Day 31 : 3 P’s and a Beach in Madrid

1st P : Plaza de Torros

Completed in 1937, this is the place with the world’s largest bullring in the world (16.5m diameter), with a seating capacity of 24,000.

Bullfights usually takes place every Sunday between the months of March and October, and as I am not in Madrid during that day, I can only content with a tour of inside Plaza de Torros. 

Cost of watching a bull fight here ranges from about Euro 5 to 150. 

Apparently about 6 bulls (between the age of 4 – 6 years) will go into the ring on each of these Sundays where 3 bullfighters will attempt to kill the bull. 

The bulls will subsequently be slaughtered, with the ear of bull chopped off as a trophy to the bullfighter.  Slaughtered bulls are subsequently sold to restaurants to be cooked for meals.

This was definitely one of the highlights of my trip in Madrid!

2nd P : Lunch with a Porn Star

I finally had my 1st authentic meal in Spain as I had been put off going into diners and restaurants since the menu is often in Spanish… So I had chicken and rabbit paella with the company of a porn star!

Probably every guy’s dream job, I got to know the in’s and out’s of the porn industry over lunch with Ivan (He has a different stage name of course – rather kinky, which I shall not disclose on the blog), winner of the best new comer as well as best actor award, over 2 consecutive years in a renowned award ceremony (similar to the Emmy, but for the porn industry instead).

Having been in the industry for over 5 years, he shared rather interesting stuff on how he got into the industry, the auditions one needs to go through, and even saw some of the “artistic” work he did, which was quite an eye-opener!

3rd P : Prado Museum

I was definitely being a cheapo by taking advantage of the free admission to the Museum from 6 – 8pm on most weeknights, and I think many other people thought the same way, as it was packed!

The place is huge and had probably over 1,000 of paintings in the building from different eras and art styles, prominently featuring Goya (Konstantinos, this is for you!), Rubens, Velazquez and many more.

I got rather distracted by the many paintings and it took me a while before I manage to find out the best way to go around the museum.  It was definitely not possible to cover the whole place in the short time I had, and I probably didn’t do the artworks any justice as I quickly walk past most of them. 

That’s primarily also because I can’t confess to being an art connoisseur, and couldn’t appreciate them in too detail.  Managed to see some of the more famous art pieces and was mesmerised by some of the details and lifelike-ness in the pieces. 

Beach in Madrid

There are definitely no coastlines or beaches in Madrid, but someone has decided to replicate the beach feel in Madrid by bringing it to the city! 

Went to bar “Areia” located in the Alonso Martinez district, and the ground was covered with sand, giving it a beachlike feel as George and I enjoyed a drink after a light dinner.