Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain - Bullfight August 6

August 6, 2016

This Saturday I saw a corrida of six Pedro Domecq bulls.  Morante De La Puebla was the “big name” of the night.  He is frequently mentioned with “El Juli” “El Fandi” “Enrique Ponce” etc.  He is a 37 year old from Sevilla.  I have seen him in Puerto, Malaga, and Sevilla.  He puts in effort at the big rings like Sevilla.  In the times I have seen him in Puerto and Malaga he pulls every cheap trick to expose himself to as little risk as possible.  True to his form he did the same in Puerto and earned not only two silencios, but a booing at the end.  His last bull was a 540 kg 4 yo bull.  He almost dropped the veronica two times.  His picador had to have two vara attempts.  His cuadrilla placed 5/6  banderillas.  He only placed the escoparda inches in the bull but did not try another.  The escoparda actually fell out why he was waiting for the bull to bleed out.  His descabello was clean because he is evidently experienced in this.  His first bull was a 500 kg 5 yo.  His cuadrilla again placed 5/6 flags.  He did another poor kill with a quick descabello.  A quick note on Morante.  In 2002/2003 he was averaging 50 ears and a few tails with 50-60 festivals.  In 2004 he had only 8 festivals.  Since 2005 he averages 50-60 festivals but only 20-30 ears.  I bet he got gored in 2004 and lost his courage.  In Wikipedia is only notes he retired “por problemas psíquicos.”

Alejandro Talavante is a 29 year old from Badajoz.  I have seen him before and he did not disappoint.  He earned the only ear of the night.  His first bull was a 505 kg 5 year old.  The Picador actually missed his vara.  His cuadrilla placed 6/6 banderillas and the last guy fell after placing it and nearly got gored.  He earned music in his 3rd act.  He had to place three escopardas as the first two hit vertebrae (he wears a black wrist brace) but his third went true and the bull fell immediately.  He earned an ovation due to missed points on the multiple escopardas.   His second bull was a 515 kg 4 yo.  His cuadrilla placed 5/6 flags.  He dropped the muleta on the third act, and therefore got not music.  He was clearly trying and did a good job despite no music.  He placed a deep escoparda and the bull fell immediately.  He earned the only ear of the night with this fight.

Borja Jimenez is a 24 year old from Sevilla.  This was his first fight in Puerto.  I saw him in Sevilla and he showed his typical courage and ambition to establish himself.  His first bull was a 480 kg 4 yo.  He took the bull on knees in the Sevilla style.  He dropped the veronica.  The bull did a literal headstand flip when its horns dug in the sand.  His cuadrilla disappointed with 2/6 flags placed.  The bull was clearly lame/coja.  It went down 4 times in the second act and many times in the 3rd act.  The crowd screamed at the judge for another but she did not oblige.   Maybe the headstand caused damage.  He got not music but had a single clean kill.  He earned an ovation and would have done better with a descent bull.  His last bull was a 530 kg 4 yo.  Everything went great until the kill.  The picador had a nice vara, the cuadrilla placed 6/6 flags, his first act veronica work included 3 six passes.  He got music in the 3rd act with some extravagant muelta work.  Then it went to shit.  He had 4 escoparda attempts.  During two he lost the muleta, during the third he hit vertebrae and on the fourth his sword was a foot out from the hub.  He then did five descabello attempts before the bull went down clean.  He earned an ovation.

León, Spain

August 2-3, 2016

León is also in Northern Spain and we took a train between Bilbao and León to see some of the beautiful countryside.  Its city population as of 2015 is 127,817 makes it the largest municipality in the León province.  The city was founded as the military site around 29 BC.  The city’s first recorded historical landmark was being a main center for the Reconquista in 910 AD. Their next contribution to Spanish history was hosting the first Parliament in European history under the reign of Alfonso IX in 1188.  The current motto of the city is “The cradle of Parliamentarism". The third major Spanish historical event was being one of the first cities to hold an uprising in the Spanish War of Independence in the early 1800s.  By 1833 it became the provincial capital. In more modern history, the railroad, mining, and being a communications hub have been their main industries.  

The largest attraction that we visited was León's French-style Gothic Cathedral which is also called The House of Light or the ‘Pulchra Leonina’. This name is in because of the huge stained glass windows on every wall throughout the cathedral. They are having a rough go with structural stability because when they removed walls to put in the stained glass, the walls then were weakened and being a stone structure is putting a lot of weight on the few remaining walls.  It was very beautiful though. While walking through the city, our next stop was the Convento de San Marcos.  The building design is plateresque and Renaissance Spanish architecture is very stunning and currently is operated as a luxury Parador.  Damon’s favorite stop was Basílica de San Isidoro that is where the first European Parliament was held in 1188.   The original church was built in the pre-Moor period over the ruins of a temple to the Roman god Mercury.  León's Cortes dealt with matters like the right to private property, the inviolability of domicile, the right to appeal to justice opposite the King and the obligation of the King to consult the Cortes before entering a war. This church also is the final resting place for León’s medieval monarchs. Our last destination was to see the Casa de los Botines which was designed by Antoni Gaudí with construction finishing in 1893. Owen’s favorite part was riding the tourist train around the city and trying to hang off the front edge of our cart.  

This trip to Bilbao and León was our last big trip while still living in Spain.  There is no denying that I was feeling pretty worn out from travel, but all in all it was a fun weekend. 



Bilbao, Spain

August 1, 2016

Bilbao is in the autonomous community of the Basque Country.  Based around the secure and ideally located port to export iron from the nearby mountains, the city was officially founded in the early 1300s by Diego López V de Haro. Prior to then, the earliest settlement evidence is from the third or second century BC. It experienced significant industrialization in the 19th century along with Barcelona. Today, Bilbao is most recognizable for the Frank Gehry–designed Guggenheim museum that opened in 1997. The building modern and contemporary works, but it is the curvy titanium-clad exterior that gains the most attention.  The Spanish Civil War started in Bilbao with the first bombing in 1936 followed by German and Franco forces bombing in the next year. The city was rebuilt in the 1940s including revitalizing the iron industry. As with all industrialized ports, the water quality and sedimentation as caused significant financial strains for dredging and restoring the bridges and docks.

Our favorite site was the Vizcaya Bridge.  It was the world's first bridge to carry people and traffic on a high suspended gondola. UNESCO listed the site an Industrial Revolution icon. In order for the river to maintain its usefulness for shipping, it needed to be tall enough to allow ships to pass below.  We rode the gondola across and then walked back over the top of the bridge to return.  Damon and Owen went to see the Vista Alegre bullring. It is a first class bullring that hosts the best bullfights in the Basque Autonomous Region. The seating capacity is 14,700 people and it was inaugurated in 1963. In the old part of the city is the Cathedral Church of Santiago.  The current structure was built in the 14th century but only declared a cathedral in 1950. A unique feature of this cathedral is stone carvings of local merchants along the buttresses of the main vault.