Day 4: Pamplona

Quite a different day today, rest day! I had allocated a day of buffer in my schedule to use for a great city or if my body was breaking down, and while earlier than expected, I decided that limping for the next 30 days may not be ideal. Off to the physio.

Thankfully nothing Camino ending, but a common combination of tight hip flexors and a lot of incline (thank you Pyrenees). Having this muscle released turned out to be about as painful as the whole walk so far, but was certainly feeling better as I strolled around Pamplona.

Sneaking in lunch before a siesta, I found what felt like a veeery local restaurant. Whenever someone new would enter they would always say to all the other eaters something like "Buen approvecho", which seems to be like bon appetite, but used differently. They served good simple food, bread, three courses and half a bottle of red wine for 12 euros. In the middle of the old town! And now off for siesta. I love Spain.

Post siesta, I was back to listening to Spanish podcasts as I cruised around the city. Very liveable city Pamplona, I liked it a lot.

I went to mass at San Saturnino, 7pm on a weekday, why not. It's been interesting to see how many of these late midweek masses have been packed full of locals.

I then met my mate Henry at a tapas bar, where we found some pig trotters! I hadn't seen these before so we ordered them, and while the taste was pretty good, the texture was very loose and a bit tough to stomach.

I had a funny interaction with the bartender as he approached to take our order. Needing more time I asked for "dos minutos", and I hear back something like "Si, dos mintos", which I assumed was some slang for minutes. To our confusion, two glasses of wine turned up on the table, we realised he's probably heard "dos tintos", meaning vino tinto (red wine), which I wasn't really mad about.Read more