Roman Ruins, Bullfights, Fly Suits, and More

Hello everyone!

It's the end of my third week here in Sevilla. Holy Cannoli! So much has happened in these past 7 days, so get prepared for a rather long post!!

First off, this week marked the end of my intensive language course on the history  of Spain, and while it was a very interesting class, I'm mostly just glad that it is over. Friday was pretty rough; I had a 5 page paper due as well as an exam, and my body also decided it would be a good day to come down with a gnarly cold. However, I made it through and I can now say that I  have 3 credits worth of Spanish culture classes under my belt! This weekend my friends and I celebrated being done with classes and went on many an adventure :)

Adventure #1: Saturday at Itálica

Itálica is an old Roman town located about 15 minutes outside of Sevilla. According to my guide, Itálica was the first Roman city built in Spain and was pretty important back in the day, as it was a major trading city. Two emperors, Trajano and Adriano, were born in Itálica, which is another reason why it grew to be so important. While you can see many ruins at Itálica, the majority of the city is currently buried under the modern day town of Santiponce. Our guide was telling us how people in Santiponce commonly find ruins while doing yard work or other things. Could you imagine what that experience must feel like?

Left: Amphitheater of Itálica - the third largest amphitheater of the Roman Empire.

Right: Doorway to enter the amphitheater. I'm pretty sure the gladiators would enter through here.




We spent about three hours in Itálica, looking at ruins of various Roman houses and baths. It was quite the experience to walk around a town founded thousands of years ago! Also, when I was at the doorway (pictured on the right), I definitely took a moment to pretend I was Maximus from Gladiator. It felt pretty cool, not gonna lie.

Adventure #2: Saturday Evening Bullfight

Saturday night, my four friends and I went to our first Corrida de Toros, or bull fight. Bullfighting, while still very much a part of Spanish culture, is growing to be more and more controversial. I have met Spaniards who are very proud of the tradition, as well as some who hate it entirely; it simply depends on who you talk to. La Corrida de Toros was definitely a wild experience, so I'm going to take a little time to explain it all.

Plaza de Toros, before the corrida

In the Spanish style of bullfighting, 6 bulls are killed in one bullfight. There are 3 matadors, who each kill 2 bulls. I thought it was just a one and done type thing, so it was a bit of a surprise when I found out how many bulls are killed in one match.  I also  had thought it was just the matador and the bull fighting each other, but in fact the matador has a lot of help. After the bull is let out into the ring, two men on horseback, called picadores, come in, and proceed to stab the bull a few times with a lance.

Un picador, stabbing the bull

After the picadores leave, the matador, along with 3 or 4 other toreros, aka "assistant bullfighters" proceed to taunt the bull with their capotes, or capes. During this time, they also thrust these barbed sticks into the bull, making the bull weaker.

A torero about to charge the bull with his barbed sticks

After the bull has about 4 or 6 of these sticks in him, the toreros exit the ring, and the matador is left alone with the bull. I found this part of the spectacle to be truly artistic in a way. The matadors comport themselves in a very theatrical manner, and the audience is in pretty much complete silence as they watch the matador wave his cape. The very first matador was knocked over by the bull and broke his hand. The whole audience let out a gasp, and it was definitely the scariest moment of the show.

Matador

After about 10 minutes of this spectacle, the bull is stabbed to death with a sword and then taken out of the ring. This part of the show was very sad to watch, because at the very end, the bull would realize its fate and just lay down to die. As a foreigner who hasn't grown up with bullfighting, I couldn't really bring myself to clap and cheer as the dead bull was dragged around the stadium in victory. Nevertheless, I'm very glad that I went to the bullfight and experienced an important part of Spanish culture. I don't think I will ever go again, but I would definitely recommend  it as something to see if you ever study abroad in Spain.

Defeated bull being dragged out of the ring

Adventure #3: Fly Guy

After the bullfight on Saturday, my friends and I decided to head over to, Festival de las Naciones, an international festival where booths are set up from different countries around the globe, and you can try new food and see cultural performances. As we were walking over to this shindig, a man in a fly costume walks up to us and starts buzzing. "BZZZZ BZZZ BZZZ." He asks us where we are headed, and I respond that we are going to the festival. He continues to chat us up, occasionally buzzing, when another man comes up and requests a photo of all of us with the fly. The fly man responds "BZZZ yeah, of course!" so I proceed to take the most awkward photo of my life. I will forever be on some man's iphone with a fly... alright. And if all of that wasn't bewildering enough, when we are trying get this fly guy to leave, another Spaniard comes up to us and flat out moons us. It was definitely the most bizarre experience I've had thus far, and a good reminder that as a guiri, or foreigner, sometimes you attract unwanted attention.

So just picture a more Spanish looking man in this costume and you get the idea.

Adventure #4: Arcos de la Frontera y La Playa

Typical Street in Arcos de La Frontera

On Sunday, I took a day trip to Arcos de la Frontera, a small town in the region of Cádiz (not to be confused with the town of Cádiz, where I went last weekend). Arcos is part of a series of towns known as Pueblo Blanco, or "The White Town," named as such because all the buildings and houses are white. Arcos is a beautiful town built right into the side of this small mountain. We climbed to one of the highest points in Arcos, and got to enjoy the amazing view.

We spent about two hours walking around the town, and then we proceeded to head to the beach at Puerta de Santa María, about 20ish minutes away from Arcos. Since I was in Cádiz last weekend, I was expecting cold ocean water, but the sea continues to surprise me, and the water was pretty warm! Everyone had a fantastic time swimming and relaxing on the beach, enjoying the last day before our semester classes start. It was the perfect way to end the weekend!

Hooray!