Pamplona

Last Friday, we took a bus (yes, a bus) about an hour and 15 minutes to Pamplona for an overnight visit.

Pamplona, of course, is famous for its running of the bulls, which was made widely-known by Ernest Hemingway in The Sun Also Rises. Each morning during the week-long Festival of San Fermin in July, the bulls that will take part in that day/night's bullfights are moved from a pen at the edge of the city to the bullring by means of running through streets that have been blocked off for that purpose. And, each day, brave (or foolish) men and women (mostly men) run with them. You can watch videos of the event on YouTube and decide for yourself how crazy it is to run with bulls through narrow cobblestone lanes. There is a life-size statue depicting the event in the city:

And, of course, a Hemingway bust at the bullring itself:

But, Pamplona offers more than just a chaotic week in July. The city is ancient. In the winter of 75-74 BCE, the area served as a camp for the Roman General Pompey. It later became a Roman city and has been a population center ever since. It has long been a fortified city, with the old part of the city on a hill with walls and still-existing fortifications on all sides:

The city has even turned part of the fortifications into a sort of zoo where animals such as ducks, turkeys, chickens, deer and more live together:

The city (of course) has a Cathedral that dates from the 11th Century, although it has been modified many times since. We took a tour in Spanish, which was good practice for us, but we definitely missed a lot. Beneath the Cloister, there is a museum that includes an archaeological dig that has found items dating back to the Roman period. Very interesting.

The bell tower was also fun to see. We learned about the life of the bell ringers and saw the Cathedral's largest bell, which is only rung about 20 times a year on special occasions. It is rung by hand, by a volunteer, and can be heard more than 7 miles away. It is huge:

Unfortunately, the weather was not good on Saturday, so the views from the bell tower were limited (there are actually beautiful mountains around Pamplona):

Overall, we did not love Pamplona, and we will definitely not be there with the masses for the Festival of San Fermin, but it is an interesting city and we enjoyed walking along the walls and touring the Cathedral.

Hasta luego,

Jeff and Shana