Does anyone know whether bullfights are held through the month of October in Madrid and Seville? If so, are they Sunday evening?

Google showed something of the bullfight schedule in Seville for the year 2005.

It seems that the season generally ends much earlier than October, but that there is one special fight on around the 12th of that month.

I guess that a search for Madrid would show something similar.

Harzer

Here is the website for the bullring in Sevilla. http://www.realmaestranza.com/ Looks like the season ends in October.

And yes, we went early Sunday evening in June. Quite a spectacle & building.

Ian

If you do go, you buy tickets at the ticket office inside the building - on the river side. Ignor all of the vendors out front. They charge a surcharge - as do vendors elsewhere. The 10€ tickets are fine btw.

Ian

Bullfights out of season accompany special festivals and holidays, so check if there are any. If you want a really amazing event in October, go to the Fiestas del Pilar in Zaragoza. They will have bullfighting then and the festival itself is tons of fun. Of course, this is outside of Madrid, and out of the way if you are heading to Sevilla, but I highly recommend it. Zaragoza is a wonderful city.
Claire

...please don't go watch a bull being slowly tormented and stabbed to death...

nona1, have you ever been? It is much more than that and I defend the art.

Let's not make this an issue.

Lorraine, do it!

The website Ian mentioned gives the 2003 schedule. Does anybody know of a website that has the 2006 schedule?

nona1--I'm with you. I have seen the specacle, and it's indefensible. Anyone with an ounce of compassion would be sickened by it.

P.S. Spain's torture of animals is not limited to bull fights. See www.faace.co.uk/faqs2.htm to learn about "Blood Fiestas."

here we go.....

No one ever said that culture had to be beautiful and humane and things get hurt. Personally, I really enjoy bullfights when the matador knows what he is doing. Sobre gustos no hay nada escrito, and that is as far as I will go.

Claire

And in Spain there are tastes that call for goats to be dropped from church towers. I notice, Claire, that you like to pretend that animals are "things." Well, they're not things. They are sentient beings that suffer just as much as you would suffer if you were likewise tortured. How human beings can be hardened to that just boggles my mind. Sad for you. Sadder for the suffering animals.

Since I asked the original question, I'll wade into the fray. My husband and I had no interest in attending a bullfight, but the couple we're traveling with feels it's an integral part of the culture and we should experience it. We are thinking about being in Seville on Spain's National Day, Fiesta de Pilar (Oct. 12) where there will be a lot of cultural celebrations in addition to bullfights.

It should be called bullslaughter.

Let the fight be in the open, man against bull; I said MAN not MEN.
Let it be a fair fight, man to bull... not a pre-decided result. The bull is a victim even before entering the arena.
Why would you go when you already know the result? Would you go to watch a baseball or basketball game if you knew the result beforehand?
It's cruel, poor animal.
Let there be more bullfights where the matador gets gored. I'd watch that instead.

There is always someone who likes to impose his or her narrow-minded beliefs on everyone who will listen. Guy18 is obviously one. I'd like to see his/her list of humane causes, but this is a forum for helping the novice traveler, not promoting ones narrow beliefs.

Lorraine:
Use this website to buy tickets in Madrid and to check out the schedules:

http://www.ticketstoros.com/

Aloha!

Robert, it is easy to call someone narrow-minded. It is more difficult to debate an issue intelligently. I see you choose to do the former. Concern for needlessly tortured animals strikes me as anything but "narrow-minded." As far as novice travelers are concerned, it is quite possible that a novice traveler would think a bullfight is somehow fair or humane or that there is the least bit of redeeming value to one. Lorraine can do what she wants, but let her and others make an informed choice. I can't imagine why Robert would want a list of my "humane causes." If he's serious, I'd be glad to provide one for him, though I'm not sure they are all relavent to a travel forum.

This barbaric practice is a sad indictment of Spaniards' hollow claim to be a civilised nation. Shame on anyone who takes part. laclaire, don't be stupid: of course it's "an issue", and so it should be; anyone who supports bullfighting should be ashamed of themselves. And Lorraine, are you not capable of influencing your friends to do something decent while in Spain?

I went to a Bullfight in Barcelona 23 years ago when I was very naive. It was totally barbaric and I was ashamed of myself (and still am) for paying to see this act of torture.