Checked into my new digs at the Hotel NH Plaza de Armas, I decide to head out and see Seville. I walk south along the river. Not far away I pass the Plaza de toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla (the Seville Bull Fighting Ring) and accompanying museum. I'm a bit torn. I'm not really on board with this particular form of entertainment, however as with most things, I feel the need to learn more so I can be more informed. I enter and book a walking tour. The building is very impressive, apparently it is the oldest active ring in Spain and the building took 132 years complete. No fights are scheduled for the next couple of weeks. The tour guide gives a very good background on the fight and traditions. She is very careful to talk about how the best fighters are scored highly for finding the most humane methods to dispatch the bulls of the day. She also talks about how the bull fighting corporation is well-known for its charitable causes. All this seems to be a well-orchestrated attempt to place the sport in a good light. She does gloss over the fact that by the time the matador quickly dispatches the animal, it has already been weakened by lancing and pinning by a series of banderilleros and picadores. I kept an open-mind and I appreciate the tradition and pageantry, but its hard to not view this as a legitimized form of animal mistreatment.
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| The royal box at the Seville Bull Ring. |
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| Seville Cathedral entryway detail |
I walk onward to the south-ish. Seville is hot, thermometers are reading 36C (~97F) today, but no humidity. Its perfectly comfortable in the shade, but in the sun you are sweating profusely before you realize you are hot. I find myself choosing my route based more on the amount of shade a street can afford rather than any set destination. Regardless I quickly find myself at the Cathedral, which after the Moorish occupation, was built over the mosque as the "largest church in Christendom". It has an interesting gothic architecture, with unusually large flying buttresses, which I suspect are awkwardly dimensioned due to the desire to obscure the Moorish elements of the underlying building. This part of the city is busy with street restaurants, but I decide to pass on eating to explore further. I wander through the gardens surrounding the Alcazar, the former home of the Moorish Kings. The Moorish influences are everywhere in Seville, but mainly as accents. In this area it really has the feel of what I think Morocco may be like (which is after all less than 100 miles away). Orange trees line the streets and I see homes that seem to have interior courtyards.
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| Orange trees line the plaza behind the Alcazar |
No barbers witnessed, but all very cool (or hot rather).
Checked into my new digs at the Hotel NH Plaza de Armas, I decide to head out and see Seville. I walk south along the river. Not far away I pass the Plaza de toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla (the Seville Bull Fighting Ring) and accompanying museum. I'm a bit torn. I'm not really on board with this particular form of entertainment, however as with most things, I feel the need to learn more so I can be more informed. I enter and book a walking tour. The building is very impressive, apparently it is the oldest active ring in Spain and the building took 132 years complete. No fights are scheduled for the next couple of weeks. The tour guide gives a very good background on the fight and traditions. She is very careful to talk about how the best fighters are scored highly for finding the most humane methods to dispatch the bulls of the day. She also talks about how the bull fighting corporation is well-known for its charitable causes. All this seems to be a well-orchestrated attempt to place the sport in a good light. She does gloss over the fact that by the time the matador quickly dispatches the animal, it has already been weakened by lancing and pinning by a series of banderilleros and picadores. I kept an open-mind and I appreciate the tradition and pageantry, but its hard to not view this as a legitimized form of animal mistreatment.
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