Day 17 – Hondarribia to Pamplona

7/5/2019 – We got up today and packed up to get ready to leave…our host only met us when we arrived…she gave us the key and we never saw her again. Strange.

We went and put all of our things in the car and then headed into Hondarribia and walked the plaza to find some breakfast and coffee.  We stopped at a cute sidewalk café and had some coffee and shared a napolitana, which is basically a chocolate croissant….sinful.  Then we continued on down the plaza and walked in the marina area.  There were some people out and about and some laying on the beach.  Did you know some women lay on the beach topless????  Poor Wayne, he missed it.  I told him we could go back and have a look, but he said he was good…

We headed south about an hour or so to our next stop…Pamplona!! Pamplona is the capital of Navarre Province in Northern Spain. It is the 2^nd largest city in the Basque cultural region.  It’s best known for the Running of the Bulls (Feast of San Fermín) every July. Cool Fact – San Fermin Festival was brought to literary renown with the 1926 publication of Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises.  There is a statue of Hemingway at the end of the bull run route where the bulls enter the bull ring.

We stayed at a very basic hotel called Hotel A Pamplona…all of the prices jack up super high this week…way above our budget. We had to bite the bullet though because this is a one-time, must see event.  It was very warm in Pamplona and pretty humid.  Our room did not have AC but there was a fan, which helped a bit.

Wayne worked for a while then we went out during his lunch hour (our dinner time) to walk around the Old Town.  We grabbed a smoked salmon panini for dinner while we people watched.  We met some people from L.A., San Fran and Dallas.  Wayne spoke with one man about wanting to run with the bulls.  He wanted to run too and shared some inside information that he received from their Bed and Breakfast host. 

On our way back to the room we walked the bull run route.  The businesses along the route had started boarding up their windows with steel plates for protection and some of the heavy wood fencing was being installed at street and alley intersections.  The run ends at the bull ring.  As we approached the bullring some of the doors were open so we went to try to sneak in to have a look.  It was no problem getting in and we were actually able to go down the corridor and directly into the actual ring itself. Very cool! Can’t imagine anything like this ever happening in the U.S. 

After we left the bull ring, we stopped to get a cheap bottle of sangria for the opening party of the San Fermin Festival tomorrow.  During the opening, people throw wine all over the place, and on each other,  so we thought we should arm ourselves if we decide that we would like to join in the fun.

We went back to the room and Wayne worked while I wrote blog posts.  Can’t wait for tomorrow’s festivities!!

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