A 2 hour bus ride got us to Pamplona. We got our bags, left the terminal and stood on the street having no clue where to go. So, back into the terminal we went to find the information booth to at least find out in which direction to walk. Turns out, it wasn’t that difficult. I guess we still looked lost as a nice young woman stopped us and asked if we needed help. She reaffirmed we were going in the right direction.
After meeting the hostel owner, we settled into our “pods”. They look like something from Ikea or those small space homes. It’s a room with about 20 beds complete with locker, light, shelf and comfy bed and you can pull a shutter down for privacy.
Then we headed out to do our usual walk about. We wandered through out the old city and followed the route for the running of the bulls. Next we walked the wall and most of the perimeter of the city. The old walls are intact complete with canon holes and you can see where the moat and drawbridge once were.
We didn’t really eat dinner but stopped a couple of times for pinxos and a glass of wine. For some strange reason the owner of the bar we stopped at twice started talking about fishing. Apparently he loves fishing. So, we told him to come to Canada and I gave him our business card. Ya never know. Maybe someday he’ll show up at Alpine. 🙂
The bulls run up this street
The sun dial on the right side of the church
The bull ring where the bulls end up after running through town
Some of the bulls we saw running.
Another portion of the wall
View of the new city from the wall around the old
Normal sized door within a door
Selfie attempt in Cafe Aruna where Ernest Hemingway wrote “The Sun Also Rises”
A sample of pinxos or tapas
More bulls we saw running
Inside the beautiful cathedral
The pipe organ
Alabaster statues
Tuesday we took our time messing about, wandered around town and went to see the Cathedral when it finally opened. Pilgrims get in for half price so we made sure to bring our credentials. It was a couple of hours well spent.
It’s been a few days since we actually ate a real meal so we headed back the Iruna cafe where Ernest Hemingway hung out and wrote “The Sun Also Rises” and “A Dangerous Summer”. The cafe apparently looks the same as it did back then. I guess why mess with a good thing? Our lunch was really good anyway. I love how they do a meal of the day. They give you a choice of 4 or 5 starters, 4 to 6 meals, a few desserts, wine, water and coffee all for one set price. I got to have little squid cooked in it’s own ink. Interesting.
Suitably stuffed we decided we missed the camino so followed it to the next town. That put another 12 km on our feet and wore us out for the day.
Where in the world is Grandma? 