia Port, like every other port and firm we talked to discussed their project of zero net emissions. Their plan is to continue to introduce more energy transitions such as wind and photovoltaic, using LNG in ships, using hydrogen in port machinery. They also plan to reach zero emissions in their passenger terminal, the container yard will be electrified, and the new northern terminal expansion will be zero emissions.

Questions:

• In comparison to the Barcelona port, does the València port or Barcelona handle more international movement? I feel like València location wise would have more of an opportunity, but size wise, I also feel like Barcelona has the machinery and traffic to move more internationally
  • She answered that because of Valencias location on the Mediterranean and proximity to the ATlantic, Valencia has the advantage of quicker movement to locations. However, she also reiterated that Barcelona is more of a passenger port than Valencia’s dominantly container port. Therefore, more cruises and vessels transporting individuals go to Barcelona because of its geographical proximity to the rest of Europe.
• In regards to the railway system connecting Valencia, Barcelona, and Madrid, is Valencia or Barcelona have the advantage in the use and movement of freight via cargo
  • Valencia is located closer to Madrid in the Spain railway system allowing it to move freight to the dry port of Madrid quicker and with a lower cost than Barcelona.

We were then given a presentation on the Fundacion de Valenciaport itself and its purpose. The Fundacion de Valenciaport is a center of applied research and an innovation training center that contributes to the knowledge and management of the Valencia port as well as assist in projects for other international ports. They work with international institutions, governments exporters and importers, dry ports, railways, Ro-ro terminals, bulk and multipurpose terminals, etc. in efforts of improving the operations and effects socially, economically, and environmentally fro their clients. They presented several of their projects they are working on such as Project planet, I Terminal Project, Green C Ports, H2ports, Praetorian, Asignat Project, along with a multitude of others in hopes of improving the logistics industry as a whole. My personal favorite to learn about was the Asignat Project, which is a plan to start implementing fuel cells and hydrogen technologies in ports and will be the first ever implementation of hydrogen technologies in port handling equipment in Europe.

Questions:

• Is there a Valenciano and Spanish language requirements?
  • I had learned from the tour at the Ciudad de Artes y las Ciencias that many jobs require individuals to learn both Valenciano and Spanish. Valenciano I learned is similar to Catalan and Basque as in it is the language of that particular region of Spain region. Simply put she said no there are no requirements to learn both but many individuals who have lived in Valencia know both anyway.
• is the zero emissions goal in 2023 something that’s being enforced on the government level or just an effort from the ports themselves?
  • She explained that it is not a law that has been enforced by the Spanish government but instead an effort from the individual ports to improve the state of the climate. Simultaneously, the emissions and the effects of the ports affect the population of the city it resides in so not only is it an effort to help the climate but it is also a way to better the lives of the individuals who work at the port andlive around the port.

We also received a presentation specifically on the OpenTop project, an effort to make safer, smarter, and more efficient ports through implementing more open communication between internal and external parties, increase digitalization, combatting climate change projects, and improving the trade tech fund. She discussed that concepts of the project involve developing innovative concepts for port logistics, training with new technologies, supporting startups while establishing win-win relationships, the venture capital fund for startups, and building on port labs to test new technologies for the port. 

Afterwards, we took transit to lunch at Fum de Llum. We had delicious Valencian starters and HUGE paella dishes in the largest cast iron skillets I have ever seen. Summer and I walked to go get Boba after and realized how much more processed America’s foods are. The boba place we went to had real taro in it, and we thought it wasn’t nearly as good as at home. After, we headed back to the hotel to do homework, do laundry, and pack for our trip tomorrow.

For dinner, we went to a sushi restaurant called Fuji and ate all-you-can-eat sushi. Afterward we went back to the Ciudad de las Arte y las Ciencias to experience the rooftop.

We woke up in our new home València ready to start the morning with a presentation at Fundación Valenciaport. Mark was our speaker and he gave some insight on the port of València and 2 smaller ones, Gandia and Sangunto. They all operate under the same umbrella. Valencia’s port is the most volume in Spain and 4th in Europe container wise. We also got a presentation from Yolanda from Opentop, an innovative network working to make ports more efficient and sustainable. Valencia is on this network and are expanding to outside of Spain to make the entire destination work along SMART hubs. After our presentations we took a taxi to Fum de Llum where we had a great lunch and got to try paella for the first time. We took the metro after back to the hotel and had some free time to catch up on some homework and do some laundry for the weekend ahead.

Notes from report:

Fundación Valenciaport

Mark

Puertos del Estado – public body in charge of implementation of Spanish port systems

28 port authorities

46 ports

In charge of Valencia, Gandia, Sagunto

5.6m TEU

Port organized by company in container terminals

New northern terminal

Job creation: 5,000 new jobs

Energy self sufficient terminal aligned with 2030 zero emission goal

Sagunto

• One of the major areas for ceramic and gas

75.47% of traffic that goes through València is container traffic

40% import/export traffic

In container traffic:

• 27th global ranking
• 4th in European
• 1st in Spain

Mixed gate/Hub

China is top destination for exports from Valencia

China is top origin for imports from Valencia

More connectivity is better for competition

3 main alliances

• 2M
• Ocean alliance
• The alliance

Area of influence resides half of the Spanish population generates 55% of population

Madrid is the dry port of València

3 railway corridors & reefer train services

Sustainability: Zero net emissions by 2030

Valencia is top ports for trying to be pro zero emissions in Europe.

