Seville - Bullfight

Ola mi Amigos. This post pertains entirely to that most famous of Spanish past times the Bullfight, or corrida de toros (running of the bulls) as it is also known. Upon arriving in Seville on a Sunday the first thing we did after parking was to buy tickets for what ended up being the Grand Final of the Bullfighting season.

In all we watched 3 teams (cuadrillas) battle 2 bulls each. Unfortunately for the bulls involved the end was always certain. While many consider it a savage waste of life, in Seville it seemed to be very popular; the 14,000 seat arena was packed predominantly by silver haired old men smoking cigars and middle aged women dressed up like they were about to hit Toorak Village street for Sunday brunch.

A single bullfight was broken down into 3 rounds. The first round seemed to be about ascertaining the bull’s strength and movement as well as wearing it down by making it charge. It also included the first drawing of blood by the horse mounted picadores (lancers) who would encourage the bull to charge into their mounts, while they lanced the bull in the back of the neck.

The second round has three team members each trying to jab 2 colorful barbed spears into the neck of the bull, thus drawing more blood and preparing the bull for the final round - tercio de muerte.

The final round consists only of the Matador and the bull. This stage is all about the matador’s control over the bull and how close he can have the bull rush past him without being injured. Finally the Matador will attempt to plunge (known as estocada) a long blade into a specific area of the bull’s neck. If he is good he will only attempt once, the bull will die quickly, and the crowd will roar in approval. To the chagrin of the crowd and no doubt the bull several attempts will sometimes have to be made before the bull falls.

While we didn’t completely understand the mechanics of the fight, and the death of the bull and injury of the horses was somewhat disturbing, a man dressed in tights reliving a tradition several centuries old involving a frenzied 500kg bull is not something to be missed.

For more info on the Spanish form of this tradition here is a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish-style_bullfighting. Below I’ve posted some pics in order of the three rounds described above.

1 night in Trujillo

Trujillo (pronounced: tro-hee-or) is a little walled city in Extremadura, somewhere between Madrid and Seville. We had a hire car and Micah's left-wheel driving skills were put to the test in Trujillo's ancient winding streets.

A narrow lane we came through in our Citroen.



Trujillo's Plaza Mayor


Sitting in the plaza in the evening, having a drink while waiting for dinner time (approx 10 pm in Spain)

Enjoying a nice quite dinner in a Spanish restaurant.... until..


Enter a Toledo bucks party! About 28 drunk and rowdy men decended upon the restaurant and claimed an alcove next to our table. They were singing, dancing, toasting, shouting and just having a crazy time.. there was no other choice but to join in...


More bucks photos.

The square by night.

Next morning - walking around the walled city and castle remains.


Trujillo castle


Next stop - Sevilla!

Days in Madrid

Arriving in Madrid we realised there was much to much to do in just 3 nights and 2 full days. So we booked and extra night and took our time experiencing Madrid by foot, boat, metro and tour. Photo captions explain further.


Micah found his dream breakfast: El Cubano, consisting of 3 pieces of toasted bread, ham, cheese, and a little eggie window at the top.



We attempted to complete the lonely planet "historical Madrid" all day walking tour. This is Liza, following the path given and checking the details, before it got ugly.

xxx


This is Micah insisting that we walk every step exactly as shown in the book, not even veering off course for a toilet break or drink fountain.

The royal palace was closed due to some fancy procession. Even the locals where pulling out their phone cameras for this special event (though we never worked out what it was for).

The royal palace. It has 2800 rooms. I mean, really, who needs so many rooms?

Don Quixote! La Mancha loves him.


On the second day we chilled out in El Retiro, Madrid's huge city park.



Micah rowing the boat.


Liza posing for a rowing photo.


Big monument on the lake.


Sneaky photo in Museu Del Prado before the lady told me to stop.


What you see in this photo is not homeless people - its everday Madridilenos drinking liquor on the streets of Malasana and Chueca, a couple of cool barrios just north of the city. That's right - street beers - drinking in the streets is not only accepted but the thing to do in Madrid. There is even people selling it - for cheap! Alas! Why can't all countries be as liberal and progressive as Spain?

Day 7 I think? - Zaragoza

In between Barcelona and Madrid is the lovely little (ok not so little) university town of Zaragoza. There were no tourists there so we were forced to use our crapola spanish eg "lo siento, no habla espanol - que cera una cervesa* per favour?" alt script for lize "vino tinto de la casa, per favour?" OK so all we know is how to order beer and wine. It's a start at least :)

we heart zaragoza!!

Barcelona - More photos

In Barcelona we stayed at a really good hostel "HelloBCN" in the El Raval area (think: St Kilda/Kings Cross) . On Saturday night we joined a crew of roughly 60 on the obligatory pub crawl, the crawl was a little bit crap but we met some great people :) Here are some photos of the ensuing hangover on Sunday and Sunday night, paella dinner and afterwards.


At about 11 we managed to drag ourselves out and about to see the maritime museum.



The model boats were so cool


Micah got his head stuck in the big one.
Columbus. Both Italy and Spain claim him.

Neptune in Parc de la Cuitadella


Another Gaudi offering.. sublime!

Waiting in the rain for a special paella place.. it was worth it!!

Micah, Marike, Mitch and Braden

Nadia, Matt and Liza

Marike, Liza and Mitch

Micah, Mitch and Marike, lost in Barcelona looking for a bar? Note Mitch's too-small jacket :)