Toro!

Ronda's bull ring was the first purpose-built bull ring (1785), the place where the rules of The Game, so to speak, were finally codified (featuring a killer, on foot, with a sword), and home of Pedro Romero, the greatest ever, with over 5000 confirmed kills. After touring the bull ring, the complex, the museum (s), I am now far better informed about bull-"fighting" (theatrically killing an animal already dying) than ever before. One of the most interesting facts about the Ronda ring is that, in its long history, only one matador has ever been killed. How many bulls, I ask, have survived the contest? This is a sport?

Sculpture outside the ring

The matadors' chapel

At the main entrance, a minor tribute to the victim

In the museum, Picasso's take on it all

Inside the ring, alas, my camera can not capture this whole

thing, it only seats about 5,000, but is still pretty large

Seating comes in four categories: sun, part

shade, shade, part-sun

On the ring; evidently, I would guess, the veterinarians are

for the horses