Our second day in Seville. The weather forecast was telling us that the day is not going to be as hot as the day before. It was a relieve because on this day we will be walking along the river side.

Not far from our hotel there is a small square by a church that has cafe.  It was teeming with people in office attire having breakfast here. So we know that this will be a good place for breakfast. But it also meant that they do not speak English too!

What is worse, it was self-service. We had to order from a window and then when it is ready we had to pick up our order. Being not particularly sure of the system, we had our eyes peeled to the window afraid that we will miss our order when it is ready. Good thing they beckoned us to the window and we picked up the toasts and drinks. They stopped us and asked that we carry a little bottle along too. It turned out to be olive oil.

The breakfast was simple but very good. Best of all it was about the cheapest breakfast we ever had in Spain. It came up to only €4.20. Sweet!

After breakfast, we went walking along the Guadalquivir River. This river is navigable hundreds of miles with up to Seville. During the days of the discovery of the New World, ships laden with treasures and goods would all unload here.

The Torre del Oro is a watch tower which protects the city of Seville in days of old. It is supposed to be a Naval Museum but when we were there it was closed. What a bummer.

Near the Torre del Oro, we began to see sculptures of Matadors. We were near the Bullfight museum.

One of the things we planned to do in Spain was to watch a bullfight. Bullfighting is very much a popular sport in southern Spain unlike in Barcelona where people do not like bullfighting. Our hotel concierge told us that summer is the off season for bullfighting. It was disappointing to us but at least we planned to just visit the Bullfight Museum.

The tour of the Bullfight Museum was free with the Seville Card. It was an eye opener tour for us. We had never knew what bullfighting really is before this tour.

We first toured the arena where we … learned about the event. This bullfight ring in Seville is one of the premier rings in Spain and is home to some of the best matadors.

We then went into the museum proper. This is where we learned that the bulls are born, bred for and KILLED for ONE fight. A couple of American girls in the group were commenting about the brutality of the sport. That annoyed the tour guide and she snapped back at them that “It is our culture. Like it or not!”.

There are bull heads mounted on the wall. There was one that was a little odd. It is of a cow.

You see, in Seville there was a once great matador who was a national hero. The matador got killed in a bullfight and the cow you see above is the MOTHER of the bull who killed him. In order to prevent another off-spring of this cow, the Spaniards killed the mother cow!

We also saw the chapel where the matadors pray for safety before the fight. This is also the chapel where the last rites were said in the event the matador is mortally wounded. The last time a matador was killed in Seville was in 1992.

Guess what? We were so happy when the tour guide told us there is a special bullfight that night. It was to start at 10PM and will last until midnight.

So we bought a couple of tickets. It was complicated selecting the seat because of the many options. The ticket counter was patient explaining our options with the use of a map of the arena. We ended choosing one of the better seats … at the center and on the second row. Suanne was worried that we are too close to the front because she saw bulls leaping to the stands on TV before.

Nice!