This weekend was another successful one! Friday night was certainly interesting. After my exam I headed to Reales Alcazares, a palace in the centro de Sevilla. The palace itself was beautiful of course. It's one of the biggest castles in Spain behind the Alhambra in Granada and Palacio Real in Madrid. The president, when he comes to Spain, still lives in the castle whenever they come to town. This castle was also constructed by the same people who constructed the famous Alhambra. It's much smaller than the Alhambra, but just as beautiful with Moorish, and Christian influences.
It's hard to tell by this picture, but there are several carvings of lions, castles, and shields-- common motifs of this castle as well as Spain. Also, all the carvings were once brightly painted but because of the sun over the years the colors have faded to nonexistence.
In the middle of this photo is the face of a baby/cherub/doll. Creepy right? The room it is in is called el salón de las muñecas, room of the dolls. It's referred to this because within the intricate carvings is a handful of these doll faces. I couldn't help but ask if that was because of the catholic influences in the architecture.
My camera didn't take very good pictures inside, but I think you can get the feel for its intricacy.
Those gorgeous gardens I was talking about..
Chris, Maggie and I.
More photos of the incredible gardens.
Unfortunately Chris and I had to leave the tour of the gardens early because we had a corrido de toros to go to. Bullfight. The epitome of spanish traditional entertainment. We were extremely excited to finally get to see it. We got there and the atmosphere was buzzing with the excitement of the corrido; people were selling beer, candy, cushions, and water outside while everyone hurried to find their seat. Once we found our seats we were pretty amazed by the view and the massive amount of people attending.
And then the games began.
And I couldn't keep my eyes open.
I had no idea the amount of torture involved before actually killing the bull. I couldn't stand it at all. They stab the bull about 8 times before they actually kill it, and that is only if you have a talented matador. One matador stabbed the bull at least 12 times in the neck before actually killing it. The amount of blood and cruelty in it made me sick to my stomach. Huge disappointment, but I'm glad I got to see it, and at least now I can form my own opinion. Bull fights here are extremely controversial, especially with the younger generations. The younger generations are pointing out the cruelty to those who have grown up with bullfighting forever and see it as a staple to Spanish culture. It is a HUGE tradition, but just today it was outlawed in Barcelona.
Regardless, I got some pretty epic photos from the experience.
I can't help but think the bulls are beautiful.
The horse was rammed by the bull because the man riding it stabbed the bull to make it angry enough to fight. Notice there are several different bullfighters in the arena at once. The ones with the pink and yellow capotes, capes, are actually called the torreros, the men who weaken the bull for the matador who has a red capote. The men on horses are called picadores. The two picadores are the first round of bullfights, the stab from above with the lance.
The sticks on the bulls back are actually blades about four to six inches long that the torreros use to weaken it before going one on one with it. They look like decorations but they keep a consistent stream of blood flowing from the bull while it fights for its life. Usually three or four torreros stab the bull in the spine before the final matador finishes it. The second round is the three torreros who use the banderillas (sharp barbed sticks) to stab the bull at least six times, and the third round is the matador with the red capote.
Pretty brutal right? Not my cup of tea. Anyway! The next day I went to Cádiz, a beautiful beach city on the Atlantic. The city's symbol is a smile because the people in Cádiz are said to be the nicest people in all of Spain. I would love to share some photos but I'm currently exhausted! I'll post them eventually, but it's time for me to go to bed. Class in the morning!
Hasta la proxima vez!
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