Botin, Bulls and Big Art...

A restaurant that is nearly 300 years old is a difficult thing for a person from Los Angeles to wrap their mind around. Los Angelinos are pretty much in awe of a 7-11 that was built in the 70’s. Monday night, we went to Restaurante Botin which first began serving the people of Madrid in 1725 and, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is the oldest restaurant in the world. It’s still owned by the original family that opened the place back then and Ernest Hemingway called it one of the best restaurants in the world. He should know as “Hemingway ate and drank is as many places as George Washington slept in”, to quote James M. Markham of the New York Times. The restaurant serves several traditional Castilian dishes like Roast Suckling Pig which is prepared and served with the skin just like they used to do it back in the day…the “day” being back in 1725. We ordered the pig along with white asparagus and salad and it was delicious. It should be, they’ve had almost 300 years to get it right. After dinner, we strolled over to the Chocolateria San Gines where we had churros that you dip in a thick dark chocolate. Check out the churros right here: http://www.kitchenchick.com/2007/06/chocolatera_san.html
It was an amazing way to end the day. I then headed back to the hotel and lapsed into a coma…it had been a very long Monday.

Tuesday morning, we were off to tour the Plaza de Toro which is considered the finest bull ring in the world…not the largest (it has only 25,000 seats and Mexico City has a ring that can seat 44,000) but finest because it attracts the world’s best matadors and bulls. The ring is a huge brick structure that was built in the 1920’s and is also the place to see other big events such as concerts (the Beatles and Stones have both played the venue) and they were setting up for a concert Wednesday night when we toured the arena. Bullfights are the main attraction, however, and our tour guide gave us the low down on this sport that is such a big part of the Spanish culture. We also took a tour of the Bullfight museum that is also on the grounds. As you know, the idea is for the matador to kill the bull within 20 minutes by thrusting a sword through the animals heart from very close range. This is the way things usually turn out but not always. Sometimes the bull gets lucky and it’s the matador that’s dispatched. As you might imagine, this is a high-risk sport for all concerned and every bullring has an infirmary to treat gored matadors. The bulls aren’t so lucky. They’re butchered and sold to high-class restaurants in the city. At one point, there were so many matador fatalities, that several countries tried to ban the sport but in Madrid it’s as much a part of life as the NBA in the states. Bullfights are even televised (can you imagine what PETA would do in the US?) In Spain you don’t go to a bullfight, you “go to the bulls” and I have a ticket for one of the final events of the season on Thursday night. I’ll let you know how it goes. If you would like to learn more about the sport, click right here:http://www.madrid-guide-spain.com/madrid-bullfight.html
Hemingway was a big bullfight fan. He took his pregnant wife to see one in 1923 because he wanted his unborn child to be exposed to the event…an odd guy that Ernest. He ended up falling in love with the sport and in 1932, he wrote “Death in the Afternoon” a non-fiction book that became the definitive word on the subject. The man had a way with titles, didn’t he?



Here’s a shot of Hemingway with the bulls. For such a fan of the fight, it looks like he had a pretty cozy relationship with the opposition.




Today (Wednesday) was art day. Heather had several classes today so I tried to take in as much culture as possible. I just got back from touring two of the top art museums in the world; the Prado, http://www.museodelprado.es/en/ingles/and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza or simply the Thyssen, http://coleccionctb.museothyssen.org/. Today was a sea of Goya, Valazquez, Rubera, Rafael, El Greco, Picasso, Monet, Manet, Ruben, Renoir, Gauguin, Dali, Toulouse-Lautrec, Cezanne, Van Gogh and I could go on and on. It was absolutely overwhelming. My eyes actually hurt from looking at artistic masterpieces and I don’t think I can face another royal portrait or religious image for at least 24 hours. Tomorrow we’re going to at least try to catch Picasso’s Guernica at the Reina Sofia which is also in the neighborhood.
That’s it for now. Check back Friday for…

o A look at the Royal Palace.
o One of the world’s great parks.
o And, the bulls…up close and personal.

Hasta la vista!