Thal location located outside as a logistics park where goods are held

New slide show

Who we are

• center for applied research, innovation, and Training
• Initiative of Port Authority of València bringing together key companies, Universidades.

What we do

• R&D&I projects aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of companies and institutions in the sector.

Consortium

• 692 courses
• 250 teachers
• 22,448 teachers

Works with all vessels and types of ships

Knowledge areas

• Port-maritime market
• Port logistics

Port planning & management solutions

• provide port solutions to other ports

Projects:

iTerminals

• shows maintenance
• Productivity charts
• Gives info on how efficient it is

Green C sports

• environment platform
• Camera that measures emissions from ships
• Biggest challenge has been measuring the amount of gas rather than a percentage

H2Ports

• starting to use hydrogen to power ports

PRAETORIAN

• project on security

ASIGNAT

• transport companies receive transport orders
• To create an automatic scheduling platform for drivers

HERIT-DATA

• Sustainable heritage management
• Cruise ships
• Monitor tourism flows

Digital transformation

CMA CGM- Green Terminal

• audit of port to make them a greener terminal

Needs, Analysis and Benchmarking, Market, Innovation, Project organziation, coordination management, solutions development, pilotage.

New slide show

Open top

• getting companies from outside of the port to work with companies inside the port.
• Safer, smarter, more sustainable ports

Innovation hub of a leading port

• 1st innovation port in Spain
• Build network of ports
• Connects startups and tech companies with the port sector

We are lab(startup)

Metric_ (metaverse of a port)

Boluda(startup)

Mtanner@fundación.valenciaport.com

July 13, 2023 – Day 8

This morning I woke up feeling sick. My body was achy and my chest was tight. Because of this I had to miss the visit at Fundación ValenciaPort. However Dr. Gonzalez was able to provide me, and the others that were sick, with a recording of the lecture. Here are notes from the lecture:

• Puerto de Estado

• the public body in charge of the central governments port policies

• valencia port

• port authority is the development

maintenance of the respective maintenance

• the València ports consist of Sagunto, València and Gandia

• Valencia facilities

• container terminals

• a future container terminal

• liquid bulk

• solid bulk

• vehicles and Ro-ro cargo

• passengers

• future passenger terminal

• the future terminals will increase the capacity capabilities of the port

• Northern terminal expansion

• private investments 1,021 million euros

• public investments 400 millions euros

• job creation – 5000 new jobs

• energy self sufficient terminal  aligned with 2023 zero emissions objective

• 98% of the machinery will be electrics and 100% from renewable sources

• on shore power supple

• will take it up to 5 million containers

• Sagunto facilities

• multipurpose terminal

• future multi purpose terminal

• vehicles and Roro terminals

• liquid bulk

• solid bulk

• Tons/type presentation

• 75% of traffic is general containerized goods traffic

• 40% of container traffic is through the València port in the Spanish port authority

• Ranking

• top global container port – #27

• Top European port – #4

• Top container traffic – #1

• Teus load, unload, transit

• #1 in spanish ports

• mixed gate/hub – foreign trade and transshipment port

• 5.6 million TEUs

• Valencia port container traffic:

• doorway to the mediterranean to other countries worldwide

• China is the #1 country of origin/destination of container traffic handled with València

• Container shipping lines in operating in Valencia port

• 3 main alliances

• 2M – Maersk line, MSC

• Ocean Alliance – oocl, cosco, evergreen, CMA CGM

• The alliance – Hapag, ONE, HMM, Yang Ming

• Some other global and regional shipping lines such as sealand, hamburg, etc.

• Mediterranean gate-Hub

• a competitive offer from Valencia port

• In the area of influence of valencia resides half of the spanish population

• generates 55% of the GDP

• Intermodality and railway corridors

• Madrid is largest dry port

• 3 railway corridors and reefers

• Project: zero net emissions

• Energy transitions

• wind and photovaltaica

• installation of 132 KV electrical substation

• use of hydrogen port machinery

• Use of LNG in ships

• clean terminals

• zero im mission terminal in northern expansion

• yard machinery electrified

• zero emission passenger terminal

• environmental bonuses

• Objective 2023 zero emissions

• complementary València – Sagunto rail

• energy self sufficient

• smart port

• intermodal ports/transport centers extended ports

Fundacion Valeciaport Notes:

• Valencia poet knowledge hub in charge of innovation, projects, and running the information system

• who they are

• center of applied research and an innovation training center

• developing projects in other countries

• serves port logistics cluster

• they have their own board of directors

• sea boat lines and universities etc

• innovation and R&D&I projects

• knowledge and management

• cooperation around the world providing technical assistance and promote internationalization

• market intelligence

• supporting the port logistics community and social responsibility strategy

Numbers:

500 partners

309 projects

60 countries

• Clients

• intl institutions

• government

• exporters and importers

• inland and dry ports

• railway

• Ro-ro

• bulk and multipurpose

• etc

• Team

• over 70

• backgrounds from engineers to lawyers etc.

