DAY 15 - 25.6.2006

Sevilla, famous for olympic games and Expo '92. We got our car in a nice place next to the river. And we also slept quite well even though it was saturday night and the Spaniards are good party people. We didn't get much sleep because we wanted to make sure we got tickets for tonight's bullfighting. So we went hunting for them. There was lots of tickets left so we got our tickets easily for the show at 7.30pm. They cost only 9 euros. Maybe the matadors were not so famous as they were so cheap.

After getting the tickets we realised something. It was Sunday and nothing seemed to be open. We found few places which opened early and ate our breakfast there. After that we continued exploring the city. We went to this castle or palace called Alcazar. There was no entrance fee for students so we decided to go in. It was quite a big place and beautiful as well. We also saw this chuch which had the Guinness world record for being the largest church in world.

We walked around until it was time for the day's first world cup match to start. We watched it in this american bar. England beat Equador... nice. After the game we headed to the bullfight ring.

The seats in the arena were small. Actually they were just numbers on stone steps. As soons as we saw people carrying small pillows we knew it would get rough:) The arena was quite full, only one quarter, the seats straight towards sun, were almost empty. I didn't know that there was this "band" playing horns and stuff. Whenever a new phase in bullfight began they played as a sign. I'm not going to write here everything that happened. I just want to say that as an experience bullfighting was spectacular. It was something so unusual for me. Of course it's a bit cruel but it just shows how different and rich cultures can be. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

After 3 matadors each had killed 2 bulls, the spectacle was over. It was 10.30 when we returned to our car and got back on the road again. Next stop: Gibraltar.