Bullfighting traces its history way back to when the Romans held public spectacles of “Man vs Beast”, and although France and Portugal both have long bullfight histories, it is considered a very Spanish tradition.

So it’s in Spain where we start with the world’s oldest surviving bullring: Las Virtudes in Santa Cruz de Mudela. It was built way back in 1641, when the bullrings were actually bullsquares – the round shape was adopted later on to prevent the action being confined to the corners.

The style of Spanish bullfighting has changed very little since 1726, when Francisco Romero got off of his horse to fight on foot with the famous red cape and sword.

This tradition was taken with the emigrants to the Americas, where the oldest remaining bullring can be dated back to 1766. By now firmly set on the round shape, Plaza de Acho in Lima, Peru accommodates 13,000 spectators.

Back in Spain, we find the second largest bullring in the world, Las Ventas in Madrid. With a capacity for 25,000 spectators, it has also been used for an AC/DC concert, and hosted a semi-final of 2008’s Davis Cup tennis tournament¹.

To find the largest bullring in the world, we visit what was once the most populated city on the planet: Mexico City. Here we find the gigantic La Plaza Monumental, built in 1946 with a capacity for 41,262 people.

For obvious reasons, bullfighting has drawn a lot of criticism throughout the world, and I’m surprised that these massive venues are still able to draw enough crowds to keep the tradition alive.

However, there are signs that bullfighting will not be around forever: it is no longer televised in Spain, and many opinion polls have shown the majority of the public are just not interested.

In Tijuana, Mexico we can use Google Earth’s historical imagery to see before and after shots of a recently demolished bullring that wasn’t pulling in enough business.

Earlier this year the city of Viana do Castelo in Portugal took the bold step of banning bullfights altogether. Their small ancient bullring will now be used as a “science and education centre”. Presumably bull dissections will not be part of the cirriculum.

This entry is based on an original article from the recently re-launched Google Sightseeing Español, where new author Luis Moreno is posting translated sights from here and original Spanish-langauge content.

Halfway up a Burmese mountain we find a large, blue, mysterious building, that appears to have been built right into the side of the mountain. What could such a building be designed to house, and why would it need to be semi-submerged? One suggestion is that this is a top secret nuclear reactor, created with the help of North Korea.

An article in the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Burmese defectors that a nuclear reactor was being constructed near Naung Laing, which happens to be just 3 miles SE of this location.

The suspicious building appears to have large power cable connections, and there could well be security checkpoints on the surrounding roads, so perhaps the Burmese do have something to hide here?

Of course, none of this actually means there’s anything exciting going on at the building, it could still be an innocent sports hall.

So, is anyone convinced that we’ve got a nuclear bunker? What other things can you spot that might prove that it is a secret reactor or bomb factory?

Thanks to Arms Control Wonk, ISIS, Ogle Earth

Driving along the isolated Highway 90 in Texas, you may be hoping to find somewhere to buy water, food, or perhaps petrol for your car.

And look! There on the horizon, a fast approaching convenience of some kind!

However, undoubtedly the last thing you need to cope with the unforgiving landscape is a new pair of Prada shoes.

But hey, it’s better than nothing, right? Unfortunately, even if the street view driver did want a new Italian designer handbag, he or she would still be out of luck, as it’s closed.

In fact, this store is always closed, and has been since 2005 when it was first, er… opened. As it turns out, this particular Prada boutique is a permanent art installation, created by cruel Scandinavian artists Elmgreen and Dragset.

Thanks to Diego Gonzalez.

Today, the fourteenth of July, is the French national holiday that is known in English as Bastille day.

The Bastille, a Parisian prison, was stormed on this day in 1789. Along with the Tennis Court Oath, it was the successful capture of the Bastille that marked the beginning of the French Revolution.

The Bastille was actually demolished that same year, and in its location is now Place de la Bastille which, fittingly for Paris, is now a large roundabout. Don’t be fooled however, as the July column at the centre is actually a monument to a different revolution (the one when King Charles X was overthrown in 1830).

To the south-east is the Opéra Bastille, which was completed in 1989 and was intended to replace the old Opéra Garnier (Wikipedia) as the home of the National Opera of Paris. However such is the demand for opera in Paris that the two buildings are both still used – along with three others!

Looking around the streets you can see where the walls of the Bastille used to stand marked out with lighter coloured paving stones. During excavation for the Paris Metro in 1899, partial remains of one of the fort’s towers were discovered and put on display in the nearby Square Galli.

Thanks to Julien, who originally posted a French version of this post over at Google Sightseeing Français!

Despite having again failed to post the world’s largest desert we feel the second annual GSS Desert Week has been a resounding success! The places we visited were:

• UTA Flight 772 Memorial
• Desert Dome
• The Osoyoos Desert
• Wadi Rum
• Death Valley
• Shiprocked on the Highway to Hell

We also had loads of other great desert-themed sights sent in by readers (thanks everyone), but we already had more posts than we needed! Rest assured that we’ll keep these in reserve for next year, and may even post a few during the coming months.

So we’re back to our regular schedule later today, but in the meantime, why not have a think about what locations you might like to see included in the upcoming Volcano Week 4?