Pamplona - Estella (14/03/15)

“What’s the weather like?” David asked as I pulled back the curtains and was shocked to reply “It’s….SNOWING!”. This was not the weather we had been anticipating; during the previous week it had apparently been 23°C on one day, but now it was barely 3 - 4°C! Walking out onto the balcony we observed large snowflakes falling and although they didn’t seem to be lying on the ground we wondered what conditions walking the Camino were going to be like!

We made our way down to a bar at the end of Estefeta Street and had a breakfast of Tortilla Potata, Café con leche (in my case) and Tea (in David’s). The locals were well muffled up against the inclement weather and one elderly gentleman was having an early glass of vino tinto to warm himself up. There was a pleasant early Saturday morning vibe in the bar and we noticed that the traditionally tiled floor was covered in fresh sawdust like Irish pubs in times past.

Plaza del Castillo was very different to the last time I had seen it when I was there in September; a light covering of snow covered the trees and bandstand and the warm evenings full of Matt attempting Basque dancing and Brazilian acrobats seemed only a dream.

Plaza del Castillo

 We checked out and made our way back to Pamplona bus station. The snow had become heavier and the Cuidadela was viewed through blizzard like conditions. We booked tickets and boarded the La Estellesa bus which runs from Pamplona to Logroño and takes approximately 50 minutes to reach Estella.

The Cuidadela viewed through the snow!

As we left the suburbs of Pamplona the snow finally stopped and we had a pleasant journey as we passed the sites of last Autumn’s pilgrimage: Alto del Perdón, Puente La Reina, Mañeru and Cirauqui. All flew past outside the window as I mentally relived the walk and fast forwarded to Estella.

Calle de la Rua

Arriving in Estella we made our way round to the Hospital de Peregrinos Albergue on Calle La Rua, however as it was only 12.00 and the albergue didn’t open until 13.00, I took David to Iglesia San Pedro so that he could receive the first stamp in his credencial here and symbolically begin his pilgrimage. On the way we passed Casa de Cultura Fray Diego and marvelled at the fine Renaissance moulding around the doors and windows featuring vines, fruits classical nudes and mythical beasts.

Casa de Fray Diego

After David had received his first stamp we shed our rucksacks and sat for a while in the peace of San Pedro. It was great to be back in Estella, ready to start the Camino again and I spent some time thanking God for allowing me to come back so soon. The apse and high altar looked beautiful and resplendent, decked out in purple with the symbols of Christ’s passion for Easter. We wandered around the cloister and David, being a Fire Safety Engineer was very impressed with San Pedro’s modern exterior glass lift that enables the disabled to reach the church, perched as it is above the town.


The high altar in San Pedro

San Pedro's impressive exterior lift

We also took time to look inside the Palacio de los Reyes de Navarra. The Palacio is now an art gallery and features the interesting art of Gustavo de Maeztu y Whitney (1887 – 1947). His paintings in deep reds, ochres and oranges were captivating and we were especially taken with the portrait of his sister as a graduate; the slightly melancholy air of her face contrasted markedly with the bright colours of the Summer garden behind her. Also interesting was the way the framework of a modern building had been carefully and sensitively inserted within what had obviously been the ruins of the 12^th Century Palacio.

David's door!

We returned to the Albergue and checked in, where we met an American Buddhist nun called Vira, who was also just arriving. There was also quite a large group of Koreans in the dormitory. After choosing bunks and organising our belongings we decided to take another wander through Estella so that David could see some more of the town’s sights. After looking at the Jaws of Hell on the Tympanum of Santo Sepulchre, David was captivated by a nearby doorway studded with ironwork. During our time together David joked that I spent my time photographing flowers and churches and I reposted that David had an obsession with photographing doors!

Casa Palacio de los Munarriz

Walking into town we admired the Roccoco grandiloquence of Casa Palacio de los Munarriz (c.1750) with it’s oversized cornice and scallop shell balconies. I liked a honeymoon (la luna de miel) advert I spotted in a travel agent’s window and was shocked to see that four nights in Edinburgh cost €850!

La luna de miel advert

I showed David the Romanesque portal of San Miguel Church and we enjoyed examining the nativity scenes on the pillar capitals that I had missed the last time or the sculpture of St Peter being crucified upside down on the arch. After all this culture and high art, David let us down by lowering the tone to tweet a photograph of an extremely large and elaborate Easter Egg in the chocolate shop in Plaza de los Fueros!!

