31 - What a load of bull - Pamplona

 Miercoles, 27 December 2023 - Pamplona

It was another cold misty morning in northern Spain.  I took my time getting packed up and stopped for a cafe and chocolatine (I guess it's pan con chocolate en Espanol?) before hitting the road.  Next stop and the entirety of today's itinerary: Pamplona, capital of Navarre.  

I had a quick pang of buyer's remorse when after sitting down to my breakfast I spotted some of the pintxos that had been brought out but I figured if pintxos are showing up in a town like Tudela then they'll be out in force in Pomplona.  

Oh man, those look good.  

It was about an hour's drive from Tudela to Pomplona, quite misty for the first half but fairly clear in the second.  I'd set the hotel as my GPS destination; I was surprised to find that the room was ready for me upon arrival (~10:45), the best I'd hoped for was to use the parking for the day but I was more than happy to run my luggage up.  The hotel concierge also gave me a map of the city (probably in conjunction with the tourist info office down the street) and advised me to do the City Walls walk for starters and highlighted which streets were known for their pintxos bars.  

Town Hall

The town is Iruña in Basque

Enroute to the city walls, I came across the cathedral and it's museum.  A quick peak inside turned into an almost hour long session in the cathedral and museum exhibit: the cathedral dates to Roman times but numerous rebuilds and expansions resulted in a real hodge-podge of architectural styles.  The museum was only in Castellan (the Espanol most of the world is acquainted with) and Euskal (Basque) so there wasn't a whole lot of learning happening on my part but I enjoyed my time there nonetheless. 

I thought it interesting that the ceiling had painted designs

San Fermin in the top left, he's an important figure for the city

Crypt figures carved from alabaster

And interesting spiral between the church and the museum/cloister

I thought it strange that the museum referred to it as an invasion by Islam, but then I remembered that it was a museum in a Catholic cathedral and it all made sense.

The kitchen adjoined to the refectory.  Pretty neat to see a chimney in each corner.

The kitchen from the outside

The walk along the walls was pleasant even if some of the shady spots were slick with frost.  I kept having to open up or zip closed my jacket as the temperature swing between sun and shade was really drastic.  The city wall walk was recommended to me because the old city walls basically contain all of the old town of Pomplona.  

Not the greatest view but I suppose the best one will get from Pamplona to the surrounding area

What was once a mansion now functions as the archives

Eventually I stumbled across that which Pomplona is likely most known for across the world: where the running of the bulls is conducted in July to celebrate San Fermin.  It's a relatively short run from the start to the arena but I doubt that's much of a consoling thought as a herd of bulls is hot on your heels on a cobblestone route.  

The running of the bulls starts just at the end of the building on the right.

El encierro

A figurine of San Fermin who the participants sing to / pray to for protection before donning their red bandanas/ascots and running like hell. 

I hear hooves; LEG IT!

I'm not so sure I'd trust these wooden fences to protect me as a bystander

The bulls spend the night before the event here

Make sure you wear the proper safety gear: comfortable white clothing, good footwear, a red belt, and a red ascot (bonus points for a rolled up newspaper). 

I took several breaks throughout the day to munch on pintxos and rehydrate.  The last of my breaks was at Cafe Iruña in la plaza del Castillo, which was popularized in Hemingway's book, The Sun Also Rises, of at least per the tourist info I found.  A quick Wikipedia search shows that the whole book likely popularized Pomplona in general, but either way, I spent more time in the outdoor seating of Cafe Iruña having cheese and wine than I'd initially anticipated 😆

My walk of the walls brought me upon some interesting gardens and the city's citadel.  Both appear to be parks retrofitted from military defensive structures.  I particularly liked how they turned the one by gardens into a haven for deer and a plethora of domestic bird species.  The citadel appears to be a cultural spot for the city where I imagine special events can be held, it also has a lot of lawn space for frolicking/picnicking as well as a few museums about the military installation.  

The deer are hanging out in the shade of a tree on the right

Might be the first picture I've gotten of a magpie here despite them being all over the place.

El Ciudadela

I finished out my walk of the city just before sunset by visiting the bull arena, where a mercado Navidad had been set up.  Thus particular market seemed more geared towards specialty craft and I snagged some vacuum sealed cecino (dried beef) and a bread/pastry for consumption later.  

La Plaza del Castillo

Something about some kings of Navarre

The Basque presence can be felt here

Oh gosh, not the face!

The bull arena

I also stumbled upon a building with indoor pelote courts.

After a quick stop by the hotel to rest my feet and stash my goodies, I made my way back to the Navarre Museum, which I had found during my walk along the walls but had skipped as it was getting ready to close for siesta.  With the sun set, I had a little over an hour to explore the museum and I was looking forward to learning a little bit of history.  The good news: the museum is free.  The bad news: aside from a sheet explaining the six masterpieces in the collection, the museum is in only Castellan and Euskal.  

For a free provincial museum, I think they had an impressive collection.  Most of the stuff was either found in the modern Navarre province or made by someone related to the Navarre province.  It was cool to see the prehistoric artifacts they'd found in various caves in the region and then quickly work my way through history by ascending floors.   

A Roman tiled floor, they had several in the museum

Symbols and possibly a map were carved into this stone, listed as one of the museum's masterpieces.  Say what you will about modern art, but pre-historic art might be even harder "to get"

The museum also included expositions of modern artists and intermingled their stuff with the museum's collection; an interesting blend of old and new

Another masterpiece, a lock box carved from ivory that was found in Pamplona

A medieval sculpture of Mary and Jesus made from alabaster.  This might be the first time I've seen baby Jesus portrayed as a hungry, hungry hippo

"How much of the wall mural should be carve out for the musuem?"  "Yes"

"And how much ceiling?" "YES"

A painting by the first documented Navarran artist

A press for coin minting, pretty cool the museum had a section about the various currencies used in Navarre

I also liked the timeline on the wall with these maps showing how borders and kingdoms grew or fell

The last of the museum's master pieces, a painting by Goya featuring a man being entirely too dapper in yellow velvet pants.

When I finished with the museum, I planned to walk the bull run route from start to finish but had to abandon that idea when I encountered a massive crowd of people outside the townhall.  There was a lightshow that kicked off with a couple actors standing in balcony windows lip syncing to dialogue I couldn't comprehend.  

After the show wrapped, I pressed on deeper into the bull run route but stopped in at a souvenir shop.  The inkling of an idea struck me and I'm the owner of a "complete" outfit por el encierro!  For an extra euro, they let me partake in a special winter running of the bulls!  

If my mom asks you, be sure to tell her it was all staged with prop bulls; but we all know I really ran it 😉

With my souvenir in the bag, I returned to the hotel.  Asking the concierge for dining advice outside of pintxos yielded two suggestions and I ended up eating in the restaurant section of El Vieja Iruña.  Highly recommend this restaurant and it's night menu to anyone who ends up visiting Pomplano; well, maybe not right before you participate in el encierro, you probably don't want to be running on a full stomach...

Dishes of note: a vegetable dish made from el cardo (google translate says thistle); the cardo didn't really have flavor but was a good delivery mechanism for the sauce

Incredibly tender pork cheeks

I had a great time today in Pomplano.  It doesn't have the best views nor are the buildings the most distinctive, but the city has passion and charm (and great pintxos).  And apparently the San Fermin festival has grown to encompass much of the lands that have bull arenas such that even Dax now has a few days in July where only white outfits with red scarves and bandanas can be seen!