Feb 10 – Thursday … or bulls, anchovies, Alcazar and Flamenco in Sevilla
The pace slows and the sites are purely Sevilla. Mark up at 3, Kathie soon followed-what do you expect, but nothing pressing. Lazy stroll – paseo – to the bull fighting ring and museo. One toreador, two picadors, and three bandoleers fight 2 bulls (hardly fair fight) to the death. This used to be a way for men on horseback to control and kill bulls quickly for meat…they kept the cows for breeding. Once guns came into play, the admired skill of the toreador, bull killer, was being lost. Therefore, it became a sport, albeit a dangerous one. The picadors are to weaken the bull through loss of blood; the bandoleers anger him so he fights better (or perhaps those are backwards)– better sound bites. If the bull is angry enough, and the toreador kills him quickly (25 minutes) nobly with a spike through the heart between the 4th and 5th vertebra, the toreador may get 1-2 ears and the tail…one, two or three star fight. If the bull injures of kills the toreador, the bull is not only killed but also its mother. They say the bull gets his strength from his father and evil personality from the mother. Yuck. The whole thing almost made K sick to her stomach. If a horse gets gored, all the more free meat for the poor…college football similarities? Glad to have missed the spectacle. Littler fast boys head to bullfighting school to see if they have the ability to turn pro at 16. The ring took 120 years to build, same as the cathedral.
Back to the center of town with a bit of time to kill before touring Alcazar. Went into the Archives of the Indias. 40 million documents concerning every aspect and record of Spanish exploration of the Americas. Who went where, when, and what sank where. Chronicles the discovery of the new world from the Spanish perspective. Free sea versus controlled sea, were they pirates or privateers? This is where current salvage people go to try to locate sunken treasure…Spain it seemed owned the oceans and the Americas (the pope said so!), Then along came those pesky English, Dutch and French with letters of marque from their respective monarchs to disrupt the control. Took a nap in the 75 degree sunshine in the Plaza de Trunfio while waiting the guide. Our luck runs out with tours, not enough people showed so we do the Alcazar on our own.
Alcazar is 3 separate palaces with a magnificent garden. Amazing collection of rooms, fountains, courtyards, gardens, pools, water powered organs. All done with Mudejar architecture…a mix of mosaic, painted tiles, carved stone and wood, orientation of the rooms to sun and Mecca. This is still the home of the royal family when they visit Sevilla.
We are starting to settle into the Spanish pace, as indicated by a bottle of wine, 2 loaves of bread and a small siesta. We wake up just in time to go to the Flamenco Museo and its dance demonstration. 4 performers …imagine Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, Riverdance Michael Flathely, and ice skating all rolled into Carmen. The girl was beautiful and sultry; the guy was a bit scary but stomped and spun while, Mark says, touching himself provocatively, and the singer sounded like he was calling the crowd to prayer from the top of the tower while Jesse Cook strummed away. It was all done very well and lots better than the 40 Euro tourist shows! Late dinner and slow paseo back to Hotel Amadeus. We should comeback in April sometime when all the orange trees are in blossom – perhaps better than a few rotten oranges falling at your feet.
Recipe of the day
Nicoise Sevilla style salsa fresca without cilantro
½ inch chunks potato – biked but al dente
Fine chop tomatoes, onions, green red yellow pepper, hard boiled egg, carrot peel
Tuna olive oil/vinegar…that’s it!
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