Scenes from the birth of Christ on the pillar capitals of San Miguel

St. Peter being crucified

We had coffee in a bar in the Plaza and a local came in and attempted to communicate with us in “Spanglish”, there seemed to be some possible misunderstanding that we were a gay couple, which was only cleared up when I showed our Spanish friend a photograph of myself and my wife in my wallet, but as David sat there drinking his tea instead of getting his Spanish app out on his phone, this was a mistake which I am sure could easily be made!

David's tweeted Easter egg!

We also took the time to do a bit of shopping in the only Eroski (a Basque chain) supermarket open in the town centre on a Saturday afternoon and stocked up supplies for a picnic the following day as we were aware a lot of shops and cafes are closed on a Sunday in Spain and some of the route we were taking the following day would pass through some relatively remote countryside.

After a rest at the Albergue we made our way back to the American Diner in the Plaza for the pilgrim menu at 8.00. I had alubias blancas – white bean stew as a Primo and Lomo – pork loin steak for Segundo accompanied by vino tinto and of course flan – crème caramel for dessert. Whilst eating we also spoke briefly to some Danish pilgrims.

 After all the sightseeing and eating we felt we were now more than ready to get down to what we had come for – walking the Camino and we looked forward with anticipation to the next day.

The ham selection in the supermarket!

Cork - Pamplona (13/03/15)

At last – it was time for Camino Part II!

Unfortunately, although I would dearly love to walk the entire Camino Francés as one continuous experience and hope to do so one day, due to family and work commitments I cannot take the time needed to do this at this point in my life. Therefore as I explained earlier in this blog, I am walking the Camino in stages, walking a week at a time when possible and then flying back to continue where I finished on a subsequent occasion.

This method of walking the Camino has pro’s and cons; on the negative side, it can be the case that just as you are getting into the rhythm of walking the Camino and gaining the maximum rest from having time to reflect and seek God, it is time to come home. On the positive side it means that I can take the time to really enjoy the Camino in detail and not feel I am rushing to get to Santiago as I find some pilgrims seem to be doing as they rush past interesting places and wildlife, seemingly oblivious. After all, the process of the journey  and what you learn along the way is just as important, if not more so, than arriving. The other benefit of walking the Camino in stages is that it is not as punishing on the body – just as the joints and feet are starting to ache, it is time to go home!

This time I was walking with my friend David King, aged 59, but definitely younger and fitter than his chronological age and definitely thinner than me! Initially I had been thinking about walking the Camino by myself on this occasion but David had never walked the Camino before, and having been considering it for some time, jumped at the chance to accompany me and experience it for himself. I was happy for him to come with me as we have similar reflective personalities.

The plan was to return to Estella where I finished last time and then walk for 6 days to Belorado with a detour off the usual Camino route on Day 4 to visit the Cistercian Abbey at Cañas and the UNESCO World Heritage Monasteries of Suso and Yuso at San Millán de la Cogolla. The total distance covered would be 140 km.

I stayed overnight at a friend’s house in Cork and David ordered a taxi and picked me up on his way to the airport at 5am. The taxi driver reassured us with tales of airport security lock downs he had experienced and how his pregnant wife had apparently been strip searched on returning to Ireland after a foreign holiday!

As there are no direct flights from Ireland to Biarritz in March, we had booked Ryanair flights from Cork – Stansted and then Stansted - Biarritz. This unfortunately meant a slightly tedious 4 hour layover in Stansted.

The flight to Stansted was remarkable chiefly for the fact that one of the passengers; a young man in his twenties was attracting bemused glances and attention because he was wearing a bright red suit dotted with white hearts. I can only presume he was the willing victim of a stag party, as we felt it was unlikely that his sartorial tastes could a serious choice – but who knows? I was personally reminded of a BBC Children’s TV presenter, Mr. Tumble, which my children used to watch as he who wore similar clown – type outfits.

The time was passed at the rather soul-less building that is Stansted (they don’t seem to favour too many seats for passengers to rest on!) with newspapers and some rather nice Asian food and I continued reading the newspaper on the Stansted – Biarritz flight whilst noting that the English lady beside me, who had the same “dragged through a bush” hairstyle as one of my eccentric Aunts and was reading a book about energy force fields on the Camino.

We arrived at Biarritz at 16.50. There were three queues for two passport officials at Biarritz airport which caused problems, but once through, we turned our attention to the buses. We needed to get to Pamplona by bus as I had booked us into a small hotel for the night. I had never used Spanish buses before and was slightly nervous about this leg of the trip. We soon discovered that we needed to get the CONDA bus to San Sebastian and then change for Pamplona. However, when we examined the timetable on the bus stop outside Biarritz airport it seemed to suggest that some of the buses didn’t stop at the airport and that it could be very late before we got to Pamplona.

