SEVILLE – THE CITY OF BULL FIGHTING

WEATHER: Hot and 32C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Going to the bullfighting ring

BUMMER OF THE DAY:  It’s a hot one today – but is one ever happy with the weather

BUYS OF THE DAY: My shout for 4 beers = 6.80EUR

WORD OF THE DAY:  **cough – cough** - Contiki cough rears its head on the immune challenged after 2 weeks of drinking, lack of sleep and ‘other’ things…..

We got to see some of Seville today.  We had our walking tour this morning, and our guide Aurora was amazing.  We did a scoot around the city in the bus, and she showed us the 1929 World Fair and 1992 Seville Expo pavilions that were built for expos that have been held in Seville.  We then got to go to the most important Bullring in all of Spain The Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla it is the oldest bullring in Spain. It is the site of the annual Feria de Abril in Seville, one of the most well-known bullfighting festivals in the world and it was first used for bullfighting in 1765. 

To take you through how a bullfight works the Spanish-style bullfighting is called corrida de toros (literally "running of bulls").  In a traditional corrida, three matadores, each fight two bulls, each of which is between four and six years old and weighs no less than 460 kg.  Each matador has six assistants—two picadores, three banderilleros – who along with the matadors are collectively known as toreros ("bullfighters").  The modern corrida is highly ritualized, with three distinct stages or tercios ("thirds"), the start of each being announced by a bugle sound.

The participants first enter the arena in a parade, called the paseíllo, to salute the presiding dignitary, accompanied by band music. Next, the bull enters the ring to be tested for ferocity by the matador and banderilleros with the magenta and gold capote ("cape").  The picador stabs just behind the morrillo, a mound of muscle on the fighting bull's neck, weakening the neck muscles and leading to the animal's first loss of blood. 

In the next stage, the three banderilleros each attempt to plant two banderillas, sharp barbed sticks into the bull's shoulders. These anger and invigorate, but further weaken, the bull who has been tired by his attacks. 

In the final stage, "the third of death", the matador re-enters the ring alone with a small red cape, or muleta, and a sword. It is a common misconception that the color red is supposed to anger the bull, because bulls, in fact, are colorblind.  The faena ends with a final series of passes in which the matador with a muleta attempts to maneuver the bull into a position to stab it between the shoulder blades and through the aorta or heart. 

If the matador has performed particularly well, the crowd may petition the president to award the matador an ear of the bull by waving white handkerchiefs. If his performance was exceptional, he will award two, and in certain more rural rings a tail can still be awarded. Very rarely, if the public or the matador believe that the bull has fought extremely bravely, they may petition the president of the event to grant the bull a pardon (indulto) and if granted the bull's life is spared and it is allowed to leave the ring alive and return to the ranch where it came from. Then the bull becomes a stud bull for the rest of its life. 

Aurora then sat us ring side and explained all this to us in detail above, also including the preparation of the Matador, from getting ready to walking in the arena and how they select the bulls.  She really painted a vivid vision and to actually be sitting in the seats and looking at the ring, you could just picture it all as she was talking.  There are a lot of people divided on the cruelty to the bulls, but like any culture, it may seem strange to us, but they have been doing this for 100’s of years.  As Contiki like to put, it’s not wrong it is just different.

We got to visit the small museum they also have on site and it was pretty cool to see some of the actual costumes.  Going from the size of the outfits, they look like tiny men, a little like jockey’s I guess.  This has to be the highlight of Seville by far.

From here we got a drop into the main park area, walked through and got to the Seville Cathedral.  Officially named The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See.  It is a Roman Catholic cathedral and is the largest Gothic cathedral and the third-largest church in the world.  At the time of its completion in the 16th century, it supplanted the Hagia Sophia as the largest cathedral in the world. Previously, the Hagia Sophia had held the title for more than a thousand years. The cathedral also serves as the burial site of Christopher Columbus.  We were going to go in, but the queue was too long, so we decided to have lunch across from it instead.  We are a little over Tapa’s so we have shared the love with our meals over a few countries.  We have had Italian (twice), Mexican, Burger King aka BK (not saying how many) so that covers America and Greek with our Kebabs.  This also doesn’t count Spanish of course and also Basque food.  So we have been very international and also not counting the Irish pub we went to.

The weather has finally agreed to play ball, on our 2^nd last day we got a hot, dry heat, but hot 32C.  Where was this weather for San Sebastian and Ibiza I ask you?  We left Seville around 2.30pm, and Aurora said that the temperature will hit 40C, but we didn’t have to worry as we would be in the road.  So back on the coach for the 2 hour drive to Cordoba.  I have been sitting mainly down the back of the coach, but Rach mentioned that the front seat was free, so I moved and it has so much more room up here, what have I been doing sitting down the back for the last 2 weeks?  Not to mention the view and extra ‘office’ space for me to use my notebook for blog entries!!  Another thing I find out the 2^nd last day!  DOH

We get into Cordoba at 4.30pm, and it is a quick hotel turn around as we had an included visit to the main attraction in Cordoba, the Mesquita.  It is the next most important visited Mosque in the world after Mecca and Medina.  This mosque was massive!!!!  Today it is a World Heritage Site and the cathedral of the Diocese of Córdoba. The site was originally a pagan temple, then a Visigothic Christian church, before the Moors at first converted the building into a mosque and then built a new mosque on the site. Mezquita is regarded as perhaps the most accomplished monument of the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba. After the Spanish Reconquista, it once again became a Roman Catholic church, with a plateresque cathedral later inserted into the centre of the large Moorish building.  Since the early 2000s, Spanish Muslims have lobbied the Roman Catholic church to allow them to pray in the cathedral. The Muslim campaign has been rejected on multiple occasions, by both Spanish Catholic authorities, and the Vatican. In 2010 there was a violent incident over the matter. 

It was an independent visit, so we could leave whenever we wanted.  I was there for around an hour, it was just amazing inside, and it was nice to just sit in there and take a few minutes to soak up the significance, whether you are Muslim or not it is quite an experience.

Marc wasn’t feeling well, so he decided to stay at the hotel and I lost Andrew somewhere along the way, so I met up with Dee, Lisa and Rach and we went and had some brewski’s for a few hours, sitting outside and enjoying the cooler air and it was nice to not have to rush around and see what everyone else was doing, we just chilled and were happy to sit and chat.  It was a really nice evening, with a leisurely 20 minute stroll back to the hotel; it was a great way to finish the 2^nd last day of the tour, and all done and dusted and in bed by 12.30am – an early night for this trip.