Olé

We recently had the pleasure of attending one of Spain's oldest and most revered cultural events, the bullfight!

Bull fighting is very closely associated with Spain and can trace its origins back to 711 A.D. This is when the first bullfight took place in celebration for the crowning of King Alfonso VIII. It is very popular in Spain with several thousand Spaniards flocking to their local bull-ring each week. It is said that the total number of people watching bullfights in Spain reaches one million every year.

Bullfighting was originally a sport for the aristocracy and took place on horseback. King Felipe V took exception to the sport however and banned the aristocracy from taking part, believing it to be a bad example to the public. After the ban commoners accepted the sport as their own and, since they could not afford horses, developed the practice of dodging the bulls on foot, unarmed. This transformation occurred around 1724.

So what happens during a bullfight?:
Firstly the bull is let into the ring. Then, the top bullfighter called the Matador, watches his chief assistant wave a bright yellow and magenta cape in front of the bull to make it charge. He watches this in order to determine the bull's qualities and mood, before taking over himself.

Then a trumpet is sounded and several fighters called Picadores weaken the bull by placing spears into it. This takes around 10 minutes.

Another trumpet is sounded and the Matador now removes his black winged hat and dedicates the death of the bull to the president or the crowd before beginning his faena.

The faena which is the most beautiful and skillful section of the fight and where the matador must prove his courage and artistry. The faena consists of a running at the Matador carrying a muleta. This is a piece of thick crimson cloth draped over a short stick, which can be held in either the left hand or draped over the espada, the killing sword, which is always held in the right hand. Usually the muleta, in left or right hand, is first held in front of the matador to make the bull charge and is then swung across and away from the matador's body hopefully taking the bull with it.

This is a show, basically a dance with death - one wrong move and the Matador could become impaled on the horns of the bull. It is the Matador's job to make this dance dramatic and enjoyable for the audience.

The faena continues until the Matador has demonstrated his superiority over the bull. Once this is achieved the bull is ready to be killed.

The matador stands some ten feet from the bull, keeping the bull fixated on the muleta and aims the espada between the shoulder blades. The matador attacks pushing the espada over the horns and deep between the shoulder blades. If the sword goes in to the hilt it is an estocada but if it hits bone it is a pinchazo or media-estocada. An estocada usually results in the bull dropping immediately to its knees and dying, but if the bull fails to die the matador may take the descabello (a sword with a short cross piece at the end) which he stabs into the bull's neck severing the spinal cord. The fight is over.

The matador may be awarded trophies by the president, according to his skill in working with the bull, which can be one or two ears from the bull, the tail and the hoof. The crowd will often encourage the president to award the trophies by waving white hankerchiefs, and this waving continues after the trophies have been awarded in an attempt to get the matador to throw his trophies into the crowd. The crowd in return hurls flowers which are collected by the matador's assistants. (08/14/2010, http://www.spain-info.com/Culture/bullfighting.htm.)

I borrowed the info but the pictures were all me!

La nostra avventura Italiana: Terza parte ~Napoli~

Naples was not exactly a gracious hostess while we were there, but all the same her colors and charms out weighed her bad manners. The rumors of trash in the street and the craziest driving in Europe we both true, but there is also a very intense energy that runs through the veins of the city, that emulates the pride and zephyr of her people. Not unlike the rest of Italy, Naples is veritable lasagna of history. Ruins around every corner, and monuments in every piazza.

The only official tour that we took while in Naples was the Sotterranea, or the Naples Under Ground. We learned about how the passages were made and how after the black plague the miles and miles of caverns were used to house people during the war.
Our guide was a the perfect example of a typical Neapolitan, bold, colorful(even a little off color) and very personable. He learned to speak English from American TV, movies and music.

Our last day in Naples we had planned on going to see Pompeii but as usual a transportation strike foiled our plans. Instead we wondered around Naples since we hadn't nearly seen all of the city during our stay. The grandeur of the architecture in a normal European city will definitely be something we miss when we go back to the states. They just don't build cities like this in America.
We managed to catch up with our friends John, Gillia and Alex for one more amazing meal before we headed back to Spain the next day. We did a little prefunking at "The Cheshire" (Alex's up and coming speak easy style bar) and then headed out for a walk through city and some traditional Neapolitan pizza. We put away 6 pizzas between the 5 of us so needless to say it was a great way to end our trip.
An extra hour at the airport, was the final taunting notion that we may never get out of Naples on our own terms!! Neverless, we made it out loaded down with mozzarella di bufalla, and memories of all the fun we had.

