Saturday 3rd October
Awoke to the sound of church bells ringing endlessly, one church after another - we thought it was Sunday, but no!
After breakfast and a quick coffee standing up at the bar (as it costs twice as much if you sit down) we headed for a tour of the local bullring. One of the oldest in Spain and still used. Lots of colourful posters advertised a bullfight scheduled for the 12th, which we will miss fortunately. We joined a tour and saw the bullring (although it's oval! ) and the tour guide explained how a bullfight progresses.
One of the interesting things I didn't know was that if the crowd decides that the bull has fought bravely they can wave white handkerchiefs and the bull's life can be saved. One of the bulls whose head is mounted in the Museum was a 'mercy' bull who lived for 92 years!
Before we came I read a book by Ernest Hemingway called 'Death in the Afternoon' which describes bullfighting as it was in the 1920s. His fascination with bullfighting is reflected in the book, which is worth reading. He doesn't give an opinion as to whether he agrees with it or not, and in those days there was no controversy about whether it should exist as it was firmly entrenched in the culture of every town.
Next stop was the Plaza d'Espana so we decided to use the local tram to get there. I could just say we bought a ticket and jumped aboard but it involved a process of:
A. Trying to decipher the instructions on the ticket machine
B. Trying to find a machine that was actually working
C. Trying to find a friendly Spaniard to help with the aforesaid machine
D. Buying lollies at a newspaper kiosk to get the change needed for the machine (as Ewan had kindly given all of his small change to a charity collector)
E. Working out which direction we were going in as I thought we were to go in the opposite direction to Ewan!
F. Missing a tram whilst doing A to E above!
Sometimes a bus tour looks good!!!
Anyway the Plaza turned out to be a huge tiled and carved semi circular construction created for an Expo in 1927. Set in beautiful gardens it's still a place where the locals and tourists visit. We had a short visit as I was having trouble walking. This time we didn't even bother getting a tram ticket and decided to play the "we're the dumb tourists" card if needed.
After lunch at the local bar we headed for the Musee del Belle Flamenco. It was a hive of activity as it is not just a Museum about the history of flamenco, but also a dance school and performance centre. The opening of an exhibition about flamenco dancing in China was about to occur, including Chinese girls practicing their flamenco steps! Figure that one out?! The museum was fascinating and we both enjoyed it. Some ancient footage of the beginnings of flamenco ( with fat peasant ladies gracefully dancing! ) and lots of information about different schools and styles and costumes. And some great footage of current masters which was marvellous. We are hoping to see more as we travel southern Spain.
I went off by myself to post some postcards (and check out the shore shops! ) whilst Ewan wandered around the river and looked for the old port area.
Neither of us was successful so we consoled ourselves with some delicious paella, cooked just as it should be. There are lots of cafes selling prepackaged paella but this was the real deal and wonderful. The waiter kindly gave us a shot of caramel vodka to finish the meal so, on top of the sangria and red wine consumed earlier, we happily headed for home.
Tomorrow it's Cadiz on the coast.
Your dancing correspondent
Dianne
No comments:
Post a Comment