MADRID – The Elon men's soccer team is across the Atlantic in Spain for an international and cultural learning and playing experience from March 20 – 29. Check in with elonphoenix.com every day to read posts from the players on their adventures. Fans can also follow the team on Twitter and Instagram and browse through the photo album on Facebook.
 
Day Seven
 
We started our second to last day with a tour of the Bernabeu stadium, home to Real Madrid. The tour itself was set up much like Camp Nou's – with time in the museum, trophy hall, and all levels of the stadium. One part that stood out above Camp Nou was that we had the opportunity to go inside the home team's locker room, where we saw Ronaldo and Casillas' lockers.
 
After touring both Barcelona's Camp Nou and Real Madrid's Bernabeu, my vote goes to Camp Nou. The atmosphere at Camp Nou was incredible and I feel like it would be hard to beat with 17,000 fewer people in the Bernabeu.
 
After the stadium tour, we went over to Plaza Meyor to explore the older parts of the city. A number of us made our way to the San Miguel marketplace, which consists of dozens of vendors selling everything from fresh fruit and prosciutto to chocolates, wine, and paella. We spent the next few hours wandering around sampling everything we could get our hands on. Some of us (well, mostly just me) emerged feeling a bit sick from the quantity of food consumed, but it was definitely worth it. We (I) tried bruschetta, croquettes, gelato, mini calzones, paella, stuffed croissants, chocolate, pastries, bocadillos, fruit, pizza, sausage, calamari, yogurt, bread, jellies, numerous cheeses, and honeycomb. All of which were delicious.
 
We ended the day in an Irish pub, which we found to watch the Spain-Ukraine game. It was neat to see the team we watched train two nights before play and take the win with a great combination to score.
 
By Chris Shannon
 
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