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Published: July 29th 2010
Our car/taxi/ two train trip to San Sebastion was successful with the 2 x 29ers, they are staying together really well and all up doing a great job, actually we have our Mern to thank a bit for that as he did take a little parcel back to the UK for us to ship back home, thanks again mate.
I really thought I had been pretty lean and mean with the packing but once you hit the road of long distance travel you soon realise, you can only wear so many things and you really don´t need a whole lot more ,and a whole lot more baggage,just means more to worry about and more to carry!!!
Our first encounter with Spain was such a good one , when on arrival in San Sebastion we stopped a gentleman in the street and asked him the way in our: bestest Spanish (I now realise how good and handy my school girl French was for us in France) and he gave us some directions,all in Spanish,which way to go, fortunately the universal language of Macdonalds was in , so that helped and off we went, but unbeknown to us he followed us and
then when we hit Maccas and went oh well where to next???, Up our man popped and showed us the next stage of our journey right to our Pensione, and then off he went, so very kind and in 35 plus degrees of heat with our 29ers on we will truly love that man forever!!
Our little Pensione was right in the heart of the old city, great location for our 2 nights, had wifi so we could get our mail from home on our trusty little iphone!!
Thanks everyone,you’re all so beaut!!
Off with the 29ers, thank you Lord!!
A little siesta!!!.
Then 7.30pm ,we frocked up in our bestest gear and off we went out to discover our first taste of Spain and tapas.
The atmosphere in San Sebastion was magic.
It reminded us of New Orleans,lots of good music coming out of the bars and people looked and behaved like it was party time, we later found out it was------(you see Pamplona is only 11/4 hours from here by bus and San Fermin, the Festival of the Bulls was on and in this region of Navarre that equals party!!!
We ended up in a top little
bar called Gardiniers with the bar top covered in about 30 varities of Tapas,about 40 legs of ham hanging from the ceiling and atmosphere falling out the doors,with the people, into the streets, it felt really great!
Using our iphone Spanish lesson we did on the train; on the way down; we ordered our drinks and eventually dinner and Ian did his famous line ordering the bill;like in France,he’s so good at it, sounds like he’s a local!!
The next day we just veged in the morn, then made ourselves a picnic and headed up to the Fortress overlooking the whole of SanSebastion and their 3 crowded beaches(was 35°) did the museum,had our picnic and a nice little bottle of Spanish Rosada, a siesta, under a tree,on the way back down and then back to our Pensione to get ready to go out and taste a little more of San Sebastion!
We had yet another good night,San Sebastion is a famous old whaling and fishing town, popular stop for yachties, so it does have a great reputation for being very friendly and a good party town: next morn it was on with the 29ers and off to the bus station,off
to our next stop in Spain------- The running of The Bulls and OMG the Soccer world cup Grand Final ,-------in Pamplona,(oh how we wished you were here Tim!!!!!)
Even at the bus station you could feel the adrenalin pumping---Spain were in the world cup, and they were very happy, plus it was San Fermin,at the San Sebastion bus station there were people going to Pamplona and some just getting back from it, at this point about 25-30% were in white and red, on our bus that became about 50%, but by the time we hit the Pamplona bus station, which incidently looked like a morning after party!!!! The % of white and red outfits, were up at 80%------and we looked like really dumb tourists----- so it was off to our accom; put the bags in and off to town to buy our uniform; had to get in on the show!!!!
Even walking down town we felt like we had been to a bad taste party!!
After getting our §20 outfits sorted,back to the hotel for a little Siesta,into our new gear and off we went, we felt really good now we were one of them, such an amazing psyche to
all be dressed the same, actually very interesting, seems like everyones equal and everyone was just soooooo happy, there was so much going on, dancers and singers, street theatre,bands ,we had some Sangria and a little dinner and then at 8:30 in the Plaza Castillo with the BIG screens we joined a bunch of Medicos from Wales; a couple from Ireland and about 15,000 Spaniards and cheered and screamed and laughed our way through the 2010 World Cup, I was going to cheer for Holland but somehow it just did’nt seem right, may have been that we were in our white and red outfits or that tomorrow morning we were going to the running of the bulls, I don’t know but it just seemed right to cheer for Spain in this situation!!!!
Seemed like it helped too!!!
We had a ball!!
Can’t help bad planning can you??
During the day we had been lucky enough to find a couple of enterprising youg fellows Ronaldo and Alexandrio who were offering spots on their balcony to watch the Running of the Bulls, sounded dam good to us,we asked all the obvious questions and then went to the address and Ian checked the
balcony out structurally, so next morn at 7:00am we were outside, ringing the bell, the atmosphere in the streets was mounting, but from their balcony by 8am it was pumping,we were joined by another really nice family from Madrid, Alex and Ronaldo supplied a lovely breakfast and we duly paid them 24Euros and it was worth every cent, we were just 2 doors down from where the TV crews film, actually at one stage we were actually on National TV and it was just at the start of the running,AND WE WERE SAFE!!!!
Actually it really is very well organized and there is a lot of safety checks in place, re clothing shoes,level of alcohol consumed,etc etc but no checks on how fast one can run and certainly nothing can check or avoid the rage of the bull when a human stands in his way!!
Apparently there is on average one death each year, but no accounting figures on the body parts collateral damage, per say!
We are so pleased to have had the experience, but once is enough and we hope that no one we know is ever tempted to run it!!!!
Next morning we just rested up and
began our preparation for the next exciting part of our journey through Spain-----Our 100 km hike on The Camino Trail:
But before leaving Pamplona, we had to have the experience of a Bullfight, and that we did, when without too much discussion we just happened to follow a procession down to the Bullring, and by chance managed to get ourselves some cheap seats,--- in the shade,---very important and ------way up in the stand, -------furthest away from the gaw!!!
The atmosphere was incredible, 40° to a packed crowd who seemed all like they wanted blood!!! And they certainly cheered loudly when it came!!!
By the time the first Matador performed and I was in tears, second and third one I only watched certain parts, rest being censored by my Ian, after the fourth act we departed, it was such a shock to me, I never realized they actually put the bull through what they did and actually slowly but surely killed him, there is only one word for it ---BARBARIC!!!
The bull doesn’t stand a chance, and the horse that the picador is on doesn’t either!
Actually it is incredible in the world we live in today with animal rights etc,
that it is still so popular, it really did take you back to Roman times and the Gladiators!
Next morn we departed our hotel to begin our Camino!
Adios to you all, off to have a Siesta! Love us XXXXX
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Sue
non-member comment
Hello
Dear Corrie and Ian Loving your blog, as always. Paul did run with the bulls - pleased I didn't know about it till after. You will be happy to know that Spain has just this week taken the first steps to banning bull-fighting !!! Very cold here this morning - both frosty and foggy. Can't wait for some warmer weather. Travel safely. Love you both. Sue xxxx