Royal Palaces, Picasso and Dalí, and a Spanish Bullfight!

Since I only had one short day in Madrid, I read my guidebook on my 6-hour bus ride up and had the next day planned with a list of things to accomplish. But by 9:30 am the next morning, my friend Stephanie and I had already crossed three of 6 things off our list. At that pace, we were going to have to come up with new things to do!! We went to see the main square, Plaza del Sol, and another one called Plaza Mayor. Then we walked to City Hall and to the Royal Palace. We went into the Royal Palace and a church across the street, and by the time we finished it was only 11 am!

Plaza Mayor

Oldest Door in Spain

Royal Palace

 We walked towards an indoor food market we found to buy some food for a picnic for lunch in the Retiro Park by the Prado museum. After lunch, we walked around the park, which was beautiful and full of life with performers from bands to puppeteers and dog trainers. The next stop was the Prado art museum, which was cool to see but there's only so much art my brain can handle. The museum map had a list of all the famous paintings, so we treated it like a scavenger hunt and crossed off every single one of them! But nothing beats Michelangelo's David in Florence.

Then we walked to the Reina Sofia, the modern art museum. We saw Picasso's Guernica, which was absolutely amazing. I enjoyed seeing the art by Picasso and Dali, but to my uncultured eye, everything else just looked like the usual modern art.

Overall, Madrid was a cool city, but it didn't have anything that set it apart from being just another big city.  Parts of it, like the Gran Via, felt like a street in New York City, while other parts, like Plaza Mayor, felt like a traditional European city. I was debating whether or not I should even go to Madrid, but I am very happy that I got to spend the weekend in Spain's capital.

But the most exciting thing was what I did when I came back from Madrid. I went to a Spanish Bullfight! It is by far the highlight of my semester, if not my year. I loved it.

Since I didn’t know much about bullfighting to begin with, I thought that the spectacle consisted of a man with a red cape and a sword chasing a bull to kill it. I could not have been farther from the truth.

Before the bullfight

Bullfighting is an art. It is not gruesome, nor is it bloody. It is a cultural sport, and requires technique, patience and finesse. In every bullfight there are three matadors and six bulls.  Each matador takes on two bulls: the first and the fourth, the second and the fifth, and the third and the sixth.

Each round takes about 20 minutes and there are 4 stages.  First, the trumpets sound which signals that the bull is to be released from the pen.   He charges into the ring and the banderilleros try to rile him up with the bright pink and yellow capes. 

Banderillero

Then come the two men on armored horses who have long javelin like spears used to spear the back of the bull.  Once he is speared twice, the trumpets sound signaling that it’s now the picadors turn.  

Guy on the horse spearing the bull

The picadors have the worst job in my opinion. They are the guys who “prepare” the bull for the matadors by literally charging the bull and stabbing to spears into the bulls back.  The bull usually gets worked up and charges the picadors who jump over the wall for safety.  There are three picadors and a total of six spears.

Then comes the matador. He walks out with his sword and his red cape. (Fun fact: bulls are colorblind, so the red means nothing to them. It used to uphold tradition.) The matador uses his cape in a series of passes which serve to wear the bull down and to put on a show for the audience. While this is happening, the bull is literally inches away from the matador. Finally, when he senses the moment is right, the matador distracts the bull with the red cape, pulls out his sword, and stabs the bull in between the shoulder blades and through the heart.   The bull will stagger to his death and is dragged out of the ring by three horses.

Matador with the cape

Drawing the sword in preparation

Final stab

Bullfighting is such a unique cultural experience, and even though it is quite sad that 20 minutes after the bull charges into the ring, he will be dead, the process is truly an art form.