In the morning I went for another stroll through town and walked through the Turia, the riverbed that has been turned into a massive park that runs along the entire north and east side of the center.
On the way are some beautiful bridges and all kinds of facilities for people that want to enjoy their leisure time.
On weekends many people go here for a picnic; there are paths for bicycles and pedestrians, there are soccer fields, tennis fields, a children playground as well as a skateboard/bmx park.
Fortunately there are also some cafes, so before heading back I had a cup of coffee in the sun.
[singlepic=4,160,120,,left]I headed towards Rusafa, an upcoming ‚Äö√Ñ√∫bohemian‚Äö√Ñ√π area just southeast of the centre. There I saw a real estate agent and the pictures looked promising. The lady inside could only speak un poco English, but she was very helpful (perhaps because it was her own company). She showed me one apartment closeby and it looked ok. Lots of space you cannot use, such as a long, narrow hallway of about 60cm with all the doors to the different rooms. It was unfurnished, but she promised me that the landlord would take care of that. I would need to think about that one, because I was quite in a hurry, Monday I would need a new home…
In the afternoon I met with Amparo who I know from Beijing. She is from Valencia and it was very nice to see her again. We drank a coffee at the backside of Plaza de la Virgen, behind Miguelete, “the church of little Michael”, and I just read in a guidebook that the view from the top of this belltower is very well worth the visit. Of course the cathedral itself is too!
Amparo offered me to stay at her home from Monday onwards, to give me a bit more time to find an apartment, so i walked with her to pick up the keys.
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Once at her apartment it looked a lot different than the pictures of it that she sent me when I was still in China. I asked if she already had a tenant and whether I could reconsider my earlier decision. The deal was made very quickly: on Monday I can move in my new home! WOW, a mere two days and I have found myself an apartment, yeah with quite a bit of luck!!!
Rod called me if I wanted to join him and some of his friends for tapas and drinks. Amparo already had dinner arrangements, so off I went, my first Friday night out.
After a bit of searching I found Rod’s place on the Avenida del Baron de Carcer. He lives there with 4 roommates and the apartment has a cozy terrace where the food, the drinks and his friends were already present.
Later on they took me to the student area where we visited some bars until everyone got separated from each other and it was time for me to head home.
