A Day in Pamplona

Today I got up late and went from a coffee and danish, which I realize was late for me (10:00 am) but early on Spanish time. The town doesn’t really start to come alive until well after noon.

I did laundry at a local place, then wandered the city to see the sights, stopping for a gelato, and accidentally crashed a wedding I mistook for a church service. I wondered why everyone was dressed so nice! I did get to run from bulls, but they were very slow; as if caught in a moment of time, statuesque.

I came to a place for pintxos, where the bites were amazing, but the experience was so lost in translation that I’m not sure if I didn’t get charged for half my food, or if I was charged twice for everything. Either way, I’m full and I don’t think the waiter or I will never know the answer.

Restaurants don’t open till 8 or 8:30 at the minimum for dinner, so to kill time, I took a nap. Wandered a bit more and the night started to come alive around 9:00 pm. Every generation, from very young to very old, partying in the streets… and oddly I feel safer here in a crowd than in any city event/crowd in the US.

Tomorrow is a long walk from pamplona to Puente la Reina, completing 10% of my overall trek.Read more