Pamplona Day 2 - 9 September 2024

09.09 - Day 2 - Berriozan nr Pamplona

Fairly quiet overnight - we’d seen a police car pass by twice - so we felt safe. 

This morning it was bikes out for a ride into Pamplona (population c. 201,000 / elevation 456m). Lead by Tintin and Google (after quite a few expletives!) we arrived at the Tourist information and picked up some maps. 

We cycled to the end of the bull run to park our bikes by the bull ring (closed) and walked back to the start. The bull run or Fiesta de San Fermin takes place each year from 6 - 14 July. Apparently it originated in the 14th century as a way of herding the bulls to market, with the seller running alongside to speed up their movement. Six bulls are let loose - the course over the cobbled streets is only 825m long and only lasts about 3 minutes. Since records began in 1924, 16 people have died. Technically women are forbidden from running - but do it anyway! 

We thought the bronze sculpture looked really good!

Cutest moment was meeting the 3 month old miniature husky - allegedly he’ll only grow to 8 kilos! Very friendly 😊

At the festival experience centre (free) we saw filming from previous bull runs. There’s a lot of looking behind!

At noon there was a protest about pensions. Tintin spoke to one of the police (as he does!) - they can get their pension at 65, other workers 67 (and older - sliding scale) - much like Guernsey. 

Mr Gabriel - if you fancied working again - your shops would be in demand - saw this and had happy memories of visiting your shops over the years…

In the Plaza del Castillo we saw Café Iruña - regular haunt of Ernest Hemingway. 

We thought about having Pintxos - Basque tapas for lunch - but struggled as the place we went into didn’t speak any English! Instead went to Adokin, a gastrobar and had a 3 course meal, including 1/2 bottle of wine and bread for €18.90 each. Starters were ok. My chicken very average, and didn’t really eat the chips - just soaked in grease! Tintin ordered lamb chops and received squid!  He then had cheesecake with berries (which defeated him) - I had mojito sorbet which was very minty! We didn’t even drink all the wine! Overall - not our best eating out experience ☹️

Went to see the Santa Maria cathedral - but didn’t pay to go in. There was actually a queue - popular with the Camino walkers. 

There are so many parks around Pamplona - glad we had our bikes so could ride around. We failed to find the deer in Taconera gardens - just ducks, geese, chicken and peacocks!

The Citadel was constructed between 1571 and 1645 in the shape of a pentagon. It is considered the best example of Spanish Renaissance military architecture. Designed by Verboom, who was an understudy of Vauban. It was huge!

Rode to the Japanese gardens - then decided time to come home. Took about 30 minutes - again a few expletives about using Google maps! It just started to spot with rain - so good timing.  It’s been hot when the sun was out, but otherwise needing a fleece, especially cycling! Did about 12 miles cycling, and about 11,000 steps. 

The old city of Pamplona had a nice feel to it. Just some fantastic detail on the buildings. 

The lady at the tourist information gave us lots of ideas for other things to see in Navarre - mainly castles, medieval cities, churches - but also gorges and a desert!

I’m a bit upset that my photos when reviewing look ok, then go darker to their final image - having read about it - seems it’s an Apple problem that’s known about on both the 14 and 15. ☹️ I just want to snap, don’t want to change settings and edit photos…