| I have been in contact with the editor of a Villarreal Supporters' website, Vincente Meneu. His website is www.vila-real.com. We have traded articles about each other's city, his is shown below. Villarreal -or Vila-real in Valencian language- is a small industrial city in the Valencia region, close 7km. to the Mediterranean coast. The nearest airport is Valencia, which is about 70 km. down to the south. From Valencia airport you can either rent a car and drive to Vila-real to the north in direction to Barcelona, with an average transfer time of 1 hour. Alternatively, a taxi from Valencia airport to the RENFE train station in Valencia city will cost you some 10 Euros, and then there are trains to Vila-real every 30 minutes - detailed info at http://www.renfe.es/cercanias/valencia/index_horarios.html -. Once in Vila-real, El Madrigal stadium is where the match will take place. For you it will look small -just 21000 seat capacity- but provided the city's population of 42000, it means that almost 50% of Vila-realers are supporting its club every other Sunday!! The club is now 76 years old but it has been only since 4 years that got into Premiere, and this is the first year to be in UEFA cup at all. So Vila-realers are very proud of its club to play versus historical teams as Celtic. The meeting point in Vila-real should clearly be the main square or Plaza Mayor. This is where the city hall is, and from there you can walk the surrounding commercial streets around Calle Mayor, where you can go shopping. If coming by train, the street Calle Estacion in front of the train station exit will lead you straight into downtown. Bars are spread evenly around the city, and you can always find some 'tapas' (small dishes) for easy and relatively cheap eating. Ask for ELS TRETZE or ELS LLUISOS for a good selection. Downstairs ELS LLUISOS bar, there is a Villarreal supporters club CASAL DEL FUTBOL where you will be welcome, but it may be closed that day. Restaurants are also good value for money in general, and you can find from Chinese to Italian -a good one is EMOZIONI on Avenida Tarrega-; but if you want to eat a really good PAELLA rice dish and a nice Spanish wine, regardless of the price, ask for AVENIDA 41 in the Calle Cedre -get some 25 to 30 pounds per head ready-, or get to CAL DIMONI in Avenida Europa. Some other bars and restaurants can be found in front of the stadium EL MADRIGAL, in the square Plaza del Labrador. Villarreal supporters are well know in Spain as the less conflictive and best friendly ones, so we expect the Celtics visit to be a real FIESTA to all of us. Have a nice trip and QUE GANE EL MEJOR !! (that's: WISH TO WIN THE BEST) Best regards, Vicente Meneu www.Vila-real.com - for more info in English, go there and click on the Union flag- |