The Oldest Bullring in Spain

Written by Dave:

The city of Ronda has the oldest bullring in Spain.  It took 6 years to complete, and was finished in 1785.  The bullring in Ronda was designed by the same architect who designed the new bridge in Ronda.  Bullfighting has always been very important in Ronda, and it is considered an art, not a sport.  It started as a way to train the cavalry, and continued on into the current art form.  Ronda is considered the birthplace of the current art form of bull fighting.

No visit to Ronda is complete without walking the famous bullring.  It was a fascinating structure to walk through.  We walked into the pens that the bulls wait in before being sent into the ring.  We walked the ground that the bullfights take place on.  We walked the stands.  It was a large and beautiful structure.

Luie was really getting into the spirit of things, putting on his best bull impression.  He decided that he would even take a run at the handsome matador.

I proved to be a much more skilled matador than Luie was a bull, but I let him live anyway.  Summer also seemed to be having a great time looking around.  She thought the arches of Tuscany columns were pretty.  She was a bit appalled with what actually occurs in the ring, saying she would never visit an actual bullfight.

Here is the rest of the family looking good in the seating section.

This is a statue of Cayetano Ordonez, the first bullfighter to be carried in triumph out of the main gates of the Maestranza.  He was used as the model for “Pedro Romero” by Earnest Hemingway in The Sun Also Rises.  He was a very famous bullfighter.

Inside the bullring was the Bullfighting Museum, the Royal Saddlery, and a collection of old firearms.  Sadly, no pictures were allowed inside.  It was a great place to visit, and we really enjoyed our time there.  This is likely as close as we will ever get to an actual bullfight.