So having had a slow and frustrating journey from France we set off to explore Pamplona in the late afternoon yesterday.
These days Pamplona is best known for its, in my opinion, barbaric Running of the Bulls, which luckily for us takes place in July. The city allows bulls to run lose down a specific set of streets and numerous macho types run in the same streets, resulting in 15 deaths and countless injuries since 1922.
Typical Street. This happens to be one of those used in the Bull Running.
Historically it is much more important as a strategic fortified town guarding the borders of the Kingdom of Navarre. As we walked into the city the enormous defensive walls, which surround the old town, dominated the skyline.
Fortifications
Once inside the old city I have to say I was a little disappointed. It is attractive enough with narrow cobbled streets lined with old 5 or 6 storey town houses. But this is the problem with travelling so extensively, unless a city has something outstanding its a bit of a let down. The cathedral was plain and uninteresting, having had a bland facade put on the previously Gothic building during the renaissance.
Bland Cathedral
Door in the Gothic part of the Cathedral
A walk along the walls was pleasant enough with views over the new city and the Pyrenean foothills int the distance. The main plaza, the Plaza del Castillo, in the old town is large and attractive, and Sarah, the dogs and I sat in the sunshine and watched Spanish life occur around us, enhanced by an excellent guitarist who played Spanish music in the centre of the square.
View from the walls
Plaza del Castillo
The whole of this area of Spain is famous for Pintxo, which is a type of Tapas specific to the north of Spain. They are characterised by being held together with a wooden pick. Originally they were free with each drink in a bar, but now there is a small charge for each. Apparently when you’ve finished the waiter or barman just counts up the number of empty wooden sticks on your plate to work out the bill – I suspect, in reality, it may now be a bit more formal than that.
We walked down the streets with the most famous Pintxo bars, but none of them had room to sit outside with the dogs, so we eventually retreated back to Basil for a meal.
Old and New
In summary Pamplona is a nice enough old town and if you’re in the area worth a visit, but I wouldn’t recommend to anyone to go out of their way specially.
This morning we set off from Pamplona and immediately stopped at our European supermarket of choice – LIDL of course. Sarah did the food shopping, while I dog sat and then I undertook the fun part – alcohol. I was very happy to see my favourite LIDL Rioja, two pounds cheaper than in Britain and basic lager at 62 pence a litre!!!!! Yes you read that right – per litre!
The rest of our journey to Vitoria-Gasteiz was all dual carriageway and over in not much more than an hour. We found our way to a huge car park with a special area for motorhomes, which charges the princely sum of exactly nothing to stay overnight (42.866699, -2.68499). We’re quite surprised to see nearly 30 motorhomes parked up, this late in the season. I hope it is a sign that Vitoria-Gasteiz is a really great place to visit.
We are again intending to visit late this afternoon and make another attempt to dine out on Pintxos, if we can find anyone with outside seating for Mabel and Melek. I will report back tomorrow.
I have discovered today that the Vuelta (the Tour of Spain) cycle race is in this region on Monday next week, which also fits in with our itinerary, so I am hoping we will be able to find somewhere to park up on Sunday from which to see the race pass. It may be that everywhere will be fully occupied.