Grazie Italia, Ciao!

La nostra avventura Italiana: Seconda parte ~La Costiera Amalfitana~

Our second week in Naples we got out a little more to enjoy the beauty and culture that the city had to offer, and also spent some time with our awesome friends John and Gillia. We spent some time during the week making plans for the upcoming Fourth of July weekend. We all agreed that there was no better way to celebrate our independence than to spend our long weekend enjoying the beautiful views and beaches of the Amalfi coast! We set out bright but not too early on our way toward the coast.

Once we reached the coastal road the views were nothing short of mind blowing! Between the excitement of navigating the treacherous cliff side bends, and trying to take in all the beautiful sites we were all more than happy to put away a bottle of wine with our first amazing meal in Amalfi.
We made our way into the Piazza del Duomo, and up the grand staircase to the iconic Cattedrale di Sant' Andrea.
After touring the Duomo, we headed back to the car so we could try to find our hotel for the night. Luckily we brought the GPS with us, or we may have never found it! The booking site we used said it was in Amalfi, and when all was said and done we were a few kilometers up the mountain in quiet little Agerola. We spent part our evening getting a private tour of Agerola from a friend of our friends. Our guide only spoke Italian, but luckily we had Gillia to translate. It was great to experience the cultural immersion while strolling through town and listening to our guide.


The next day we drove to Ravello to take in the beauty of the 19th century gardens and the epic coastal views. We also decided to take a hike down into Amalfi to have lunch. The sights, as usual, were to die for, but so was heat in combination with the trail! Halfway through our hour long trek the trail turned into steps! And not just your average regulation cookie cutter steps. These were old stone and concrete steps that ranged in size from regular to Shaq sized strides. The varying widths, depths, and condition of each step, made this trek the quad workout of the week! We were more than happy to take the bus back to Ravello after we enjoyed yet another amazing meal in Amalfi.
With our destination in sight we came upon section of the trail that had been blocked off! Refusing to turn back, we carefully surveyed the area for danger and finding it perfectly sound enough for us, we crawled through the blockade and made our way on down the trail. It would have taken a black hole or grand canyon sized crevice to convince us to turn back up all those stairs!
We had had plenty of excitement for one afternoon, so after returning to Ravello by BUS, we headed out to Sorrento to find our next "hotel", explore the city a bit and of course have yet another meal. We stayed at a camp ground that had small personal cabin's, not the Ritz but the price was right.


The next morning came with an early sunrise, sore muscles and the intent of a nice easy day at the beach in Nerano. We decided to take a little hike before we headed to the beach. The hike turned out to be a little more intense than we had intended but the views were worth the sweat.
We managed to find a well positioned rock, so we could catch a group photo.
We took a break in town upon returning from our "little" hike, picking up some provisions for an Italian style beach picnic lunch. We made our way through town and hiked around the bend to a gorgeous little cove where we spent the rest of the afternoon swimming, lunching, and lounging. It was a nice contrast to our extra intense morning hike.

The last day of our weekend get away was spent on the island of Capri. The world famous Blue Grotto was our first destination. We took the tram to top of the island, and then a bus to the other side. We thought when we saw the sign "Blue Grotto this way" we were close by, so we didn't bother catching the bus. As underestimating our physical activities had been a sort of running theme throughout the trip, we should have known that skipping the bus was going to result in another long stretch of walking! About an hour or so later, we finally arrived at the grotto. From the outside it was quite a mad house! Boats full of tour groups competing with a stairwell full of tourist who came by bus for the attention of the small group of boatmen who would ferry us through the very unassuming cave mouth of the Grotta Azzurra.
Inside the grotto was the most breath taking natural blue glow in the water, and all the boatmen sang an Italian love song at the top of their lungs as they rowed us around. It really was an unforgettable experience.
To finish off a once in a lifetime weekend we rented a small motor boat and cruised around Capri, taking in the awe inspiring cliff face views, lunching on the boat, and swimming in the gorgeous waters.
We motored back to port to catch our ferry back to the mainland. We could have spent many more hours exploring all the cliffs and coves along the coast.
Back in Sorrento we enjoyed our last meal of the trip, and reflected at the epic weekend that was coming to a close. It sounded much more like a week long trip while we talked about all we had done over the past few days. We returned to Naples that night with refreshed souls and tired bodies, and enough wonderful memories to last a life time!