Sigüenza & Medinaceli

The night was short...At some point there was a loud party in the neighborhood until the early hours of the morning. I wake up very quickly, but I usually fall asleep straight away; But they really celebrated...!

At around half past eight we went to the center. Despite the early hour, there were already many people lining the street. We also got a front row seat on the main street. It was reasonable to assume that the bulls would be driven through this street. At some point a shot rang out in the distance, people got into position, okay, something seems to be about to happen. And actually some animals came running along the street, everything was very peaceful, hmmm...? A few minutes later there was another shot, everyone got back into position (on the street, on the wooden boards or even behind the iron bars). We stood on the wooden barriers, so right in the middle of it all. Suddenly a bull came hopping around the corner, the men on the street fled onto or behind barriers or climbed window bars as the bull ran through the street with the three other animals. The Spanish woman next to me on the barrier made it clear to me at the moment when the bull came that I should quickly either climb onto the highest wooden beam or go all the way down, because it would be very painful to stand on the middle wooden beam, which I was standing on , the bull should come too close at exactly that point (#horn height).

The things that happened slowly began to fit together with the innkeeper's stories the evening before. It was probably about “picking up” the individual bulls and leading them into the arena. The spectacle was repeated three more times, then everyone ran out into the street and headed towards the arena.

We also followed the crowd and took a seat in the arena. The first bull was let into the arena and the bullfighters lured it towards them. As soon as he attacked them, they tried to avoid it as narrowly as possible. Others had their scarves with them and “danced” with the bull. At some point the bull got tired of “chasing” anyone and was let out of the arena, it was the next man’s turn. In short: no one was gored, no human being, no bull, that's okay. Being there once was impressive, I accept the culture, I don't condone it.

As we continued north we stopped in Sigüenza. First have lunch and then ride the bikes into town. In addition to the great little streets, a huge cathedral, a castle and again an impressive Plaza Mayor awaited us. Nice to look at and definitely worth a stop. I didn't really like the free parking space in the city and there was another small village nearby that was worth seeing at 1200 meters above sea level. Should be with free parking space and a view, the journey continued for another 30 km.

Medinaceli is a village with 600 inhabitants and a very long history. As a transport hub, it was a strategically important place even in Roman times. It's an incredibly pretty place, small streets, old houses, occasional squares with benches and trees and a fantastic view in all directions. Enough experienced today - Buenas Noches!