For our last day (well, morning really) in Seville we decided to go and have a look at the Parque María Luisa and the bull ring. The park was a little more than we expected it to be and had an amazing building that was worth exploring for a bit. In 1893, Princess María Luisa donated part of the grounds of the Palacio de San Telmo to the city, and this fabulous park was born. In 1929, the Iberico-American Exposition was held here, one of the legacies being the aforementioned building; The Plaza de Espana. The building itself is in a horseshoe/semi-circle shape and faces a huge plaza with a boating lake and fountain. It was a fabulous building, with wide patios, lots of columns and lovely tile work. We strolled from one end to the other, and across the little bridges that led into the central plaza. There were horses and carriages everywhere, and lots of different musicians busking. There were also wonderful tiled mosaics around the outside of the building, one representing each region in Spain, used as part of the Exposition. It was Sunday, and when we got to the end of the building, a parade of singers/students/protesters or church people (we aren’t sure which) came along singing and playing guitars. It echoed down the patio and seemed like a fitting ending to our visit to the building.
It was another bloody hot day, so we wandered into the parklands and enjoyed the shade for a bit. I got a new hat too, a big floppy one. Then it was back out onto the street and a 15-20 minute walk down to the bull ring. I understand it’s all a cultural thing and all, but personally, neither one of us support bull fighting and see it as cruel due to the techniques used. We did however, want to see the bull ring as it is such a part of Spanish history. We decided to visit the one in Seville, mainly because it looked so good from the outside. It turns out that it is privately owned, and that may be the reason it was in such good condition, as many other rings that we have seen have been quite ramshackle.
The ring entrance fee (€6.50) included a tour and so we ended up with (maybe) more information than we had bargained for. It was around 2:00pm by the time we got in, so it was coming into the hottest part of the day. The interior of the ring was air conditioned, so we were happy to wait for our timed entrance. We were ushered in along with about 30 other people, for the English tour. The guide was very good and went into very detailed explanations of what was what and how things happened. Our first stop was the ring itself and we were led into the seating areas, in the full sun! No shade whatsoever, and we sat there for another 10 minutes while the process of bull fighting, and where the bulls enter, and where the matadors enter, and what they have to do to win prizes, and how they need to ‘win’ a bulls tail, or the ears, or all three, was all explained in great detail. I found it all a little hard to concentrate on while I could feel my skin frying, but the bits I did hear were very interesting.
The ring itself is not quite circular, but is a little elliptical and was about a third of the size of the MCG. The dirt in the centre was a beautiful orange/yellow colour, which stood out amongst all the white. It was all kind of, well, pretty really, but bloody hot – and it left me wondering how people could sit there in the blazing sun to watch a fight. We went from there back inside (under the stands) and looked at a few museums they have set up. They had matador’s costumes, which were fabulously detailed and covered in gold threads and embroidery. There were also the spears and long knives used in the fights, and our tour guide went into great detail about how they were used, on the “brave bulls”. I don’t really think the bulls were brave, I think they were pissed off and trying to survive, but again, I understand that it’s a cultural thing. They had lots of bull heads mounted on the walls from special fights. These were all male bull heads, but there was one female one, the guide described her as a special bull. She was the mother of a bull who killed a bull fighter, and so she had to be killed so she would not have any more killer babies. (ahem)
Next we were shown the chapel that the bull fighters prayed in before fights – this was the last place they would be before they entered the ring. Just beside that was the area that they keep the bulls in for the fights. They always bring extra bulls as the bulls needed to be in top condition, approved by vets before the fight to ensure that “the bulls were at 100% fitness, just like the matadors, so that it would be a more equal fight”. (ahem).
Back to the hotel, back into the car (yay for air conditioning) and back onto the road for our trip to Cordoba. About 40 minutes later, we were driving through Ecija, the ‘frypan’ of Spain – so called as it is so hot and dry. This is where I had my first attempt at driving on the wrong side of the road. Such a bizarre feeling, as you want to keep moving to the right as you are sitting on the left hand side of the car, but you want to drive further left, so it really screws with your head. Needless to say, I’m here typing, so we survived! We arrived in Cordoba around 6:00pm and a 44 degree heat. We stayed indoors until around 9:00pm before braving the still-over-40-degree night.
Our motel is across the river from the main attraction, The Mezquita, and so we have fabulous views across to the old city. We were only about 200m from the bridge that links the two sides, and so we strolled across there to have a quick look around and get some dinner. Cordoba feels a lot like Granada in its buildings, food, and people, so we just loved Cordoba by the time we left. Cordoba and Granada have been our two favourite places so far. Anyway, food – oh my, the food was amazing. We went to a place recommended by our travel book and ate the most amazing tapas. It was the best meal we have had so far, by a long shot. We had a very cool waiter who spoke good English, but knew we wanted to try to do the ordering (and therefore deciphering) in Spanish. We ordered a prawn dish, and his only suggestion with all of our order was to change to a different prawn dish, as there were four prawns rather than three. He saved our marriage, as the prawns were just SO good, we would have fought over the third prawn. They were wrapped in potato and fried, and then covered in a yummy sauce – but when I say wrapped, I mean it was like the potato was string which was roiled around the prawn – no idea how they did that! Next came some salmon with a Roquefort cheese dressing (yum) and then some meat dish followed by a potato tortilla (stacked and fried potatoes). We decided to brave dessert, which was totally indecipherable to us, and the waiter laughed and said he wouldn’t tell us what we ordered then, and that we should just wait to see what it was. What it was, was, well, yummy pancakes of some sort, with chocolate mousse inside – a perfect dessert. Again, we had a waiter who liked the fact that we were indulging in all things Spanish, and so (on the house) aperitifs were brought out again. It was yellow as well, but very different to the ones we had in Madrid. A nice way to end a meal though, and we made our way back to the motel, very full, and a little on the tiddly side of things.
No comments:
Post a Comment