When we first planned out walk we had decided to walk for
three days from St Jean to Pamplona, have a day off on Day 4 to do sightseeing
in the city and then have two final days walking from Pamplona to Estella. The
next morning therefore, we had the luxury of a “lie-in”. The albergue had to be
vacated by 9am, but since we didn’t intend walking anywhere we rolled over in
our bunks snoozing while the other pilgrims got up at 6 and packed. However I
soon found as I lay there, that I really wanted to keep walking and had in fact
an urge to get up and join the other pilgrims. Anyway I reasoned, we had seen a
lot of Pamplona the previous day. I
decided to get up and try and persuade Matt and Ben to change plan and undertake
a small walk. Matt was happy to do some walking, but Ben was unsure because of
his toes, however he admitted that when he had gone on the bus the previous
day, he had not really enjoyed it and felt he was missing out on the fun of
walking the Camino. Matt and I therefore persuaded him that we would take a
small walk out of the city for a few kilometres to Cizur Menor.
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| Early morning sunlight sets the towers of San Saturnino on fire |
Once we had decided to walk it was amazing how excited and
motivated we felt! I met Brendan in the bathroom looking very worse for wear and
staring in the mirror with bloodshot eyes – apparently he had enjoyed the party
in Pamplona the night before in true Irish style!
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| Ben & Matt outside Pamplona City Hall |
We left just before 9am – long after all the other pilgrims
had departed and the albergue dormitories were already deserted. Making our way
past the City Hall and San Saturnino, the towers of which were glowing in the
rising sun, we decided to turn off the
main route and cutting across Plaza San Francisco, found down a side street a fabulous
Patisserie where we had a decadent breakfast of hot chocolates and pastries.
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| Breakfast! |
Once fortified with our entire calorie intake for the day we
exited the city to the southwest, passing the great 16th Century
fortress, the Cuidadela, which was completed in 1571 and is now a city park;
people were out jogging and walking their dogs in the morning sunshine below
the fortress’s rather intimidating walls.
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| Old & New: Apartment blocks behind the Cuidadela |
After a while we reached the University of Navarre and
walked through the grounds to the reception where we obtained very nice navy
blue scallop shell sellos for our credencials. The very august and manicured surroundings
of the university seemed to be slightly diminished by the very electronic tinny
sound of the clock tower playing the Westminster clock chime at 11am over a
loudspeaker. I was reminded of a Casio wrist watch from Argos I had in the
early 1980s that I was very proud of and which had a very similar sounding alarm!
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| At the University of Navarre |
The city ring road was beyond the university and the heat
was rising uncomfortably as we climbed out of the city to the suburban hill top
village of Cizur Menor. We checked into the private Albergue of Maribel Roncal when
it opened at midday and although we had only walked for 1 hour and 10 minutes
we were very sweaty due to the heat and were glad to have a shower and wash our
clothes. The albergue had a nice garden with a pool containing terrapins and
the dormitories and laundry facilities were in separate buildings from the main
house where the owners lived and which was clearly of some antiquity.
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| Door of Albergue Maribel Roncal |
After a rest, Ben and I explored the village; on the highest
point, appropriately enough for the chief angel with his fantastic name, is the
church of San Miguel. This was closed but further down the hill is a very interesting
Romanesque church belonging to the Order of St John of Jerusalem. Originally
the Knights of St John had a small fortress or Commandery on this elevated site overlooking Pamplona and a pilgrim
hospice dedicated to Our Lady of Forgiveness. Only the chapel and one tower of
the fortress now remains, but the cross of St John flies proudly over the tower
and the Knights of St John still run an albergue here where we obtained another
sello.
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| Albanian patriot at San Miguel |
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| Iglesia San Juan & Knights of Malta Albergue |
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| Chi Rho symbol above doorway of Iglesia San Juan |
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| Knights of St John flags inside Iglesia San Juan |
By this time it was 2:30pm so we collected Matt and got the
bus (Number 1) back into Pamplona for more sightseeing. En route we met a very
pleasant Basque student who spoke excellent English and amongst other subjects
told us how to pronounce “hello” or kaixo
in Basque (kay-sho) and agreed that she thought we were a bit mad to be walking
the Camino (who could disagree with her?). She told us where to get off the bus
and then walk straight down a wide boulevard and across a roundabout to get to
the old city (this detail is important later!). We called in at the tiny church
of St Ignacio were older people were silently adoring the Eucharist below a delicately
ornate stucco dome reminiscent of filigree icing in a wedding cake.
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| Iglesia San Ignacio |
Once back in the city we found we were working up a fierce appetite
as they say in Co.Cork so we made for the nearest Pintxos bar and indulged in
more delights and had the odd glass of downable red wine! We wandered around
town for a while and persuaded Ben that he could still walk with us if he
bought some good walking boots and socks. We found an excellent hiking shop on
Calle Mayor and after much persuasion Ben bought some excellent boots and socks
that were reduced in a sale.
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| More pintxos! |
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| Pamplona salami shop |
It was then time for dessert so we made our way to
the wonderfully atmospheric Art Deco Cafe
Iruna in Plaza del Castillo and then as evening approached we walked up to
the El Redin Bastion on the city
walls to a point known as The Corner of
the White Horse. From there we could look down across the layers of the
city’s 16th Century fortifications, designed to cover the whole area
outside the city in fields of cannon fire, towards Puente de la Magdalena where
I had entered the city. The bastion was a popular meeting point for young
couples who were walking hand in hand, kissing, or enjoying drinks at a 16th
Century townhouse that had been converted into a bar and here we drank a beer
and watched the passing crowds.
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| Café Iruna |
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| El Redin Bastion |
We walked along the walls behind the cathedral and then back
to Plaza del Castillo where instead of the previous night’s Basque band, a
Brazilian Acante group (Brazilian martial arts set to tribal music) were
limbering up watched by families out for their evening walk.
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| Brazilian Acante Group |
It started to get dark so we made our way back up the
straight boulevard to the roundabout where Matt and Ben inexplicably (from my
point of view) turned right, while watching me continue walking straight ahead,
with the result that I had got the bus home and had started into my veal steak on
the pilgrim menu with a glass of red wine after a first course of garlic soup, when the two walked in 45 minutes after
me. There were a few warm words and a forthright
exchange of views expressed but we will draw a veil over them to maintain the
happy tone of this blog....!
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