Hello friends,
This week I have been in the city of Pamplona for the first time. And I want to tell you that it is a wonderful city that can be visited in a couple of days in a very comfortable way, since the most important points of interest of the city are centered in its historic center in the vicinity of the cathedral, the Plaza del Castillo and the popular Estafeta street for the bull runs that are held there in July.
Most of you I am sure you have heard or seen a video where some people run in front of fierce bulls through narrow streets between the 7th and 14th of July at 8 in the morning.
Here is a video of one of those running of the bulls.
Indeed, it is the festival of San Fermin in the city of Pamplona, Spain. One of the popular festivals whose origin comes from the Middle Ages, but today has gained much popularity thanks to the running of the bulls through the Estafeta. Being a point of reflection the popularity that reached from a book “Fiesta” by the American writer Ernest Hemingway.
San Fermin, running of the bulls, route
On July 6th, at noon in Pamplona's City Hall square, a big rocket called “El chupinazo” is launched to signal the beginning of the San Fermin festival in the city.
The town hall is usually decorated for the occasion and the square in front of it is crowded.
As my visit was this week, without having to do any calculations, I could see that in Estafeta street there was a souvenir store that had a countdown with the days left for the beginning of the festival.
From the town hall, wandering through its beautiful streets, I went through the old town with the aim of locating the starting point of the popular running of the bulls, which is on the slope of Santo Domingo, where there is an image of San Fermin.
There every morning on closing day the young men crowd with a newspaper in hand and dressed in white with their red scarf around their necks to ask for divine protection to San Fermin for the race in front of the bulls.
The running of the bulls lasts about 3 minutes and consists of a race along Estafeta Street from the slope of Santo Domingo to the entrance to the bullring.
![IMG_5131[1].JPG](https://images.hive.blog/768x0/https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/castri-ja/EpEHPr7S7kZf71qVDy6Lv9nrtERPAd63ef2EuB2dzKLFAyRKs74pXSWA33x9nJcKEVi.JPG)
During the run there are usually scenes of danger such as slips and falls and heart-wrenching situations, such as seeing a bull approaching the runners with its sharp horns.
Unfortunately, on occasions there have been fatalities, but in recent years they have been minimized by preventing people from running in front of the bulls over a maximum number of people and also by making alcohol controls to prevent people who are still drunk from the night party from running in front of the bulls who would not have a very good result.
Pamplona is more than the San Fermines
But my pleasant surprise was to find that the city, although it revolves around the popularity of the running of the bulls, also has other very interesting points of interest such as the ones I am going to tell you about below.
Castle Square
The Castle Square is one of the nerve centers and is one of the most beautiful places to see in Pamplona.
This arcaded square in which once stood two castles, hence its name, at first glance by the elegant and colorful buildings.
But the first thing that attracts the eye of the square is an extremely well-kept central kiosk.
After taking a full tour of the city, I returned hours later to this square again and was pleasantly surprised to find a peculiar illumination of the kiosk that I loved. So I encourage you to visit the square at different times of the day.
Metropolitan Cathedral of Santa Maria la Real
Like most of the big Spanish cities there is a cathedral to visit in the city.
In my case, to get to this cathedral I went from the slope of Santo Domingo along the upper part of the walled area of the city.
Before reaching it I found a small chapel that caught my attention, as well as a nice hotel complex.
Both buildings are next to the Redín Street that gives entrance to the cathedral by one of its side facades.
And to see it from the front, I went around it until I found the main entrance where the gates caught my attention, since the cathedral of my city lacks them.
Walls of Pamplona
Like many Spanish cities of medieval origin, Pamplona has a great wall.
The set of walls of the city totals more than 5 kilometers of walls, which surround much of the old town.
In my case I made part of the tour along the wall on the upper part from which there are several viewpoints to contemplate the mountainous landscape surrounding the city.
And I visited some of its access gates where you realize that you are entering a real fortress.
The environment is extremely well kept and it was a delight to walk through this area of the city, although the day was a little gray.
Citadel
The city of Pamplona has several parks and green areas. But because my visit was only for one day I chose as a green area to visit the Citadel.
The Citadel, considered the best example of Spanish Renaissance military architecture and one of the most outstanding defensive complexes in Europe.
It was built in 1571 by the Italian military engineer Giacomo Palearo by order of King Philip II to protect Pamplona from the constant attacks of the French army, this Renaissance fortress impresses with its five-pointed star-shaped pentagon with numerous bastions, moats, pavilions and ravelins.
This area is open 24 hours, but I could not visit it completely because it started to rain and I decided to return to where I had parked my car.
Pintxos and wines
For dinner, the best option in the city is to take a route through 2 or 3 bars in the old town near the castle square eating the traditional pintxos.
In each bar there is usually a great variety of them with different meats, fish and in many of them with an exquisite elaboration.
In my case I had dinner with 3 wines and their corresponding 2 pintxos per wine.
And to complete the dinner, an ice cream next to the kiosk in the castle square, thinking about the next time I can visit this wonderful city with more time.
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Hiya, @ybanezkim26 here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Travel Digest #2207.
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