Vertical and Botanical Garden...and the Prado

Hello everyone...
This is another one of those blog posts where I show you what I did while I was on holiday for two weeks in Spain. And on one of the days, my brother and I went to the centre of Madrid and we saw the Prado museum (which is free for students, btw), the Royal Botanical Garden and the vertical garden. So I thought today that I would talk a little bit about those three things. 




First things first, the vertical garden. Its name is the Green Vertical Garden and it is a part of the newest museum in Madrid, the CaixaForum. I actually did go to that museum a few years ago but it was pouring with rain and so I didn't have the chance to look at the garden. There are 15,000 different species of plants on the wall and it was designed by Patrick Blanc, who would like to grow more gardens like it in the UK and China. CaixaForum is also a very interesting place but we didn't go in it on that particular day. We went to the Prado instead. Here is a picture of the vertical garden and that is my brother standing in front of it.

The Royal Botanical Garden, or the Real Jardín Botánico is in Madrid. (It is only about a five minute walk.) According to the little guide that they gave us when we bought our tickets, this garden were made on the order of King Fernando VI in 1755 but it was made on the banks of the Manzanares River. King Carlos III had it transferred to its location now on the Paseo del Prado and it was reopened in 1781. 

Now, I am not a plant fanatic in any sense of the word. I don't enjoy gardening, although I did like it when I was younger, and I don't study any science anymore. But, I can honestly say that you don't have to be interested in plants, to enjoy this garden. There are fruit trees and medicinal plants and a bonsai collection and a greenhouse with three sections of different regulated conditions for plants from the Canary Islands. There are plants from every continent and this garden has helped in scientific expeditions and discoveries all over the world. There is a huge collection of seeds there as well, to help with the reintroduction of species into the wild, research and the protection of biodiversity in Spain and the world. In the library, this garden has the biggest collection of books on botany in Spain, some dating back to the 17th and 18th century.  

I have to say that I am not the best at taking photos. I tend to get distracted by a lot of things and forget that I am photographing the whole park. I also, being me, didn't take pictures of the labels. So, I am just going to show the pictures that I took and hopefully, if you are interested, you can go one day and see for yourself. :) 

There were a lot of statues across the park...of kings probably. There are a lot of statues of kings in Madrid, on horseback usually.

This was a set of vines growing or something. Because it is so hot in Madrid for pretty much all the time in the summer, the plants need so much water and so there were hoses just lying on the soil spraying the plants. 

These sunflowers were huge! Also, while we were driving from Valencia to Madrid in the coach, I saw fields of sunflowers that were all facing the same way, towards the sun obviously. So, sometimes they were facing towards us and sometimes away and it was so cool!

This is my brother again, walking down one of the paths

A collection of plants above. I have a few more but I chose the nicest ones. They are from different areas in the garden but below is how most of the plants from the same species were organised, in regular rows with little hedges to separate them. Also, each plant had a label to say where it came from and was it was.

 Unfortunately, in the Prado, you are not allowed to take pictures so I have none. But, we did go inside and I really enjoyed it. I have been to the National Gallery in London many, many times and I am not a huge fan of art museums, although once or twice is alright for me. My brother is studying Goya, a Spanish artist for school and so we saw a lot of his paintings, (they have three rooms for Goya) and also there was a room full of statues in the basement. If you like art, or you study art, I recommend you go because it is free for students (Yay!) and it is interesting. 

I know I use the words 'interesting' and 'beautiful' a lot on my blog :/ Ah well. I do know other words but I don't spend much time editing the writing; I just write whatever I am thinking at the time. So, I'm sorry about that. 

Anyway, that is it for that blog post. I hope you enjoyed it and maybe found it a little intriguing/interesting. There are book reviews coming but I haven't finished them yet and I think I will publish all three at once. I also have a review on Segovia to finish. That will be coming soon. And stay tuned! I have another book coming out soon! I am so excited. 

Clare 

A tradition worth dying for!

Hello, everyone...