• 100% technical staff with university degree

• 75% with master or doctorate

• Management

• port maritime

• port planning

• logistics

• integration between port and city

• digitalization

• Market intelligence

• valencia confainerized freight index

• economic environment analysis

• market insights

• port connectivity

• market and sectoral analysis

• demand and traffic

• port planning and management

• strategic and master plans

• port community quality systems

• financial and socio-economic analysis of logistics

• traffic and demand forecast

• provide solutions in regards to port planning in other port systems

• key decisions of Panama canal

• changes in industry

• economic and political changes

• design new terminals etc

• Port logistics

• integrating global supply change

• project planet

• understanding and assimilating global geopolitical and tradI

• I terminal project

• boost digitalization

• they can see efficiency and productivity analysis

• can study where there will be gaps and decide where they can improve

• sustainability and energy transition

• green C ports project

• development and installation of a network of environmental and meteorological sensors to be tested in different European ports and their port city interfaces

• internal users and external users

• H2ports

• starting to use hydrogen

• implementing fuel cells and hydrogen technologies in ports

• first ever implementation of hydrogen technologies in port handling equipment in Europe

• security and protection

• Praetorian

• protection of critical infrastructures from advanced combined cyber security

• digital transformation

• data and artificial intelligence

• Asignat project

• digital twin architecture and machine learning service for road and freight transport planning

• specify and develop a system for calculating and updating the ETA in real time

• design and develop intelligent tools based on machine learning

• implement a global digital twin model

• provide solutions in regards to port planning in other port systems

• Herit Data

• sustainable heritage management towards mass tourism impact thanks to a holistic use of Big and open data

• international cooperation

• digital transformation in efforts of improving the port system in portugal

• CMA-CGM

• project related to how the terminal can reduce emissions to turn to low or zero carbon

• Working Method

• understand needs

• analysis benchmark

• market

• innovation

• project management

• consortiums

• funding

• coordination management and high value activities

• solution developments

• implementation/deployment

• market

• Valenciaport Innovation plan

• zero emissions

• reduce carbon emissions

July 12, 2023 – Day 7

Today we travels to Valencia. Our first train was at 8:20 so we had to be out the door of the hotel by 7:15 am. The train took us to Madrid where we had to catch a tram where we had to get on the train to Valencia. I have to say the logistics of transportation on this trip has not been the best and the train situation was by far the worst. Nevertheless, we made it to Valencia! After getting settled in we went and toured ciudad de las artes y las ciencias. It was beautiful and I loved hearing the history about the architect Santiago Calatrava. That concludes our first day in Valencia!

July 12, 2023

Overall, the day was pretty uneventful, which was really lovely after going 100 mph yesterday. We started the morning very early to travel to Valencia. We took one train from Barcelona to Madrid, which took 2 hours. Then took another from Madrid to Valencia for another 2 hours. Once we arrived in Valencia, we took taxis to Hotel Olympia. We had a walking tour that evening at the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias and learned about the famous architect named Calatrava. The whole area was absolutely stunning. We learned that he never used right angles and almost always included an opening and closing eye in his later designs. They were elaborate, modern, and the incorporation of plants and water everywhere made it even more beautiful. We ended the night at an Italian restaurant called La Femelle. We got a ton of delicious starters and, for dinner, had pizzas and pasta. After dinner, we walked through the historic part of the city and saw the Valencian Cathedral and the surrounding area.

We woke up early this morning and left the hotel at seven am to get to the train station for our trip to València. After our long transport to València, between metros, taxis, and trains; we arrived at our new hotel and checked in. We then rested and went to our walking tour of The Ciudad De las Artes y las Ciencias. The buildings were designed by famous architect Coronado and were so cool to see. We then used the rest of the day to explore València and grab dinner at a local Italian restaurant before heading back to our hotel.

07/12/2023

Day 7

We left the hotel at 7 am this morning to take the train to Valencia. We stopped in Madrid to get on another plane. I did some school work on the train and tried to get some sleep. We finally got to Valencia around 3-3:30 and headed straight to the hotel. We got to rest for about an hour and then we headed to the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias. It was absolutely gorgeous! Before this museum, Valencia didn’t have many visitors. Now, many people come to visit Valencia. The architect, Coronado, had a thing for eyes, so one of the buildings was shaped like an eye. The eye is actually able to blink too. The opera house is the most expensive building in the complex. This complex also has an open air club called Umbracle. You are able to go kayaking in the water there. The tour was so fascinating! After the tour, we went to dinner at Le Favole. We went to bed early because we were exhausted.