Seville’s Bull Ring is considered one of the finest in all of Spain, and we are lucky to be able to tour it today. We have arrived in Seville during one of their biggest festivals, La Feria de Abril. This festival is huge – with an entire fairground made up of thousands of tents where people go to visit and party through the afternoon and evening. We happen to be in Seville on the national holiday for the Feria, so there everywhere you turn, you see women in Flamenco dress, horse drawn carriages and revelry abounds. With respect to the bull ring – there are fights every night due to the festival, so tours are restricted to the morning and early afternoon – which means we are once again on a tight timeline.
As we arrive, we are greeted by huckster and ticket sellers (scalpers?) all trying to sell us tickets for this evening’s bull fight. Thanks – but we’re just looking for the tour. The façade of the bull ring is beautiful, traditional Spanish architecture, which belies the bloodshed contained inside.
As luck would have it, we get to the bull ring right as the tour is leaving and get to join in at the last minute. Paying our entrance fee, we run for our head sets, only to find that Ed has been given a Spanish language set. A guard helpfully takes us back to the entrance and gets the set corrected, and we join the group already in progress.
The tour is really great – we visit a few different rooms inside the facility that contain artwork depicting the fights, explanations of the different types of bulls, some lovely iron sculptures, samples of lances carried by the horsemen and a lot of matador clothing (particularly of those who have died in the ring).
The final indoor visit is to the chapel, where the matadors pray and drink from the holy water jug before they led out into the ring.
From here, we move back down the long corridor to the actual bull ring – all groomed and ready for this evening’s fight. We sit out in the sun, while our guide explains the different doors/gates around the ring (for matadors, bulls, helpers and of course the medical clinic – which was supposed to be included in the tour, but wasn’t today – possibly because there is a fight tonight). She also tells us about ticketing and how prices vary according to sun and shade. Shade is much more preferable – and expensive! The guide said the tickets can go up to a few hundred Euro for seats in the section where we are sitting. Sun seats can be sold for as little as 20 to 30 Euro. Quite the difference, but then again, you pay for comfort.
After hanging out in the empty spectator stands for a bit, enjoying the weather, our tour is complete and we are led out through the empty tunnel onto the bright streets of Seville. It’s getting on near lunch, so we wander back through the little back streets to the main historic area, past the cathedral with the huge entrance line wrapping around the block, heading toward the Santa Cruz area, the old Jewish Quarter, which is our next exploration destination.
Perusing the menus of each cafe (and there are tons of them over here) as we pass, we settle on Patio San Eloy for the extensive tapas and mantaditos selection. It’s a little too noisy and chilly to sit outside, so we opt for a cozy table in the front window, watching the guys behind the counter fix a selection of their specialties. Because we are in Spain, we of course have to have Jamon Iberico – which is very tasty, but turns out to be a disappointingly small portion. Ed of course has Pulpo – which is a sort of octopus salad with dressing. I am intrigued by the Tarta de Marisco – which the waiter says is a traditional dish. The description sounds good – shrimp and fish and some sort of sauce, so I figure, what the heck? Oh my! The thing he sets down in front of me looks like a huge slice of cake! It’s 3 layers of white bread (ick, but, when in Spain) with tuna and shrimp stuffed inside, all “frosted” with this great thousand-island-ish thick dressing and crumbled crab on top. Huge, filling and tasty.
We’re well fortified for the rest of our afternoon adventures.
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