Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas

This week we took a tour of the most famous bullring in the world, la Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas in Madrid. On this tour the students learned about the history of bullfighting and they got to debate whether they were in favor or against the sport. There is no right answer but it was definitely intriguing seeing the individual viewpoints of each student. One student told me she wanted to watch a live bull fight. This wasn't possible because the plaza was closed due to covid regulations but a couple days later she told me that she couldn't watch more than five minutes of an online video she looked up.  

As we made our way through the halls of the plaza, we saw taxidermy bulls and compared them to ourselves, imagining what it would be like to be in a ring with an animal that size. We then sat on the benches, as if we were spectators, listening to the history of the sport. Lastly, we went onto the ring itself where the action takes place. The students even got to hold the muleta, the cape toreros use against the bulls. This was a unique cultural experience that I'm sure the students won't forget.