We panicked! Hiring a taxi for €15 we travelled into Biarritz town centre. This was actually quite interesting as we got to see the large mansions from the early 20^th Century when Biarritz was a favourite resort of the rich and famous, including Edward VII who used to travel there each Summer in a cavalcade of motorcars accompanied by his favourite mistress (but not his wife).

The seafront at Biarritz however was very cold with a tempestuous sea and gusting winds unsuitable for Edwardian bathing, so we quickly retreated to another Asian food house and then boarded the CONDA bus – which took us to San Sebastian, calling en route at….Biarritz Airport!! Oh well, you live and learn!

The Spanish bus driver, although he didn’t speak any English was very helpful and wrote down the times of the buses to Pamplona and directed us with a combination of gestures and our meagre Spanish, to the ALSA ticket office just down Sancho de Sablo boulevard across the road from the bus station, where we were able to buy our bus tickets to Pamplona. Overall on this trip we were very impressed with Spanish bus services; their punctuality and ease of access and the cleanliness and comfort of the very modern bus fleet.

As we had 50 minutes to wait for the Pamplona bus we popped into Café Autobus close to the ALSA ticket office and had a glass of vino tinto. Like myself, David was to become a fan of the odd glass of vino tinto as like me he found that when you walk the Caminon, the odd glass at lunch or at the evening meal, gladdens the heart and revives the spirits when the pilgrim is starting to slump!

David enjoying the vino tinto in Café Autobus

The bus journey to Pamplona passed uneventfully and we were surprised at how the motorway ascended into the mountains before we arrived at the impressive ultra-modern underground bus station in Pamplona which is situated under the park beside the Cuidadela.

The Hostal Navarra nearby on Tudela Boulevard turned out to be small but very clean and comfortable and we fell gratefully into our beds, pleased that so far our journey had largely gone to plan and we had arrived safely where we should be for the night.

Camino Day 4: Pamplona - Cizur Menor (12/09/14)

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.




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!

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.

Breakfast!

Once fortified with our entire calorie intake for the day we exited the city to the southwest, passing the great 16^th 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.

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!

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.

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.

Albanian patriot at San Miguel

Iglesia San Juan & Knights of Malta Albergue

Chi Rho symbol above doorway of Iglesia San Juan

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.

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.

More pintxos!

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 16^th 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 16^th Century townhouse that had been converted into a bar and here we drank a beer and watched the passing crowds.

Café Iruna

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.



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....!

Camino Day 3: Larrasoana - Pamplona (11/09/14)

The walk to Pamplona from Larrasoana the next morning was relatively short; 4 hours and 10 minutes and fairly easy after the last two days and yet I found it quite tiring, especially as my knees and quads were still feeling the punishment of the descent to Roncesvalles!

In the morning I had an espresso coffee and an indeterminate kind of bread/cake object out of the albergue dispensing machines and chatted to Keith from Colorado and the South Africans I had a beer with in Roncesvalles. One of the nice features of walking the Camino is the camaraderie that develops as you meet people at one place and then bump into them again further down the path at another albergue or cafe and catch up with them once more and exchange your experiences.

I left the albergue and walked up to Ben and Matt’s Pension; Ben was taking the bus to Pamplona and was sitting outside the Pension on the verandah, looking sorry for himself with his bandaged toes sticking out of open-toed flip-flops. He and Matt had spent the night sharing a room with an American lady in her 50’s and a man from Northern England.

Matt and I set off and re-crossed the bridge at Larrasoana and followed a delightful wooded path along the side of the rio Arga. At Irotz we had a proper breakfast in a Basque cafe and then walked on to Zalbadica where Matt went on ahead and I stopped to talk to Keith again about Podiatric issues as he was sitting with his boots off and inserting some customised orthotics he had made in the U.S. He was having trouble with pains around the first metatarsal areas due to problems associated excessive pronation – but this blog is not really the place to talk about such Podiatric matters as I was attempting get away from all that kind of thing, although I was having problems doing so, as of course lots of my fellow pilgrims seemed to have foot problems!

Matt in Irotz

Eventually I was left in solitude and as I walked found myself singing the words of the 1980’s Christian chorus “Jesus take me as I am, I can come no other way, take me deeper into you, let my flesh life melt away...”.

Gradually the rural scenery began to give way to the outer suburbs of Pamplona; the surface of the path “improved” and became tarmac and as we approached the city I was able to look down on a busy dual carriageway noisy with lorries and cars which ran through a cutting in the hill below me. Basque nationalist graffiti was a constant theme on walls and bridges as we walked along the Camino and the tarmac made an excellent surface to reinforce these proclamations in English to the passing pilgrim!

