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Published: July 14th 2006
The last bull
This is the bull that fell over and got quite angry!As the title suggests the main reason for this blog is to tell you about Pamplona and the running of the bulls but I'll start where our Spanish experience begun and that is in San Sebastian.
San Sebastian Baz and I had 4 days in San Sebestian and the main thing on our agenda for those 4 days was relaxing at the beach and rewinding after our hectic France tour. Unfortunately Baz felt a little under the weahter for most of those days so we spent a lot of the time near our hostel. We did manage to check out the main beaches and get in a little body surfing and sun bathing so that was great, especially after being away from Cott and Scarborough for so long. :P JC joined us on our last few days and we were able to show him around a bit and take him to a few good bars. Thus by the time we were due to catch our train on to Pamplona we felt quite rested and ready to tackle the famous San Fermin Festival!
Pamplona We only had 2 days in Pamplona but we managed to fit a lot into those
San Sebastian Harbour
The weather wasn't great as you can see so that was a bit annoying, but we still managed to get in quite a bit of beach time! :P 2 days! We arrived in the evening on the 6th of July (the start of the San Fermin Festival), and got straight into the revelries. We met two American girls at the train station and hung our with them till about 3am drinking sangria and talking with different groups of Spanish people. Then we got a couple of hours of sleep in a park before getting up at 5 to try and buy tickets to the first bull fight. This didn´t work out though so we decided to line up for a good spot to watch the first bull run. We waited from 6am till 8am as they built the barriers for the run and then climbed up onto the woodwork. We managed to get a really good spot and had a great view down the main straight as well as the path into the Bull Ring! The two hours of waiting really paid off as the runners started to sprint past after the first rocket was set off! (The rockets tell the runners when the bulls have been released). From where we were the first run seemed quite tame and nothing exciting really happend except for one incident with
Santa Clara Island
I decided to swim out to this island one day and was rewarded with great views back into the bay! a big black bull. It fell over a few meters from us and didn´t get up for a while. Some guy started pulling its tail and it finally got to its feet. However it wasn´t happy at all and started to turn around and around eyeing all the runners down. By now a big crowd of runners had gathered behind it in the hope of getting into the stadium so it was very dangerous. The bull chased a few people who promptly jumped though the fence (we actually met up with one of these guys a few days later in Barcelona! :P ) but eventually the "Pastores" managed to get it back on track running into the bull ring.
Staight after the run Justin and I were both thinking this shouldn´t be too hard and were really amped for doing the run the next day. However a few hours later we weren´t so sure when we watched some footage of other parts of the run. Then we heard that there were 2 bad gorings and one American guy was paralysed from the waist down and was in a very serious condition. This made our decision a lot more difficult
"Wind Combs"
I forget the name of the artist but I thought that these sculptures were really cool. and we both were quite unsure as to whether we would do it or not. For the rest of the day we wandered around the town and then got a few hours sleep in a nearby park. That night we watched a really awesome fireworks display in the park (the best I´ve ever seen) and then Justin and I walked Baz to the train station where he was getting a train to Barcelona. We then went back to the park and got a bit more sleep.
At 6am we got up and made the long walk (well it felt very long with the thoughts running though my head) down to the Town Hall. We both decided on the way there that we would do the run so we got a place in the crowd of people outside the Town Hall. We had 1 hour to wait and that was probably the longest hour of my life. Then mercifully the first rocket went off and people started to move. Then the second rocket went off (signalling that all of the bulls are out of the bull pen) and you could see the fear on everyones faces. People started pushing and
San Seb. Town Hall
We stayed somewhere behind this building in the middle of the Old Town. shoving and Justin and I were separated as we went around the aptly named "Dead Man´s Corner". We were pushed into the wall a few meters on from the corner and then the first bulls came charging around the corner. Luckily most of them didn´t fall over and they all ran past without paying too much attention to anyone. Then the last bull, a big black one, (it´s funny how it´s always the black ones!! :P ) came round the corner and fell really hard into the wall. It lay dazed for a few moments before the Pastores started to hit it trying to get it to run on. It got slowly to its feet and then started to do what the bull the day before had done. It kept turning around and making short runs towards people. It made one of these runs at us and everyone started to push and shove very frantically. I tried to run but kept looking over my shoulder incase I had to duck to the side. Finally it ran right past us and you could see the relief on everyones faces! I started to run as quickly as I could to the Bull
The Crew in Pamplona
Getting into Spanish Fiesta mode! Ring because I had heard that if you are not there early enough they close it and you can't get in. On the way I bumped into Justin so we ran there together. There were still steers (the less dangerous bulls that are used to pick up any bulls that have stopped) behind us so we kept an eye out for them...
Once we were in the Bull Ring we were both extremely relieved! The worst part was over and now it was just going to be fun. Over the next 30 mins they released 4 or 5 smaller bulls separately into the ring. These bulls have their horns blunted but they are still pretty dangerous as they are really angry and just run into as many people as they can. The day before an American guy had been paralysed by one of these bulls when it threw him so JC and I kept our distance most of the time. It didn't stop other people though and a lot of people tried to jump over them and even to ride them. One Scottish guy in a kilt was thrown head over heels and as you can imagine it wasn't
Big Bustling Bazza!
Barry chatting it up with some Mexican girl that he met! :P a pretty sight... :P At one stage a bull started to run straight for us. You can't see it because there are so many people so we waited until we knew which direction it was running in. More and more people parted in front of us jumping to one side or the other and then suddenly the bull was in front of us coming straight for us! We both jumped in opposite directions and it ran right between us! Towards the end when Justin and I felt more comfortable we started mucking around a bit picking up dirt like Russel Crowe does in Gladiator and shouting "Are you not satisfied?" to the crowd! :P
It was a really amazing experience and I'm very glad that I did do it in the end. Afterwards we were exhausted though due to the run, dodging the bulls and a serious lack of sleep so we gratefully collapsed in a park nearby. We relaxed there most of the day and then at about 5pm we made the long walk to the train station with our backpacks and caught a train to Barcelona.
Barcelona We arrived just before 12pm and took the metro
Central Pamplona
They had a free concert on the first night of the festival and we spent quite a bit of time in this square. to our hostel. Met up with Baz and then got a good nights rest. Over the next 4 days we explored this beautiful city doing a bit of everything. From musuems to parks to the beach. We also met up with Morgan and two other guys I had studied with in Vienna so that was really cool to see them. We hung out quite a bit and went out most nights together.
Personally from our visit to Barcelona I most enjoyed visiting Gaudi's architecture around the city and am thoroughly inspired by him and his work. I had previously had an interest in biomimicry but after seeing the buildings he designed I am now sure that I would love to go into some field of engineering that involves modelling nature. We first went to La Sagrada Familia and this was really amazing. It is a Gothic Cathedral but with Gaudi's touch it looks like nothing I've ever seen. So refreshing after all of the Cathedrals in other cities that look like copies of each other! It is still under construction (due to its detail) and will be for another 30 years or so. We also went to La Pedrera
First Aid
As we waited on the first day of the Bull Running was got to see how everything was set up and all the organising involved. (a building designed by Gaudi) and Park Guell where you can see a lot of his influence. Both were very interesting and you can easily see how he has used nature as a model in much of his work.
Then our time was up in Barca and we caught a night train back to France and on to the Côte d'Azur!
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Colin
non-member comment
What a great buzz you had!!
The adrenaline rushes just keep on coming!! Great to read of your experiences in Spain, dodging the bulls. I too am fascinated by Guell's work and think La SaGrada Familia is just so amazing - the church as a living growing organism. Thanks for a great blog, Dad.