Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
I loved Madrid, it's a big city but the people are so relaxed, no one was ever in a hurry even in the morning commute. The city has tons of parks and plazas where people just sit and have a beer at any hour of the day. The parks are full of dogs and joggers and nappers and couples and fountains. El Parque de Berlin was my favorite and el Parque de Retiro is huge, Madrid's Central Park. It has a big lake that you can rent little blue rowboats on, it was adorable. Another little lake with a fountain in it had all these turtles and huge fish and black swans with red beaks.
I tried to sneak into Real Madrid's stadium to get a picture, but apparently (I asked my brother) they were naming the new club president so there were tons of guards all over.
I went to Plaza de Mayor, just a big historic plaza where they used to have all the city's events. There's a statue in the middle of Felipe III on a horse (you can't walk 5 blocks in Madrid without seeing a statue of a dude on a horse). Back when this plaza was the central spot, they say the ladies of Madrid used to come here to gossip "under the balls of the horse."
The biggest event of my stay was Tuesday night, we went to a bullfight. El Plaza de Toros de las Ventas, the bullfighting stadium, is an amazing building, and the crowds were huge for the fight, it was like going to a Mets play off game. Tickets are sold for the shade or the sun -- being in the shade is more expensive. We were in the second row from the top. The seating in the cheap sections is just really steep levels and you sit straddling the person in front of you, so you are sitting between someone's knees behind you. A little awkward, very hot. We had no idea what to expect, so the whole first bullfight we were seriously shaken. They let the bull out, he already has a knife in his back to make him mad, and then a bunch of guys taunt him and make him charge at them. Then a couple guys come out with the colorful knives. They run at the bull and stick them in his back. It actually seemed the scariest for these guys because they have to get pretty close to him running at him and then they run away. The bull chased some of them, one had to jump over the wall. This whole time Andrew and I were soo tense, we had no idea what was going on. Then two guys come out on horses with long poles with knives on the end. Just when I said, "If the horses get hurt, I might throw up," the bull charges the horse. The horses are completely blindfolded and have some kind of blanket over them. As the bull hits the horse, we could hear the hit from the top of the stadium, the guy is supposed to jam the pole into his back and push him, but the bull came behind him and hit the horse by his butt. The horse fell down and I thought he was dead or something, there was blood all over the horse. So after freaking out a little bit, the horse eventually got up, and we eventually learned that the blanket on the horse is actually some pretty intense padding, so the bull's horns don't actually get into the horse, and the blood comes from the bull's back. The poor horses still get rocked pretty hard though, sometimes they were lifted off their feet. After all that, the matador comes out with his red cape thing and sword. This part was pretty cool, they were good, they'd get the bull to go back and forth charging the red and the crowd yelled 'Ole' and had claps that someone would start up just like any sports event. The bull gets really close to the matador, there were a couple scary moments, one matador got hit in the leg but not with a horn so he kept going. The guy next to us said that it wasn't a very good fight, meaning not enough guys got hit by bulls so it wasn't exciting enough apparently. Too bad, I was rooting for the bull. After they do their little dance, the matador takes a bigger sword, gets the bull to charge at him, and jams it down his back, all the way to the hilt. Then they make the bull run around so it really messes him up, then he goes for one more sword to finish him off. Then another guy comes in with a knife and goes straight into the head or something to really make sure he's dead, he even moves it around in there. It was pretty nuts. My hands were shaking, our pulses were crazy, it was pretty intense. Then they rope the bull to 3 horses and they drag him out of the arena, and send in the next bull. Six bulls in one night, three matadors. And if the bull isn't aggressive enough, the crowd yells and the president makes them switch him out for a better bull. After the first two bulls, we knew what was coming and got used to it so then we weren't shaking anymore. I couldn't believe what a huge event it still is though.
A Madrid specialty is churros y chocolate so just before my train out, I went to El Brilliante, known for their churros y chocolate and for their bocadillos de calamare, calamari sandwiches, which is literally just calamari in a baguette. The churros are amazing and the hot chocolate is super thick, you can't drink it, just dip your churros in it.
- comments