The grating modernity of the suburbs of Pamplona after 3 days of walking through the countryside was softened by my arrival at Trinidad de Arre. A medieval bridge with six arches spans the rio Ulzama leading to a Basilica Church behind which is a convent which provides accommodation for pilgrims. There has been a pilgrim hospital on this site since the 11^th Century. Near the bridge are the remains of an ancient fulling mill and the river spills over a series of rocky outcrops. Before crossing the bridge I spent a few minutes talking to three middle-aged Irish ladies from Bray and then sat for a few minutes inside the Basilica (a rather nice sello for my credencial was also obtained here!).

Puente de Arre

Puente de Arre & remains of Fulling Mill

Beyond the bridge the suburbs of Pamplona began in earnest and I found myself walking through Villava. Matt texted me to warn me that it was hard to find signs for the Camino in Villava and so to be vigilant. However I found the yellow Camino arrows numerous and easy to follow and later on as I drew closer to Pamplona city centre, these gave way to very picturesque bronze scallop shells sunk in the pavement every few metres and so I found following the Camino into the city personally very easy.

Unfortunately by the time I reached Villava, I was desperate to visit the toilet, but because I didn’t want to leave my rucksack unattended I texted Matt and asked if he would wait for me ahead at a cafe. Matt replied that he was waiting by a roundabout with a bell monument near the Policia Municipal. I kept walking but still could not see either? I continued walking passing some fine Art Nouveau buildings and followed the shells on the pavement through the suburb of Burlada, but still no sign of Matt! Finally I realised that I was nearly in the city centre and texted Matt to say I could see the cathedral up ahead.

I had reached the Romanesque 12^th Century bridge of Puente de la Magdalena which crosses the rio Arga into the city. In front of it is a medieval stone cross with a statue of St James as a pilgrim and as I crossed I imagined the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who had tramped across the same bridge over the centuries. From there path crossed a busy road and then I found myself walking uphill between the impressively high walls of the city’s complex 16^th Century fortifications. Clearly the Renaissance Spanish state had laid out a vast sum of money to strengthen Pamplona and ensure that it was not captured by any French incursions from across it’s northern frontier. It was also clear to me that all traffic entering the old city would have been very effectively monitored and controlled as it moved through the gates and barbicans.

I finally entered the old city just before midday, through the Portal de Zumalacarregi which is also called the Portal de Francia and made my way to the Jesus y Maria albergue. This is a large Baroque Jesuit church which was been converted to take pilgrims with two levels of bunk cubicles with accommodation for 114 pilgrims having been created in the side aisles. Excellent showering and laundry facilities were also available and there were even computers available to check emails. All for the princely sum of €8!

Portal de Zumalacarregi

Matt arrived and was annoyed. It turned out that he had taken a different route into the city centre from Villava; along the side of the rio Arga which is why I never found him. He suspected I had deliberately texted him to ask him to wait so that I could beat him to the albergue! However he calmed down when I explained that I hadn’t realised there was another route into the city centre and that I had just followed the arrows and shells! Ben soon rejoined us fresh from his bus trip and the American lady from his Pension, who had also taken the bus also arrived shortly afterwards!

Jesus y Maria

The nave of Jesus y Maria with back of bunk cubicles in side aisles

After showers and laundry chores, we were ready to explore Pamplona by 2:30pm.  Pamplona has a long and proud history. According to Lozano it was allegedly founded by the Roman general Pompey the Great in about 75 B.C. after whom it was named. It had become an Episcopal See and a centre of evangelism by the 6^th Century and really started to flourish under King Sancho III (1000 – 1035) who was a keen developer of the Santiago pilgrimage route. Sancho created two burgos de francos – San Nicolas and San Cernin. These were walled areas within the city where foreign artisans and merchants (francos) who were often former pilgrims, could settle drawn by the special financial privileges and concessions granted to the burgos by the Crown. However these privileges aroused the anger and envy of the original inhabitants of Pamplona who lived in the La Navarreria district of the city and endless heavily armed conflicts often broke out between the different fortified parts of the city turning it into a battleground. Strangely though, the city continued to prosper and and the burgos began to cooperate after King Carlos III unified them in 1423. Eventually in the 16^thCentury the three separate districts were amalgamated behind the city walls we see today.

