Advertisement
Royal Palace
Except it's a National Treasure now so the King and Queen aren't actually allowed to live here. Gutting for them cos it's a pretty cool place. The trip to Madrid was a general release of adrenaline after the excitement of the America's Cup, but we arrived and found our hostel and crashed. The following morning we were up early as we had extended our stay in Valencia to see the racing in lieu of 2 days in Madrid. First stop was more transport woe, as we attempted to book transport to Pamplona, and waited 2 hours to finally get it sorted. First sightseeing stop of the day was Museo del Prado, where despite the lack of a guide, we saw some amazing art, including art by artists such as Raphael and Goya. A couple of pieces in particular had us in hysterics, including one of the Virgin Mary firing her breast milk like a water pistol across 2m into a waiting Saints mouth.
Next were a few monuments before heading to the Palace, which was amazingly ornate, and was very open and had great views as well. A very cool palace. Shame for the monarchs that they can't even live there anymore as it's classed as a National treasure. As Simba said 'It's tough to be King.' After a relaxing stroll round the park, where
The Cathedral
Directly opposite the Palace across a huge square. Leah and Hannah spotted a perfect place to hold a wedding reception (Sigh. Women.), we headed back for some dinner and sorting out some washing before before what promises to be a very messy Running of the Bulls.
Early next day I was the villain again as like every day this trip I was forced to be the alarm for the girls as we had a train to catch to Pamplona, like thousands of other young people. And after some delays in the town of Pamplona, we made it to the campsite where we dumped our packs and headed straight back into town of a city tour. We saw the town square, the site of the Opening Ceremony, and also the route of the actual Running, which I am looking forward to. I mean, after jumping out of a plane, how bad can a few overgrown cows be? Later on I found out. Alot scarier. Anyway after the tour and dinner it was back to the campsite for a bit of mingling before the beginning of it all tomorrow.
The next day we were all in white (not for long) with our red scarves as we headed in
In the Park
That the girls now want to get married in. Not a bad setting really. Along with a 'crystal' palace which is behind in the trees. to kick off the festivities. We bought a couple of bottles of champagne and sangria and over the course of waiting for midday start in the square, we let them off and sprayed everyone in our vicinity. Great fun. Except for when I blinded Leah and Hannah with champagne. Well at least, it wasn't so funny for them. Just before 12, the moshing started to get a bit out of control and I shepherded Hannah out before we threw ourselves right back in right on 12, then promptly got carried by the crowd as they poured into various streets. By this stage, we had lost Leah and Dan and when we eventually found them, in the chaos, Leah had lost a shoe and now had a piece of glass embedded in her foot. So we carried her around until she found another random shoe and walked around in that until we found an ambulance for her. Classy.
The rest of the day involved relaxing in any place we could find whilst drinking sangria and soaking up the atmosphere. Also we watched idiots throw themselves off a 20 foot statue at the Mussel Bar, then had a good ol' fashioned
Town Hall
In Pamplona, where the Opening Ceremony was held. guys vs girls alcohol (beer and sangria) fight. Of course the boys won. 😊 Ignore what they say. 😊 Other entertainment was in the shape of Leah getting drunk very quickly and things she did and said literally had me rolling on the ground with laughter. But i'll leave those stories for a less public forum. 😊 Lastly we watched the fireworks display and staggered back to our campsite.
The next morning I was mad enough to join several thousand others of the start line for the opening Running of the Bulls, but alas the cops had other ideas as they cut if off about 3m from where I was starting due to huge numbers, and proceeded to push us down the street. At the other end was a closed gate, hence we were trapped and none of us knew "The f%$king gate is shut!" in Spanish so the cops started beating people with the batons. Luckily I was about 2 rows ahead of this but still felt the impact of the batons as they hit peoples flesh behind me. Of course this created a mini riot as people tried to get out of the way and there were
Where the Bulls Start
From just down the hill and to the right. probably more people injured from this than the actual running. Thankfully I escaped unscathed.
The rest of the day was lying in the sun back at the campsite until we came back in for the fireworks at 5.30pm and saw the temperature was 41 degrees so I shudder to think how hot it was earlier in the day! The fireworks were much better than the previous night then it was back to camp before my second chance at running, and our day trip to San Sebastian.
I was in earlier and got a better spot so managed to avoid the baton-wielding cops this time and ended up chatting to a Scottish guy who was running it alone as well. It came towards 8am and it was about 7.55 when people started running. We wondered what the hell was happening as the bulls aren't released until 8, so we jumped to the side just past Dead Mans corner and watched as hundreds streamed past. As the noise rose, we saw the bulls go past about 10 minutes later (the early people were just being cowardly!) and jumped in behind them and tried 'to tickle their nose' as the saying
Before the Opening Cermeony
Looking nice and white. Not for long. goes. But what we didn't know was that one big black one had got separated and wasn't happy. I heard the shouts and saw him behind me and after several expletives jumped out of the way. Unfortunately Roddy was not so lucky as he got caught by the bulls arse as it slid past and it knocked him into the wall. I stopped to help him and luckily he was just dazed, but by the time we were back up and ran to the arena, they had closed the doors. Gutted! At least I got to see some of the inside via Leah and Hannah's videos. Oh well, there's always next year. 😊
The weather was nowhere near as hot as the previous day, and fairly overcast, a little disappointing for our beach day, but I still went in for a swim up at San Sebastian and it was fantastic. We had a bit of a walk around the town before missing our 1st bus, then catching the 2nd back to Pamplona, then another onto Madrid for a few hours sleep then it was onto the airport for a flight into Porto in Portugal. Country 19 of the trip.
Bring it on!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.124s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 18; qc: 87; dbt: 0.0918s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
crystal
non-member comment
hello!
I enjoyed your journal. It sounds like your trip has been very exciting.