……..bull fighting is as Spanish as ‘tortilla’ and so we visited “La Real Maestranza de Caballeria de Sevilla”, I must say I went reluctantly being aware that from the time the bull leaves the farm where it is breed specifically to go into the ring it’s virtually dead meat! Still, while you can’t equate the dead meat logic with rugby, I guess one has to recognize certain cultural differences – do the Spanish play rugby?????
Fortunately the season had finished so it was just a good look around and it was quite fascinating.
The bullring we visited is one of the most beautiful in Spain apparently, as well as one of the most significant in the history of bullfighting. The bull heads on the wall were particularly sad….the last matador killed there managed, as he was dying, to kill the bull and they both died at the same moment – great, crowd pleasing stuff! The other head (and this is the unfair bit I think…) is the mother of the aforementioned bull. It was decided by the – who ever?? – that another bull should not be breed that could ‘kill people’ - uummmmm - I don’t get that?? The chapel is where the matadors pray before they go into the ring. Trivia – did you know that a matador’s costume cost around 25,000 Euros? Also the top matadors are great celebrities and get paid mega bucks per appearance.
The other photo of a bullring is my favourite….we didn’t visit it, but that was the view from our hotel room in Malaga (Picasso’s birthplace) and I think that is probably where that famous photo of Picasso watching a bull fight was taken, that’s my kind of history……….to be continued……..
Miss you heaps………xxxxxxx
No comments:
Post a Comment