More Bull than Matador!

A four stop tram ride took us into the centre of Sevilla this morning dropping us off within throwing distance of the main shopping area.

Naturally many shops were entered if only to see what was available however there was the Desigual shop that it is almost mandatory to spend 30 or so minutes in (must be the seventh or eighth that has been worked over).

There was one building in the centre that caught our eye the day before and again this morning 

and also a shop selling ceramics of their own design and manufacturing - interestingly we were in the second of the only two of these shops that exist, in the Jewish area yesterday and the prices in that shop on one item was some 5€ dearer than in the central city store today

After lunch in a Mercado by the Puente de Triana 

we then visited the Plaza de toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla (I don't know why they just don't call it the Bullring) which is a 12,000 seat stadium which holds what is regarded as the most well known bullfighting festival in the world. Fighters are keen to fight here as it is the only ring in Spain where to exit via the "Principle Gate" the fighter has to have achieved 3 trophy victories out of the 3 fights he has on the day whereas in other rings only 2 trophies are necessary - a fighter achieves a trophy depending on the skill he shows in the fight, how the bull performed and whether the audience and "president of the fight" believe it was worthy of a trophy. We were told that not many fighters achieve 3 trophies at the one event.

We toured the museum, saw where the bulls are kept prior to the fight and also the chapel where the matadors pray before the fight before stepping out into the stadium itself

Is it the bull or the matador?

While I am no fan of the sport it was an interesting visit as it gave a greater understanding of the history of bullfighting in Sevilla in particular e.g. this ring was built in 1749.

Leaving the stadium disaster struck as my Merrill sandals gave up the fight when the toe strap broke and the sandal wouldn't stay on the foot.

I challenge any one to walk on the hot pavements here in Sevilla in bare feet, so keeping as much to the shadows as possible, running across open sun battered areas, sliding the destroyed sandal across the ground like a person with a disabled foot all the time trying to look natural to get some relief we made it to the main shopping area only to find that a majority of shops  were now closed for the siesta!!

We then struck another problem - it seems that the foot size of a NZer is some what bigger than that of a Spaniard as the largest size that seemed to be available was 10-10.5UK which didn't quite do the trick.

However we found an outdoor type shop that sold beach shoes and I was able to get a pair of beach slip ons for €3.99 that was sufficient to get me back to the hotel without burnt feet. The challenge will now be to find a decent pair of sandals when out in the shopping area over the next few days.