Anybody been to one? Part of me wants to go for the experience and the other part of me thinks it will be too violent (for a better word). Going next week and have tickets already but still not sure.
If I were a bump it younger and can run faster than the bull, I would want to go for the experience.
I would skip the bullfight and go to a flamenco concert instead - DH went to one last year and said it was amazing.
I went to one years ago in Costa Rica, where there was a ban on actually killing the animals. The matadors used small darts to indicate what would otherwise be a killing thrust. I enjoyed it, knowing that the animals were not seriously injured.
I can’t imagine going to one in Spain and watching an animal struggling to survive and being slowly killed. Yes, there is drama and the skill of the matadors, but it is death. There is enough violence in the world that I do not personally feel like being entertained in that manner.
LOL–DrGoogle–I’m not running with any bulls! I’m sitting in the arena where they can’t get me! I hope.
MaineLonghorn–I had the pleasure of attending a private flamenco dance and concert a few years back and it was great. I would recommend it to anyone.
I missed the bullfight experience years ago out of a combination of squeamishness and ignorance but am still on the fence as to whether to attend now. I know nobody can tell me what to do but as always, I’m open to opinions and experiences of others.
I went to the bullfights in Mexico years and years ago. Awful. Would never go again.
Lol!! In my childhood, I’ve been chased by angry cows so many times… I have zero desire to run with the bulls or to see a bullfight. 
What KKmama said.
Personally, I wouldn’t go, simply because I love animals and hate how bulls are treated for this sport. There was an article (in NYT?) about just how cruel it is. I couldn’t even bring myself to read the article. In my personal opinion, any sport that of this sort (including dog fighting, rooster fighting) should be outlawed.
I had the good fortune of studying abroad in Sevilla, Spain for one year. I read Death in the Afternoon by Hemingway and Or I’ll Dress You in Mourning about the famous bullfighter, El Cordobes. These helped prepare for the experience of watching the bull fight. I recommend immersing yourself in the culture rather than just “showing up” at the arena. I found it to be fascinating.
Not a chance…ever…nope
Would you go to a hanging for the experience?
My mom is from Spain and still has terrible memories from the bullfighting events she went to as a child. It is barbaric in every sense of the world.
I would not go. Who gets pleasure from watching an animal get tortured to death? No thanks!
We took our kids to one while on spring break in Mexico. My daughter, who was about 14 at the time, started crying, rather hysterically, so we left. I guess it depends on the person. We’re meat-eaters and she’s not.
If done well, it’s not torture. The point is to get the bull mad enough to fight, and then there is a quick death. When the bull doesn’t want to “fight”, it is sad, or some would say boring.
We did attend the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona. You could call that “revenge of the bulls.”
We did a tour of the stadium when in Madrid. That was really interesting. It wasn’t the season, so I didn’t have to decide whether to go … but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t want to.
Maybe if you just go the one time it would be more like ‘education’ than entertainment?
Listen to the part of you that doesn’t want to go!
I love the suggestion to go to see flamenco instead. Just as much part of the culture, a lot less troubling emotionally/morally.
^^ educated?
I know how it ends. The bull dies.
I was only kidding about going but honestly I think I would have nightmares. I avoid violent movie, can’t take it.
Wouldn’t go. In fact you couldn’t pay me to go.
Don’t know about Spain, but in some small Mexican and Latin American town bullfighting stadiums you have to be careful. It seems 2 or 3 tickets are sold for each bleacher seat and it can get crowded with aisles even jammed. Whatever you do, if you have to go to the bathroom after drinking beer watching bull fights, don’t dare climb down underneath the bleacher seating…I found out why no one else was getting out of their seats…they just relieved themselves from their seats.