Seville Bullfights and Feria

I never finished telling you all the wonderful, and sometimes bloody things we did in Seville. We'll get to the wonderful shortly, but let's start with the bloody. I don’t like to stay away from controversy and if a culture accepts extreme violence towards animals, in the name of sport, I'd be damned if I weren't to watch it. I'm referring to the bullfighting, La Corrida, which involves matadors, barbed sticks (banderillas) and the slaughter of several bulls during an evening.

I had so far managed to widely ignore what goes on inside these bullrings that look so beautiful from the outside, despite the prevalence of bullfights on TV. Who uses TV when there's Netflix and YouTube? I think part of me likes surprises and I knew I wanted my first time to be in the flesh. For example, going into the experience, I did not know whether the bull definitely dies in the ring… I left Seville's bullring knowing that they most certainly are killed (except in rare circumstances) and they are toyed with beforehand.

What is brutal by today's standards, probably was fairly pedestrian back in the pre-Roman times when the tradition started along the Mediterranean coast. It really has a rich history going back millennia and that makes it particularly difficult to stop. I'm not convinced it should be stopped. 

Katie (who didn't go to the fight) and I get into quite a rich conversation about it in our 360 experience, where we discuss the life of the bull compared to an average cow. You also get to experience the atmosphere inside a bullring, getting up close and personal with the grim climax, as the bullfight advances through the various tercios (stages). It's a more nuanced topic than I would have thought at first glance.

Right, that's enough violence for one post. Let's go back to Seville and the reason why these bullfights were happening in the first place. We visited during their biggest celebration of the year, their Feria de Abril (April Fair), and it was magical. Everyone dresses in their best attire - men in suits and women in the most extravagant flamenco-inspired dresses Euros can buy. They all head to a section of town that is taken over by casetas - private marquees belonging to different social clubs and organisations. Hundreds of clubs throw private parties in this festival area. It's an odd collection of marquees that are sectioned off from one another with doormen at every entrance, ensuring that no trespassers with 360 cameras can enter…

Inside the casetas, everyone is drinking Rebujito to stay hydrated. Rebujito is a dry white sherry called manzanilla that is mixed with Sprite. Delicious, refreshing and not too strong, which is good because you need to stay hydrated! A big part of the feria is the dancing, and people all over the place were spinning, clapping and twirling in a style called sevillana. It's not too dissimilar to flamenco (though there are a few differences) and it was really fun to watch. People in Seville learn this dance when they are kids and people of all ages were getting up and joining in the fun.

As well as dancing from place to place, people take a horse and carriage, which is very traditional and reminds me of an old school western. The issue with horses is the smell that comes with them. With a dusty floor and this distinct odour in the air, the Feria really is a Spanish cowboy festival!

It's a great festival to visit, and with clothing fashions changing and the grand entrance way into the festival site designed anew each year, I can see why people would flock to Seville year after year. The only downside for a tourist is that much of the festival is off-limits, as the casetas are nearly all private celebrations. There are a few public casetas but they don’t seem have the heart and atmosphere of the private ones. The sense we got was that tourists were welcome but not encouraged. And that's okay. This is a festival for Seville and an Andalusian holiday, and we still got pretty close to the authentic experience… Just like you can in the 360 experience!

And that about wraps up Seville. What a city! From the buildings, to the culture and the atmosphere, we were blown away. It's definitely one of our favourite cities in Spain and that's saying something because Spain is pretty damn awesome. Thanks for reading, enjoy the photos, and see you next time.

Seville Bullring - Home to a violent tradition

Beautiful...

And gruesome!

Welcome to Feria!

Full of horses...

Dancing...

Dresses...

Lights...

More horses...

Casetas...

and rebujito!