Pamplona Cathedral

The gothic nave of Pamplona cathedral

The three of us made our way first to Pamplona Cathedral which is in the heart of the La Navarreria district near our albergue. The facade of the cathedral is an 18^th Century Neo-Classical construction designed by Ventura Rodriguez. It came as a surprise to me therefore to step inside and find a wonderful 15^th Century Gothic church with three aisles and a polygonal apse and numerous side chapels shimmering with gold from their retables. Kings of Navarre were crowned in the cathedral and in front of the high altar is the marvellous alabaster tomb of Carlos III El Noble and his queen Leonor of Trastamar. The 15^th Century work of French sculptor Jean de Lomme from Tournai, I particularly liked the intricately carved hooded monks around the base of the tomb.

Tomb of Carlos III & Leonor of Trastamar

Making our way underneath an extraordinary 16^th Century helicoidal staircase we reached the 14^th Century cloisters where a tinkling fountain provided a soothing background to the delicate tracery of fine stonework and the intricate stone vaulting in the Barbazana Chapel. The main church is re-entered from the cloisters through the Puerta Preciosa; a splendid 14^th Century French Gothic doorway which contains a carving of the death of the Virgin Mary. A very interesting archaeological exhibition showcasing the Roman and early Christian origins of the cathedral site completed our tour and left even me with my insatiable quest for historical facts feeling exhausted and in need of food!

Helicoidal staircase

Puerta Preciosa

Barbazana Chapel

We were beginning to feel very hungry and thirsty and therefore a bit bad tempered, so we made our way to a Pintxos Bar. Pintxos is Basque for tapas (in the Basque language tx is pronounced the same as the English ch sound and when the x is without the t, it is pronounced the same as the sh sound). To describe a Pintxos bar in Pamplona to the uninitiated is to describe one of the wonders of the world! Imagine walking into a bar with every conceivable snack-sized savoury delicacy ranged in display cabinets before you; delectable types of seafood, roasted and stuffed vegetables, mouth-watering salamis and hams; all presented in artistic and colourful ways on plates with crusty breads. Now imagine a glass of white or red Spanish wine with them and sitting eating these delights at a street side table while watching the Pamplona inhabitants go about their business. A recipe for a very agreeable hour!

Pintxos

The three of us were ravenous and gorged on two rounds of Pintxos and as the barman had misunderstood our order and brought me two glasses of the most delightful white wine...well what could I do? It would have been a shame to waste it! Afterwards we wandered around the narrow streets of the city, and admired the buildings, some of which were bedecked with Basque flags. I was entranced with the beauty of Pamplona.

When the churches re-opened later in the afternoon, we went on a credencial hunt. First we went to San Saturnino. From the outside the church’s two distinctive towers give it a fortress like appearance reminding us that these city centre churches did in fact also double as fortresses during days of the fighting between the Burgos.

San Saturnino

St Saturnino (or Cernin as he is also called) was Bishop of Toulouse in the middle of the 3^rd Century and visited Pamplona and converted some locals to Christianity, baptising them in a well, the position of which is still marked on the road outside the church. Upon returning to Toulouse he was arrested, charged with preaching false oracles and martyred by being tied by his feet to a bull’s tail and dragged down the steps of the Roman Capitol. This is supposed to be the origin of the bull run which is held in Pamplona every year in July and which is started by the bells tolling on the Gallico tower of the church. The church itself is late 13^th Century gothic, but I found the layout rather disorientating when I stepped inside as there is an enormous Baroque 18^th Century Chapel of our Lady built on the site of the cloisters and it was so big that at first I presumed that I was looking at the high altar.

Dome of Lady Chapel

We asked an elderly gentleman who was busy tidying up if we could get a sello for our credencials and he turned out to be one of the priests. He was very helpful and welcoming and ushered us behind the scenes into a Baroque sacristy and after he had stamped our credencials, he showed us 400 year old vestments and other interesting items and we were touched by his kindness. We moved on to San Nicolas, another fortress-like church with characteristic Navarrese tombs covered with slabs of chestnut and finished our credencial hunt at San Lorenzo.

Baroque Sacristy


Vestments cupboard

The fortress-like San Nicolas

Pleased with our sello collection we walked to Plaza del Castillo; the main square in Pamplona and were delighted to find a Basque band playing in the bandstand whilst an impromptu group of onlookers had started traditional Basque folk dancing. Anyone was welcome to join in, so we did; Matt attempted a kind of waltz type dance with a very patient elderly lady much to my and Ben’s amusement and I had a go at a circular dance with very poor timing on my part! Everyone was good natured and laughed benignly at our attempts!

Basque band in Plaza del Castillo



Basque couple dancing

We finished the evening with a pilgrim menu meal and as the curfew for returning to the albergue was at 11.00, we were just making our way back and were astounded to see that the streets had suddenly become jam-packed with people. It seemed as if the whole city was just coming alive and getting ready to party, but we left the crowds to it and went to bed after a very full day!