No More Bull For Me, Thanks

This past Sunday, a small group of us went to the bullfights at Las Ventas in Madrid. In preparation for this event, I was supposed to read Death in the Afternoon, Ernest Hemingway's non-fiction book about Spanish bullfighting, or, at the very least, do some sort of research before entering the building so I had a clue about what was going on. In very un-like me fashion, neither of these things happened.

My friend, Steve, has a Spanish friend who knows a thing or two about bullfighting and helped him decipher some of the more obscure facets of the bullfight. He's posted some of those on his blog (scroll halfway down the page).

Like many of those whom I asked before going to the bullfights, I have to say that I'm glad I went, but I won't go again. I'm not a PETA member by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a disturbing thing to see an animal killed right before your eyes with such pomp and bravado. This feeling stands despite the fact that they use bull for food or other goods. And, yes, there were, indeed, six of these animals killed during the bullfight -- that's the norm.

Bullfighting seems to be a dying cultural event in Spain, if the sparse attendance at Las Ventas is any indication. Perhaps further evidence lies in a conversation I had with one of the teachers I work with at school the next day who commented, "a beautiful painting, music or a play is culture. Bullfighting and cruelty is not. I'm glad it {bullfighting} is dying out".

**This blog post dedicated to bulls number 15, 48, 29, 7, 61 and 13**

Holy Toledo

Although Segovia was the first city (outside of Madrid) I visited in Spain, I have to say that I enjoyed the city of Toledo just a hair more. This dusty city rises from the floor of the sparse Castilla-La Mancha countryside and comes complete with mysterious passageways off of medieval, cobbled streets that are lined with the most unusual selection of stores (mazapan and knight's armor, anyone?). Toledo reminded me a bit of Venice, Italy -- minus the canals, of course.

Toledo is known for two main things: having a 16th century Alcazar that was almost demolished in a seige during the Spanish Civil War and for being a place historically noted for its tolerance among its Christian, Moorish and Jewish populations. You can still see traces of each of these cultural influences in the food and architecture in the city. Two main food items they are noted for are mazapan and partridge (more on those later).

I first became aware of Toledo because it is the sister city of Toledo, Ohio in the United States! Just kidding. Sort of. I had heard of the city because the famous Spanish writer Cervantes wrote about it in "Don Quixote". I was also reminded of Toledo when I went to an exhibit earlier this year at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston exhibit featuring Spanish painters. One of the painters, El Greco, was based in Toledo in the later part of his career, and used the city as the subject of many of his paintings. Here is El Greco's famous painting, "View of Toledo":

The city has filled in a bit more since the above was painted in approximately 1600 a.d.:

It took only about 45- minutes to get to Toledo by bus, and then a pretty long walk to the city gates.

And then we finally spotted the Cathedral.

The Cathedral of Toledo is absolutely cavernous and beautiful. It contains works of art by many famous painters including the aforementioned El Greco, and Rafael, Titian, Goya, Rubens, Ribera and Caravaggio, among many others. It also contains a piece of rock said to be from the place where the Virgin Mary appeared in 667 A.D. to the archbishop of Toledo at the time, Archbishop Ildephonsus.

We couldn't quite figure out how to get around the cathedral as the roads around it are a bit confusing, nor could we take photography inside. I humbly offer this view of the Cathedral's "Door of the Clock".

While wandering the streets, we sampled some of the local specialty, mazapan, a local Toledan sweet featuring almond paste. Next time, though, I will take a picture before I devour them and also wait until I get to the Nuns of San Clemente's store to buy the delicious candies. This is a picture from the plaza in front of their store:

We also visited the Sephardic Museum, which was quite captivating.

I came away from Toledo thinking, "I've got to come back". I didn't, after all, get a chance to try their partridge.

Just an average night in Madrid

During the first week or so I was in Madrid, I had the pleasure of attending a Flamenco show at Las Carboneras that was tucked off a passageway just off of Calle Mayor. I was captivated by the whole hour-or-so-long show. Three female flamenco dancers and one male took turns dancing solo, feet frantically tapping and slamming into the wooden stage below them. Shouts of ¡vale! (OK), ¡venga! (come on) ¡hola! (hello) ¡ole! (bravo) and ¡levante! (rise up) peppered the rhythm of the music and footfall. Two singers cried out as the dancers clapped in time. Flamenco guitars strummed slowly, then fast, then slow again and all of a sudden...just stopped.

Such an emotional whirlwind for such a passionate, emotional dance performance. It kept me on the edge of my seat and left me breathless.



Brief Flamenco History -- Although some say that the name "Flamenco" comes from the historic name for Belgians and Belgium (Flemish and Flanders, respectively), but its root also means 'gypsy' in Spanish. The latter makes more sense from a historical perspective. This dance form originated in Andalusia, but is known around the world as being from Spain, in general.

Oh! And I also had some great tapas before the show at a lovely little place called Taberna Miranda that is conveniently next door to Las Carboneras. There were pimientos del padron and setas con ajo do die for. I will return!