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A Traveler's Guide to Spain

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España
Barcelona
A Traveler's Guide to Spain

A traveler's Guide to the cultural and physical differences between Sevilla and Barcelona based on our own personal experiences and primary sources!

13/06/2015

In Sevilla, there is the oldest bullfighting ring in Spain called Plaza de Toros where large crowds gather to see famous spectacles between bulls and matadors. In this event, a matador aggravates a bull, causing it to charge the man. The matador waves a sheet as the bull charges so that it will focus on the sheet, causing it to miss. There are about six matadors and six bulls during the fight and by the end, all the bulls are slaughtered. The crowd gets to see the bulls get killed and they cheer on the matadors as they tire out the bulls. Bullfighting has been viewed as a part of the Spanish culture for a long time but recently, it has received criticism from activists groups such as PETA and by the general public. In Catalan, bullfighting is now banned because people believe that it is animal abuse and unfair to them. There is a lot of abuse that occurs to the bulls before they are killed in the fight. For example, their eyes are rubbed with petroleum jelly before a fight to decrease their vision in order to give the matador an advantage. In addition, it is reported that one side of the bulls’ horns is shaved down to decrease the bulls balance. From the start of the fight, there is no chance for the bull to win and it is condemned to death. There is some opposition to bullfighting in Andalusia but not nearly as much as there is in Catalan. It is very much still ingrained in their culture and they believe it is a test of bravery and honor. We interviewed a citizen who stated “I disagree with the way the bulls are dragged around while they are dead or are dieing.” This person was from Barcelona and supports our hypothesis that people are more against bullfighting in Catalan.

13/06/2015

Technology is more advanced in Barcelona than in Sevilla according to our experience. This is shown through its infrastructure and the overall setups of households. For example, in Sevilla there are only three stops for the metro but in Barcelona, there is an extensive and advanced system that allows residents to travel all around with ease. Many households in Sevilla do not have wifi to access the internet. There were students in the Dialogue that could not go online at their host families’ houses in Sevilla, yet in Barcelona, the city has wifi in the most streets accessible to all citizens. The fact that Barcelona provides internet service to most of its citizens shows its advanced technology capabilities. In contrast, the internet in Sevilla was very slow and it often did not work well. When we interviewed a local citizen, they stated that Barcelona also has an extensive collection of research laboratories: more so than in Sevilla and the rest of Andalusia. This could pair with the fact that the technology is more advanced in Catalan. The number of prestigious universities may also contribute to the number of research labs. Two of the top 10 universities in the country are from Barcelona while only one is from Sevilla. The sheer size of the city makes Barcelona a leading contributor to technology in Spain. Although Sevilla is the third largest city in Spain, Barcelona is still larger and attracts more tourists and researchers which contributes to its technological advancement.

13/06/2015

The religious habits of Andalusia (specifically Sevilla) seem to be much more predominantly Christian than that of Catalonia. Based on first hand experiences, we saw many churches and cathedrals in Andalusia. According to the tours, the cathedral in Sevilla is the third largest in Europe. In addition we toured a Cathedral in Cordoba that used to be a mosque. This shows how the religion of Andalusia seems to be very dominated by Catholicism to the extent that it takes over other religion’s places of worship. There are also festivals that are religious very frequently in Andalucia. We saw a festival in the streets during class one day that exhibited the religiousness of the people of Seville. The festival consisted of a parade where they carried different religious relics and rode horses in honor of Catholicism. In Catalonia most of the mosques did not seem to be converted to cathedrals like many were in Andalucia. We also did not experience any religious festivals while in Barcelona. When interviewing our tour guide that accompanied us when we were with the mayores, he stated there is a much larger Jewish population in Barcelona than in the rest of Spain. According to our experiences, it seems like the culture of Catalonia is much more tolerant of different religions than that of Andalusia.

13/06/2015

While in Sevilla, we all quickly became accustomed to the southern Spain mentality of the easy going life that includes a daily siesta from 3pm-5pm. The people of Sevilla have a very laid back mentality. Everyone is easy going and not in any particular rush for any given reason. The whole vibe of the city is much slower than that of Barcelona. We took a tour of a part of Barcelona and asked the tour guide questions about his thoughts about the difference between Barcelona and Sevilla. He stressed how here in Barcelona the only people who take siesta are those who originate from the south. The city of Barcelona is much more progressive and modern than the city of Sevilla as well as a prominent tourist spot so it makes sense as to why they skip siesta and keep businesses open all day long. The tour guide also mentioned that the people here go to bed earlier and wake up earlier than those of the south. This is a direct cause of business mindset Barcelona has which could be a contributing factor as to why Catalonia is the wealthiest region of Spain.

12/06/2015

From the first second we arrived to Barcelona it was obvious that there was a clear distinctive difference in the amount of pride the citizens of this city had within their region versus those of the citizens of Sevilla, the city where we previously spent four weeks studying Spanish language and culture. Barcelona is apart of the region of Catalonia whose citizens try very hard to separate themselves from the rest of Spain. Everywhere you go the Catalonia flag is displayed on decks, business, and homes alike. While in Sevilla it was a rare sighting to see the Andalusia flag. Throughout history Catalonia has been known for attempting to separate itself from the rest of Spain as its own affluent nation so it makes sense as to why the people of Barcelona would want to display their love for the Catalonia flag versus that of the Spanish flag.

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