Top Ten Things About the San Fermin Festival – #3 – The Bull Fights

With each passing run of the bulls, there is a bull fight that evening featuring the exact same bulls that run that morning. From roughly 9 AM to 6 PM, they are rested at the arena, and some put up a better fight than others. We’ll be up front here: the bulls do not survive the day and are killed in front of your eyes. Needless-to-say, while the fight isn’t for everyone, we find the atmosphere to be just as entertaining. The crowd is an incredible source of chants, cheers, boos, food fights – perfectly coinciding with what is going on in the ring. Marching bands fill the arena like a college football game, and the crowd belts out every word. While we can by no means guarantee it, there is nothing like a matador receiving the highest honor in the ring. This only happened once in the Summer of 2013, but the matador put on a dramatic show and was given a 10 minute ovation that gave you chills. You never know what you are going to see at the fights, but you should expect to come out covered in sangria.