Let me start off by saying that we did not run with the bulls. Though, in hindsight I wish we had.
San Sebastián de los Reyes is a suburb of Madrid that hosts a weeklong bullfighting festival in August. While Pamplona holds the more famous running of the bulls, bull running also takes place in San Sebastián de los Reyes.
Participants line up behind barriers until the bulls are released, then run as fast as they can to reach the bullring before the animals catch up with them. This can lead to some spectacular injuries, and as we had no interest in incapacitating ourselves within the first month of our trip, we didn’t even consider running.
We picked a spot behind the wooden blockades with a good view of the street leading to the bullring. A bunch of police and ambulances stood ready on the sides. Anticipation built in the crowd as the starting time drew closer. At 11:00, a gun was fired and runners began jogging down the street. Yes jogging. It was utterly anticlimactic. For a full minute, people trotted down the street.
Finally, the pace began to pick up as people realized the bulls had been released. The more serious runners ran backwards through the crowd to get closer to the animals. While the bulls started running through the streets, the pace became much more frantic. One guy tried to hop the fence, to get out of the way of a bull, and a police officer made him get down and continue running. I guess they’re serious; if you start, you have to finish.
Luckily for the runners, no injuries occurred, at least that we observed. At the conclusion of the run, a bullfight ensued. Each city seems to have its own set of rules for fights, but the general idea is that the matador must get 2 “trophies” (3 if they’re in Seville), before killing the animal. “Trophies” consist of the ears and tails of the bulls. Rarely do the animals survive the fight, though a few are pardoned.
We didn’t attend the fight. A. I felt very disturbed about watching an animal be treated in such a manner right before its death, especially as a vet. B. Tickets were sold out, so my moral dilemma was a moot point. Even just watching the run, I felt uneasy. On one hand, I felt sorry for the animals. On the other, bull running is a very inherently Spanish practice, and experiencing different cultures and customs is one of the main points of this trip.
Despite the moral conflict and anticlimactic run, we were happy that we got to see a running of the bulls. If we had known that participants had ample time to run to safety prior to the release of the animals, we may have considered joining them. In the end, we were able to be spectators to a cultural practice that has been exercised for centuries.
Beer of Choice in Madrid: Pedal Ale (specifically made for El Pedal Cerveceria)