Running of the Bulls in Arcos, Spain

I don’t know about you but I’ve heard some pretty crazy stories about the Running of the Bulls here in Spain.  The usual, super crowded, tourist ridden one is usually at the beginning to middle of July in Pamplona, Spain but a lesser known fact is that we have one more locally in Southern Spain as well!  This one takes place in a town called Arcos de la Frontera.  Here, they host their own version of "Running of the Bulls", called "La Fiesta del Toro del Aleluya" during easter weekend each year.

This event is scaled back much more but I still hadn’t quite figured out how I felt about the human-bull relationship here in Spain and didn’t want to spend hundreds of Euro going to Pamplona for something I may or may not have enjoyed.  For the record, I have worked through my feelings on this matter but I’ll get to that later!  So anywho, we hopped on a little tour bus from Rota and made the hour long trek to the city.  If you plan on visiting I highly recommend taking public transport, as parking can be super difficult to find there and will leave you walking a LOOONG ways uphill if you do eventually get lucky enough to find a spot. 

The bus dropped us off fairly central to the city and we began to walk up the narrow cobblestone streets towards the main event.  The major road running up the old part of the city was blocked off with grates on either side and people were already crowded around them, securing a good spot hours before the bull was scheduled to be released.  We climbed on a railing about a meter back from the first row of fences and had a great view from there!

Check out those crowds!  People were sitting and standing ANYWHERE that they could to get a good view!

When a cannon went off we knew the bull had been released and everyone immediately began to cheer and shout!  The cannon went off again, announcing that the mayor was in town and that due to this, they’d be releasing two bulls.  10 minutes seemed like forever but after that period of time there was a sweeping urgency and stillness that crept up the crowd as the first bull ran up the street and into view.  The silence didn’t last long as the bull came banging his way up the street, running into the metal barriers and being met by hundreds of shouting passerby’s throwing garbage at, pouring drinks on, and taunting him physically and verbally.  A few brave souls ran up the corridor with the bull, usually not for very long before jumping through the fence to safety.  The bull was herded up and down the street a few times, getting weaker as he ran, eventually losing grip of the old cobblestones with his hooves and falling and slipping to the ground multiple times as people continued to yell at him and throw things.  As he ran past the second time he had much more red on his horns, which I'm still telling myself was paint of some sort because otherwise... ew.  This second time he really caused some ruckus, as he stopped in front of us and began to ram the red barrier that was separating him from the crowd.  As he did so, a vertical piece of the fence broke off and the crowd all scattered and fell backwards into each other.  An old man was knocked over in front of us and we all thought that the bull had speared him in the face, as there was quite a bit of blood, but it turns out the fence hit and broke his glasses, cutting up his face pretty badly (better than a bull horn though!).  The bull seemed to be pleased with the results and moved on thankfully, and a repair crew came in within minutes and immediately reinforced the fence where it had been broken (thank goodness!).  After running back down, they were able to cage the bull at the far end of the street, we had a brief intermission before they released the second bull.

The first bull running past us!

During the intermission between bulls (about 3 hours!), we decided to walk around, grab some food and drinks, and find a different place to stand so that we could hopefully see the next bull for more than a few seconds each time it ran by.  We ended up at the side of a small intersection where the cage was kept (see the blue metal thing at the bottom right of the below picture... yes the one that people are sitting on).  This bull was a little more spunky and truly chased after people.  Lots of (mostly men) kept diving into the red barrier in front of us to get to safety.  After a few runs up and down the streets over the next 30 so minutes, the bull was herded into the metal cage and the fiesta in the streets commenced.  When we returned to our bus that would shuttle us back home, we were told by our tour guide that after being caged, the bulls are speared to death then cooked for the locals to eat. 

Overall, it was a truly interesting and exhilarating experience.  Although, I must admit, hearing about the fate of the bulls and seeing the pure fear and torture that they were put through, as they slipped and fell on the cobblestone streets while being prodded, screamed at, and had things thrown at them truly sickens me.  This is something fairly controversial here in Spain, as this is a huge part of their culture and has been going on since the 14th century, yet is basically glorified animal cruelty.  Either way, I'm glad I experienced the event but that will be the first and last time I partake in the festivities!

On a side note, Arcos de la Frontera is a super charming little town that's definitely worth a visit for a day!  The old part of the town is fairly small and requires walking up a cobblestone street to a gorgeous church with an incredible view.  The first time we visited, I made the mistake of driving up there and I will NEVER do that again!  Even in my Mini Cooper, the roads were extremely tight and the restaurants who had moved some tables and chairs to the street had to pull back some of their furniture to get by.  Fair warning!

One of the tunnels I had to drive through thanks to my wrong turn (AHHH!)

Check out that lovely view!