Rain, Rain Go Away...Fall on England instead

Yesterday was Ronda, one of the white villages clinging to the side of a steep gorge. It rained quite a lot while I was there, which put a damper on things (literally), but I did manage to see a couple of things, including the Municipal Museum (bit kiddified, with loads of rather tame audio visual aids) and the bullring and bull fighting museum.

I know sod all about bull fighting, but the vull ring and museum were really interesting. At the entrance to the museum is (what I think is) the head and horns of a pre- historic bull. By the size of it, the animal itself must have been absolutely huge, and the horns looked pretty lethal. In a case a little further on were heads of famous bulls, stuffed and mounted. These again were absolutely huge, but there was something about the way they´d been reduced to trophies stuck on a wall that made them look a bit sad and pathetic. I can´t think of a better argument for the abolition of bull fighting (if it´s still going on).

In another case, they had some of the original outfits worn by the bullfighters, which were absolutely weeny(OK, I´m exaggerating a little, but they can´t have been very big blokes). I guess they needed to be pretty svelte to give them a chance of ditching the bull, but presumably it meant that if they did get caught, there was very little in the way of protective padding. It made me think of an article I read in the paper a week or so ago, about this woman who had been shot in LA, and the only thing that stopped the bullet reaching her vital organs was the fact that she was carrying a little excess weight.

The bull ring was quite interesting. It´s (I think) the oldest in Spain, and there´s a definite vibe about it. I was able to look down into the stall, were they kept the bull before raising the door and letting it out.

This afternoon caught the train to Granada, which is where I am now. Hoping to visit the Alhambra tomorrow, before getting a train back to seville, and a flight back to london.

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