Remember Ernest Hemingway? Yes, of course you do. Well he’s a really big deal in Pamplona. It seems he lived here on and off during the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s. There are streets named after him, statues erected to him, bars and restaurants that bear his name. In Pamplona, Hemingway is the man.

We arrived here on Tuesday morning after a short 8 km walk along the river and through the wonderful medieval city gate. We decided to treat ourselves, have a day to tour the city and stay in a hotel. All right, all right, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don’t care. We deserve a treat. And a treat we had.

Pamplona is a lovely city. We walked it end to end. Sat in the plaza. Walked the city walls. Lunch in a cafe bar in a busy side street. We did the bull run. Yes, Pamplona is of course, famous for it’s running of the bulls. Up it’s narrow, winding, cobbled streets, from the city entrance to the bull ring. It’s very dangerous of course. Only for the brave. So we did the bull run. Mind you, there are no bulls there until July. That didn’t stop us though.

Vicki had to buy a new rucksack, so we went to a hiking shop. It is run and co-owned by a really nice young lady from Hungary. She did the Camino four years ago and it changed her life. She gave up her job in Hungary, moved to Pamplona and opened her shop. You never know where things will guide you. So watch out when we get home.

You can get a great dinner in the evenings here in lovely little restaurants at very reasonable prices. We did just that. Full and happy we made our way back towards our hotel and stopped in for a nightcap in a bar on the way. There we met Carlos, a banker from Angola, who is doing two weeks of the Camino. He only came in to watch football on the television and ended up getting his photograph taken with us! Lucky guy!

Off to bed in our comfy hotel. And maybe another shower!!