We had another early train a couple of hours South to Pamplona. The hotel made us a takeaway breakfast of coffee, croissants, fruit and granola with yogurt. The hotel, Villa Favorita and the staff were amazing. It’s the first place we’ve stayed that have made us such a sumptuous takeaway breakfast.
Pamplona is a very old city dating back to the first century 75BC so it has an extensive history. It was founded by the Roman general Pompey as a military settlement which is where the name Pamplona originated. There is also archaeological evidence that the area has been inhabited for 75000 years. It is a great area for settlement as it is located on the Arga River so had a water supply and therefore very fertile.
We were too early to check into our hotel, Gran Hotel La Perla, so we left our bags in search of coffee. After coffee we started to explore the city and the first place we found was the market. All Spanish cities have big fresh produce markets and the buildings always are quite ornate. (Unlike our Flemington or Paddy’s markets!)
The walls surrounding the city are known to be one of strongest fortified and well preserved structures in Spain. With France just beyond the Pyrenees there was always the threat of a French invasion so the walls had many extensions and modifications.
We went for a walk around both sides of the wall. With the expansion and modernisation of Pamplona parts of the old wall had been removed. The parts that remained were impressive. Many of the portals or gates were destroyed and reconstructed. In 2011 the council began restoring many parts of the old city and the walls.
While walking the walls there are many beautiful gardens. Taconera Park in particular is lovely and very well maintained.
Pamplona is famous for it’s San Fermin festival Running of the bulls. We followed the signs of the route through the streets to the end.
We walked off about 3.5km of calories so we were ready for lunch. We made our way to the main square Plaza del Castillo. Ernest Hemingway spent many hours in here, and in particular Cafe Iruña. Cafe Iruña is a well known tourist stop due to Hemingways’s time spent there. So of course we chose Cafe Iruña for lunch.
We ate way tooo much for lunch. We went for the menu of the day which is a three course meal. The portions were huge unlike our last menu experience where the portions were the opposite. The meal also came with bread and a bottle of wine. Usually it’s just a glass. So it was very good value. But afterwards we needed a good walk.
We walked the other side of the city wall, passing Pamplona Cathedral (Santa María la Real) but we didn’t go in. It is a 15th century Roman Catholic Gothic church and it is located on the edge of the old town.
After the walk we found a supermarket and grabbed some goodies to take back to the hotel.
We needed another early night due to the early start so after watching some Spanish TV it’s was lights out.
Pamplona is the first major city on the Camino de Santiago and one of the main starting points so we saw a lot of pilgrims. There were many signs throughout the city for the pilgrims to find their way into and out of the city.
We were making plans to do it a couple of years ago. We have the all the books so we might check them out again when we get home.
The next day we went to check out the Citidel, the city’s defensive wall built in the 1500’s and strategically shaped into a pentagon to fight every possible angle of attack. It is an amazing building and it always makes me wonder how they managed to build such large and complex structures without the tools we have today.
It was under military supervision until 1964 and then was turned into Vuelta del Castillo Park. It’s a very spacious and beautiful park. Some of the military buildings in the citadel are now used as art and cultural exhibition centres.
After the citadel we had one more thing to tick off the Pamplona must see list. It was the Monumento al Encierro San Fermin.
It is a sculpture of eleven spirited bulls charging through the streets chasing the runners (called mozos) as they sprint toward the Plaza de Toros.
Our hotel, Gran Hotel de la Perla, has a bit of history too. It was built in 1881 and is the city’s oldest hotel AND the oldest still in operation in the country.
It is located in Plaza del Castillo with one side of the hotel facing Carre de La Estafeta Street which is one of the main routes for the Running of the Bulls and our rooms balcony looked over the street. During the festival our room would be hard to book and need to booked well in advance.
I only saw one bool running.
The hotel is also famous for having many notable guests, including Orson Welles, Charlie Chaplin and of course Ernest Hemingway.
Plaza del Castillo is the main plaza in Pamplona. So on our last afternoon we decided to chill and spend our time in the plaza people watching and sampling more pinxtos.
We’re glad we included Pamplona it was a nice mix between old and new towns. Maybe we’ll visit again if we decide to tackle the Camino de Santiago.