Travel Report: Cool Spots Around Nanjing Youth Olympic Sports Park.

It would be easy to come to Nanjing and miss the city’s Olympic District altogether. After all, it doesn’t show up on any must see lists and there are no major attractions. However, Jaylin and I happened to be staying nearby at the Nanjing Expo Center Hotel. Consequently, we made sure to stroll down here one morning and learn about Nanjing’s efforts to become “a world sport city”. Having visited The Olympic Museum and crossed the Nanjing Eye, this article takes a look at more cool spots around Nanjing Youth Olympic Sports Park.

In the summer of 2014 Nanjing became the second city to host The Summer Youth Olympic Games. The event saw over 3500 sportsmen and women from 203 nations flock to the city to compete in 28 sports. By the end China had topped the medal table, with an impressive 78 golds, 38 silvers and 25 bronzes. This eye catching square, opposite the luxury Somerset Serviced Apartments, stands in tribute to the spirit of international friendship.

Nanjing Youth Olympic Sports Park.

It’s fun to stroll around the square trying to guess the different countries based on the flags alone. Luckily, considering how crap I was at this game, one can also get confirmation of what’s what as each pole provides the country name in both English and Chinese.

Nanjing Youth Olympic Sports Park.

Nanjing International Youth Culture Center is just one of the park’s amazing buildings. The centre is home to a large theatre and a shopping mall, in addition to conference and concert halls. It was designed by the British group Zaha Hadid Architects, which also created the equally striking Galaxy Soho Mall in Beijing.

Cool Spots Around Nanjing Youth Olympic Sports Park.

Nanjing Youth Olympic Sports Park.

Another cool building is the park’s Visitor Center, which was originally used as the athletes’ dining hall back in 2014. Now it’s an office block and sadly we couldn’t go inside.

Cool Spots Around Nanjing Youth Olympic Sports Park.

Nanjing Youth Olympic Park is located in the southwest of the city and is best accessed from the nearby subway station Yuantong (Line 2 Red – take Exit 4).

Like this? Check out my many other pieces from around Nanjing.

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