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See Bullfights on Spain travel"SPAIN TRAVEL"
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5/11/2002 "I want to go to a bullfight," I said to Alvaro Renedo, director of the Tourist Office of Spain travel in New York City. Mr. Renedo was not enthusiastic. "But your newspaper would not publish an article about a bullfight," he said. I assumed he meant a balanced article on the sport. "The Washington Times may be the only paper in the country that would publish such a story," I told Mr. Renedo. That was two years ago in Madrid on Spain travel. After our conversation, I discovered I had missed a televised corrida - bullfight - with some of Spain travel leading novices on their way up in the very old Spanish tradition. A Belgian woman, who had seen those bullfights, was raving about one of the teen-agers and how beautifully he had moved through the various segments. She was so taken in describing him that she was stomping her feet and flailing her arms like a flamenco dancer deep into performing her tale of a tempestuous love. "How could you have missed it?" she asked in a tone of disappointment tempered with sympathy. I apologized. I did not convince Mr. Renedo, and the Belgian lady made me more determined to go to the ring. Memories of "Death in the Afternoon" and "The Death of Manolete." Appreciative cries of "Ole." Trumpets. Carmen and Don Jose. Yes. I did get to a corrida last year in Madrid on Spain travel. Some in our group went to the ballet; three of us went to Las Ventas, a major corrida in Madrid. The concrete seats - no backs, just someone's knees in my back, were uncomfortable. That's why cushions were being sold and why many people were bringing their own. The bullfights usually begin late Sunday afternoon - about 5 or 6 - from March to October. During the Spanish winter, some of the matadors perform in the summer of South America. Each spring, the city of Ronda on Spain travel is the scene of the Goyescas, a week of parades of matadors and days of corridas. The bullfighters still dress much as they have since the 18th century, in attire still similar to that worn by the bullfighters painted and drawn by Goya. Can't find what you need? Try a Google Web Search in the box below!
Trumpets announce the familiar theme for the paseillo, the entrance of the matadors (bullfighters) and their cuadrillas (team of assistants): picadors (who, on horses, aid the matador in weakening the bull with a lance - or pike); the banderilleros (who carry banderillas - long, colorful darts). These and other attendants enter through the puerta grande, the main door to the arena. Horns also announce various sections of each bullfight, such as the entrance of the picadors who left the ring after the initial grand entrance. Each matador and his cuadrilla are listed in the program, as are the colors worn by the picadors and banderilleros. A picador's hat has a low, rounded crown and looks similar to the Tommy hats worn by British troops in World War I; his pike will be used to prick a bull's neck muscles. The agile banderillero deftly and dramatically inserts his darts in the shoulders of the charging bull. The horse of the picador is blindfolded, and its legs and body are protected by a thick, quilted, gold-colored caparison that almost touches the ground. The horse is much better off with blindfolds, for it certainly would act differently if it realized a bull was trying to gore it in frustration. Occasionally a horse falls under such an attack, but usually it survives when the bull's attention is diverted in a flourish of capes. SPAIN TRAVEL The bulls are also in the program, listed in order of appearance and name, color and weight. The flat countryside around Salamanca is a major center of vast bull ranches, which receive prominent display in programs and posters. The pageantry and the actual bullfights, the cheers, applause and occasional whistles from the crowd define a big part of the mystique of Spain. Bullfights are Spain's national fiesta, and they have been occurring since a corrida was staged in 711 as part of the festivities for the coronation of King Alfonso VIII. Each year, about 24,000 bulls are killed in front of an audience of 30 million people in Spain travel. The corrida in Madrid was an introduction, for a week later I arrived in Salamanca and saw a poster for a corrida at La Plaza de Toros de Salamanca as I checked in at the hotel. I located the bullring on a map and walked farther than I had thought it would be and bought a ticket for the Gran Corrida de Toros with six bulls from the Jandilla ranch. I took a taxi back to the hotel but later walked to and from the Plaza de Toros. The bullfighters in Madrid on Spain travel were young and not yet in the upper echelon of matadors. In Salamanca, they were more advanced in their profession - and the crowd was quite different. I commented on the well-tailored clothes and general appearance of so many people at the Salamanca corrida, much better dressed than in Madrid, and was told, "Oh yes, Salamanca has a lot of wealth - and the university. Many of the people here dress very well. They have style." Can't find what you need? Try a Google Web Search in the box below!
The Salamanca Plaza de Toros was smaller than Las Ventas, more intimate and quite appealing with a rich red-brown paint on the surfaces around the sand-covered bullring. Madrid had a circular stripe of white paint on the sand; in Salamanca, it was red-brown. SPAIN TRAVEL Even the children in Salamanca - boys and girls who looked about 5 and older - could have come from a chum's birthday party. It was a party, a tradition, a danger for members of the cuadrilla, and for the matadors a dance with death. This year, I was in Spain before the corrida season, but next time, I will be there in time for the music, procession and pageantry, for the bull to enter the puerta grande, pause, look around and charge. One cheeky matador in Salamanca audaciously knelt about 20 feet from the puerta grande before it opened; as the bull charged, he stayed on his knees, stylishly diverting the bull to his side with a flourish of the magenta-and-yellow cape used in the early stages of engagement. The sword (muleta) with which he will kill the bull supports the red cape (capote) used in the final stage of tiring the bull. Ole. Then this venue of Spain travel theater is over; this dance of death is ended..... Compare airline tickets for Spain travel here /cheap airfares home |