Spain: Bullring in Ronda, 2006

This bull statue stands at the entrance to the bullring in the town of Ronda, which is regarded as the birthplace of modern bullfighting. The ring also includes a small museum with information about the development of the sport.
Bullfights take place during certain seasons depending on the location, and when I visited in late April, there were no scheduled bullfights here, as the most important events at that time were taking place in Seville. That meant that people were free to walk around the bullring, and it was inevitable that some of the visitors played matadors and bulls in the center of the ring.






If you walk along the outer ring behind the wall, you can see the places designated for the matadors, the picadors, the banderilleros, the press, and certain dignitaries. The tourists with the red shirts in the photo were part of a group from Germany.




See my webpage on Spain at http://www.latinandcaribbeantravel.com/spain.html

Spain: La Alhambra, Granada, 2006

Back in April 2006 I traveled to Seville, Granada and Ronda in southern Spain. One of my trips was to the world-famous Alhambra, a palace for the Muslim rulers of the kingdom of Granada. Modern Spain began in 1492 when the kingdom of Granada, the last Muslim stronghold in Spain, fell to the Christians. This picture of the palace was taken from the gardens called the Generalife, which are a little up the hill from the Alhambra. These buildings date from the 12th century and are typical of Muslim architecture of the time: plain on the outside, lavish on the inside. Particularly striking is the stucco work on the walls and ceilings; often times the walls are covered with Arabic script with a message repeated over and over.

See my webpage on Spain at http://www.latinandcaribbeantravel.com/spain.html