Pamplona, Navarra, Spain

Pamplona is home of the famous San Fermin festival, the Running of the Bulls. Hemingway made it famous in "The Sun Also Rises." What was once a small regional festival has turned into a worldwide spectacle every summer. We happened to be here on Constitution Day, a national holiday. We were afraid restaurants and bars would be closed, but we were wrong. The streets were full of Spanish familes on holiday and bars and restaurants were packed. It's nothing like during the San Fermin festival, but we were surprised at how many people were out and about.

We're at a little elevation now. The drive south from San Sebastian was pretty. We climbed through the foothills of the Pyrenees to get here, the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Navarre. And so it's a bit colder. But it wasn't raining on our first day here and we did most of our sightseeing then. We walked along the path that the bulls take, from pens above the Arga River and through the narrow streets of Pamplona, up to the bullring. Lots of shops sold the white pants, shirts, and sashes and bandanas that "mozos" wear when being chased by bulls.

We were in luck. The bullring is normally only open for the Feria in the summer for about 9 days. The rest of the year it's closed. But they're holding their Christmas market inside and we got to go in and see the ring from the inside. The market was more fun and had more interesting items than the market in the streets of San Sebastian. We walked all over town and had espressos in a cafe. We're 4 weeks into a 5 week trip, so we're slowing down a bit. It's still wonderful to just meander through cobblestone streets and see what a new city looks like. Most shops were closed anyway. That's why we booked a hotel with a sauna and we're making good use of it.

Today it's rainy and cold all day. I walked around solo after breakfast to explore some more. I invited a guy to share my table at a cafe and he happened to speak English. He was Philipino and was teaching English in Pamplona. He was in his third year teaching and had lived in several cities in Spain. We had a great talk about Spain, travels, and the Phillipines.

Pamplona is another charming Spanish city, but the weather is taking it out of us. We're laying low and looking forward to taking a train to Madrid tomorrow for our last stop before heading home. Buses are usually much cheaper and faster than trains in the north of Spain, but we found a train that is much faster and worth the extra expense. And it will have a cafe car on it, which I love.

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