While in Madrid on holiday, I had the opportunity to visit the Plaza de Toros, the famous bullfighting ring. This place is considered to be the home of bullfighting in Spain. It was made to seat 20,000 people but actually seats 23,000 people approximately. It has a Royal Box for the President (and also the King if he is there) and seats in both the shade and sun. And then, of course, there is the large sandy pit where the matador will publicly kill a bull after 'outwitting' it. For those who love the sport of bullfighting, it is considered an art form because there is no competition involved and the matador must perform several different moves with the bull, almost like a dance. 

The Ring 

The structure of a bullfight is deeply engrained into tradition. In Spain, a bullfight is called corrida de toros and is split up into four separate parts. The first part is the parade, where all the participants of the bullfight come into the arena and salute the President (and the King if he is there.) We, (my brother and I) had an audio guide during the tour and it said that the costumes that the bullfighters wear are made by hand. If that is true, that is amazing because the details on each costume is incredible. 

And then, there is the first part of the actual fight, which is called the Tercio de Varas. The audience first see the bull released into the arena, where the matadores and banderilleros engage the bull with a cape, making the bull charge it and observing weaknesses in the bull and which side the bull favours. Then, in the same part, picadores will enter the arena on horseback. (The horses are blindfolded and wearing padding for protection.) The picador will proceed to stab the bull in the shoulder/back of the neck with a lance. It is the first blood drawn. 

The second part is called the Tercio de Banderilleros. Three banderilleros each attempt to stick two barbed sticks into the back of the bull. Sometimes, the matador will also try and stab the bull with his own stick. This further weakens and angers the bull. 

The last part is called the Tercio de Muerte, where the matador will re-enter the ring alone, with only a cape and a sword. He uses the cape to show his dominance over the bull, by causing it to charge particularly close to his body. Then, he will stab the bull through the heart with the sword. 

Very rarely, if the bull had done especially well and the audience have liked him, they will wave their handkerchiefs and the President will have to decide whether or not to let the bull go. 

The building itself is actually very interesting though, whether or not you like the sport. From the outside, it looks a bit like a gladiator ring or something else from ancient Rome. It is all very grand and patriotic with the Spanish flag hanging from the roof. Over the door, there are mosaics that tell the history of bullfighting. The arena is in the centre and takes up most of the space in the building. There are seats in the sun and in the shade, the latter being more expensive obviously, but also the price of seats depends on how close you are to the ring. Around the edges of the arena were the tunnels that are used to release the bull into the ring. The bullfighting season is from March to October and so, as we walked around the edge of the ring, we could hear the bulls that were being kept in stables next to the arena. For some reason, in front of the stables, there was a taxidermy of a real bull. Why? I don't know. The Plaza de Toros is a circular building but at the back, in a separate area are the stables for the horses that are used in the parade and by the picador. We saw the padding that is used for protection. It was huge. I know that bulls are extremely strong animals and their horns are extremely dangerous, but this was ridiculous. It is a wonder that the horse can stand up, let alone carry a person on its back and move around. There is also an infirmary, (because bulls can kill and/or gore or permanently injure the matadors with their horns) and a chapel that we did not see. 

Outside of the Plaza de Toros 

Outside of the Plaza de Toros 

The stands

Artwork at the back of the building 

The Royal Box

Now, I am sure I could go on for a long time about bullfighting and the points for it and against it but that would get boring. I am going to say though that, to me, bullfighting is an unnecessary part of tradition. It is cruel, no matter whether or not the bulls for a ring have a better life than the bulls used for food and it is barbaric. I was talking about this to a Spaniard here in Spain and they said that bullfighting is an art form, a 'dance' was the word they used to honour the strength of the bull. I was told that I should not ridicule it because it was very important to many people. But to me, in the same wag bear baiting was stopped and dog/cock fighting in England, I think some traditions should be removed as to keep them is to keep a very primal way of thinking. I won't go into details about the life of the bull in the last days before it is sent to the ring but there is nothing about it that honours the strength or the grandeur of this animal that is driven into a fury before being killed in a heinous way in front of thousands of people.

Okay, well that is it for this blog post. There will probably be a few more like it because I had the pleasure of visiting many cool places in Madrid and in Spain. What is your opinion on bullfighting? Is it a sport that can be justified because it is part of tradition? Or is it just cruel? 

B.T.W. I am sorry for the quality of my photos. I am not the best with a camera :/

Clare