Campo Pequeno

Campo Pequeno stadium in Lisbon is the official home to​ the Portuguese bullfighting (corridas de touros).

Bullfighting in Portugal is a 300-year tradition. Its rules are slightly different from Spain. The bull is not killed during the performance, but it is being attacked. It's sort of like a rodeo with cavaliers (a horseman dressed in 18th-century costume) instead of cowboys, and forcados instead of clowns.

With the shouts of olés instead of yahoos and yee-haws.

The opening introductions.

 It all starts with a rider on a horse who attacks the bull with spears. This is mainly about the graceful movements of the rider (and horse 😋).

Then a guy with a pink cape enters the arena to provoke the bull. (The bull is already pretty provoked with at least 6 spears stuck in his neck!)

In Portugal, the main stars of bullfighting are the cavaleiros as opposed to Spain, where the matadores are the most prominent bullfighters.

Finally, oito forcados appear who make a straight line. (These would be kind of like the rodeo clowns.) The bull is challenged to attack the eight forcados. The idea is that the forcados will hang on the horns, neck, actually the whole bull - or get stomped on trying.

After the forcados leave, a group of  tame steers is taken into the bullring to lure the exhausted fighting bull back out. Several groups of forcados compete with each other to see who controls the bull better, but the ‘hero’ of the bullfight is still the cavaleiro.

In Portugal, unlike other countries, the bull is not killed in full view of the public. However, on most occasions, the bull is sent to a slaughterhouse after the fight, where it is slaughtered according to Portuguese regulations. 

Poor guy 😢

Warning:

Bullfights are not for everyone. Even though the bull is not killed in front of you, the spears that jab his neck do draw blood. 

Everyone seems to have a strong opinion - it's either a beautiful art form or a nauseating event.

Either way, we went. 

One and done.