Bullfighting in Spain: Bull Farm & Bullfighting History Tour

You will visit a bull farm or attend a bullfight, and these experiences will bring you closer to the world of the bullfighters. Because bullfighting is a seasonal activity, visiting a bull farm can be the perfect experience if you want to learn about it.

We will join you on a tour starting from Seville and heading South towards the “Ruta del Toro” (route of the bull). This is a unique way to learn about the history, traditions and the importance of the names in the bullfighting industry.

Bullfighting’s exact origins are lost in history, though the spectacle seems to have many antecedents. Historians have long debated the weight to give to these various influences, and, there is a counter voice discoursing on the bull cults of ancient Mesopotamia or highlighting the prenuptial bull-taunting ritual common in medieval Spain.

What is likely the case is that modern bullfighting hails from many influences, rituals, and cultures, many of which are thousands of years old. The excavations at Knossos on the island of Crete, for example, have revealed ancient Minoan frescoes (c. 1500 BCE) depicting games with bulls in which young people are shown grabbing the animals’ horns and vaulting over them.

The peak season for these fights every year is from March/April to September/October, during which you can merely find one to attend somewhere every week. The highlights on the bullfighting calendar include Holy Week and Easter (Semana Santa and Pascua in Spanish), plus local festivals such as the Feria de Julio and Las Fallas (Valencia), San Isidro and the Feria de Otoño (Madrid), and the Feria de Abril (Seville). Tickets can usually be bought in advance directly from the bullrings.

Bullfighting can be traced back to the ancient days. They were popular spectacles in ancient Rome, but it was in the Iberian Peninsula that these contests were fully developed by the Moors from North Africa who overran Andalusia in AD 711.

Bullfighting developed into a ritualistic occasion observed in connection with feast days, on which the conquering Moors, mounted on highly trained horses, confronted and killed the bulls.

Here is an interesting thing: bulls are never used a second time in the corrida. This is because their memory is remarkable, and former experience would make subsequent fights too dangerous for the matadors to execute their graceful cape work, which is the main reason fans come to the bullfighting arena.

The size of the arena floor never varies more than a few yards, but those at higher altitudes are smaller than those at sea level to help compensate the altitude fatigue.

Many historic matadors have worked hard to become the best that they can be, so if you’re a male aspiring to be a matador then the names bellow should give you inspiration.

Ernesto Pastor, Carlos Arruza, Antonio Ordóñez, José Gómez Ortega, Guillermo Capetillo, Cayetano Rivera Ordóñez, José Ortega Cano, Manolete, Paquirri or Francisco Rivera Ordóñez are among the most notable ones.

Olé is a word that has made its way into pop culture, especially sports, and has spread around the world. Conventions on when you can use “olé” vary slightly from country to country, but in Spain, you can generally say it anytime you are impressed by somebody’s performance.

Today, this word is often heard at bull fights, football matches, and in Flamenco dance shows, as a way to cheer and motivate the torero, team or dancer.