Weekend Funtivities Part 3

One weekend we decided to take the train to a small place called Cheong-du, which is famous for one thing, bullfighting. Hosting the biggest bullfighting stadium in the World (the World being Korea of course), it was a fine setting to lock horns with each other (figuratively of course) and place bets on which bull would win the fight. The fight consisting of two bulls locking horns (literally of course) while trying to shove each other into submission. The bull wouldn’t tap out or anything but would do a shameful trot away with his back to the winning bull that normally chased after the other one triumphant. The highlight of the fighting was when one bull sent his owner flying and the man got trampled on a little bit. Fortunately he was okay except he got his trousers pulled down and a little ripped.

To make the contest a bit more interesting, we decided to place bets. We played against Brittany who in another life had been a bull because she guessed ten in a row correctly. I then used all my cunning to guess predict seven winning bulls in a row. Unfortunately like the bull owner I was left with my trousers around my ankles screaming in agony because I couldn’t mount a comeback.

Bulls Fighting

Bull Skeleton

After the bulls, we moved from Cheong-du to Daegu, which is Korea’s 4^th largest city. We went out clubbing and generally had an drunkentertaining evening.

Nuff Said

We then explored Daegu a little more and we came to the conclusion that all Korean cities look and feel very similar. Except Pbusan has a beach so is therefore > Daegu.

Back to Busan and Shinsegae (진세계) aka Centum City (센탐시티) is billed as “The World’s Largest Department Store” and for once, I think the Koreans might actually be accurate. Clearly we were sceptical after The Great Fountain Debacle of 2011, and sadly we were somewhat disappointed by the experience but for me this boiled down to the definition of “department store” – I had been under the impression that this was the same as a shopping mall, but in fact it is more along the lines of Harrods and Selfridges. You know, one big building with lots of boutiques with expensive labels and cosmetics. So everything was way out of our price range (I did buy a very cheap skirt in the UNIQLO sale but that was it) and not really that interesting. For the most part.

What is this? A Department Store for ants. Needs to be at least 3 times as big!

On the top floor is the electronics department, and this was really quite incredible. Korean’s have gadgets and technology for just about everything – the latest being a kind of wardrobe to hang your suits in, that then steams them, shakes the creases out and makes everything smell nice. Who has room for that?! ( We didn't take a photo so you'll have to wait to see what one looks like!) There were also all manner of air conditioners and fancy vacuum cleaners and of course, the latest in TV/internet/mobile phone/wifi/stereo/arse-wiping/webcam/3D/HD/PVA developments.

Dave went wild up there but my pleasure came from the basement…the food court! It was huge and although there weren’t as many free samples as I would have liked (I’ve been spoiled by Emart) it was pretty interesting and we got a few tasty treats. This was definitely the highlight of the store for me, and well worth checking out.

There is one part of the store that I haven’t yet had the opportunity to enjoy, and that is Spa Land. David has been and will reveal all in a later post, I’m sure.

I was lucky enough to go on an all expenses paid day trip to Goryeong courtesy of the office of education. With a 6am Saturday wakeup call, the day started red eyed and grumpy. But the free pastries on the coach to Goryeong festival were welcomed grabbed with both arms.

As it was strawberry season, they had organised a stop at a strawberry crop for some picking.  

While strategically placing strawberries in my box to fit in as many as possible, it brought out the engineer in me, especially the bored engineer who would play Tetris rather than work. I felt a little sick after eating a sizable chunk of the Korean’s strawberry crop and this is when we went to the festival.

Goryeong is home to an ancient city, which the Korean Indiana Jones and Korean Howard Carter have been excavating to reveal relics from the 3000 year old culture of Korea. We went round a museum and I learnt a bit about the history and development of their civilisation. There aren’t many photos because the place was crawling with kids but here’s one of a sword they found that’s over 1500 years old.

Almost as old as Vicky (she turns 30 this month :o)

I then saw the World’s largest fountain.

Or not! I just liked this fountain more than the last because it actually turned on while I was there.

I then got my photo taken with the guys in charge of first aid and fire safety.

And finally I (accidently) offended and cursed my bloodline for a thousand years by standing on the grave of an Ancient Korean king.  Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.

Sorry Future Offspring