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!
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| 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 11th 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!).
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| Puente de Arre |
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| 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 12th 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 16th 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!
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| 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!
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| Jesus y Maria |
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| 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 6th 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 16thCentury the three separate districts were amalgamated
behind the city walls we see today.
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| Pamplona Cathedral |
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| 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 18th
Century Neo-Classical construction designed by Ventura Rodriguez. It came as a
surprise to me therefore to step inside and find a wonderful 15th
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 15th Century work of French sculptor Jean
de Lomme from Tournai, I particularly liked the intricately carved hooded monks
around the base of the tomb.
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| Tomb of Carlos III & Leonor of Trastamar |
Making our
way underneath an extraordinary 16th Century helicoidal staircase we
reached the 14th 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 14th 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!
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| Helicoidal staircase |
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| Puerta Preciosa |
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| San Saturnino |
St Saturnino (or Cernin as he is also called) was Bishop of Toulouse in
the middle of the 3rd 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 13th Century gothic, but I
found the layout rather disorientating when I stepped inside as there is an
enormous Baroque 18th 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.
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| 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.
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Baroque Sacristy
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| Vestments cupboard |
|
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| 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!
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| Basque band in Plaza del Castillo |
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| 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!
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