Pamplona/Iruña, Spain
Trip Start
Apr 11, 2006
1
21
26
Trip End
??? ??, 2007
Pamplona/Iruña,
Spain
Thursday, September 7, 2006
This little jaunt was part of our friend Krista's visit, and we wanted to take advantage of the fact that we live so close to Spain. So, we drove though the foothills across the border and arrived in Pamplona, or Iruña in Basque, an hour or two before lunch. The great thing about a lot of Spanish cities (that I've visited) is that someone had the foresight to install major parking facilities underground. In addition to preserving important historical landmarks, this also helps keep the feeling of a town very authentic and it's a great way to maximize functional real estate. Having parked in one of these subterranean decks, we were surprised when made our way to the surface, arriving exactly where we had hoped (but not planned - driving is really always a pain in these old cities, and you never really know where you're going)
01 Plaza
.Anyway, the square on top of the parking area was gorgeous, huge, and absolutely filled with bars and cafés. We thought that given the fact that none of us had ever been here before, we'd try to find the tourist office before getting too turned around to help ourselves. This meandering journey is usually a good way to see some of the town, too, and an objective this time was to find Krista a bank at which her US ATM card would be accepted. No luck, no thank you, no way, were the results on her end, but to Krista's credit, she did manage successfully to get directions in Spanish from a bank employee. (Funny story: her bank said, just look for an ATM with the Honor, Star, and Plus symbols, and you'll be fine. This seemed like a relatively easy task until after several days of casually checking every ATM we saw, Krista called her bank. Their response was, "Oh, sorry, Honor doesn't exist in Europe, so your card won't work. Frustrating, after having called the bank before the trip...)
With a classic napkin-style map and some broken-Spanglish directions, we were much better equipped to go equip ourselves, and found a very helpful staff at the tourist office. (This is another thing Spanish cities seem to do very well - not only have all of the Spanish cities we've visited had very nice people working at the tourist offices, but they also speak English.) They recommended a super vegetarian restaurant, and that was all we needed to scramble through town and fill our bellies
02 Plaza, 2
. Walking off lunch, we meandered some more, and came upon something that looked like vaguely like a large governmental office building from far away. Getting closer, we realized that this was the infamous arena for the bullfights of Pamplona's San Fermin. San Fermin is the annual summer festival during which the city is flooded by tourists, thrill-seekers, and the like, hoping to either run with the bulls or catch a good glimpse of someone whose run wasn't so successful. I had the impression that the arena itself was strangely designed or possibly somewhat ugly, but that may only be because it was pretty depressing standing there knowing about the torture and eventual slaughter of animals that happens inside, which some people call bullfighting. Just around the corner was a plaque indicating the "Paseo de Hemingway".
Continuing our unguided, routeless walking tour (hobbling, in Krista's case - tourism on crutches is something I wouldn't wish on many people), we decided to make our way to an area of town that we hadn't yet seen, bordered by a large park. This was more a residential neighborhood, remaining less touristy than other parts, and I really like to see this quarters when I travel.
The park was interesting
03 Pedestrian Street
. At first, you don't really notice that you're climbing up above town, until you get to some nice lookouts. The park unfolds through a formal gateway, beginning with some classic European landscaping, not the least typical of which is the large amount of chopped/manicured sycamores. What's bizarre, though, is the way the city has decided to use the land between the old walls. Rather than Bayonne's practice of keeping its own similar area mowed as lawn space for recreation, Pamplona has created a very strange little zoo of sorts. Deer, goats, chickens, geese, swans, peacocks, and other sorts of birds are contained here, in an area of lush green grass and some nice water features. The public did not seem to be permitted entry. Moving on, the park returns to the traditional with some beautifully landscaped walks lined with sculpture and punctuated by occasional arches or small plazas. There is also a climbing net large enough fifty or sixty people that we were happy to use to hang out for a short time.Before heading out of town and back to the other side of Basque Country, we visited Pamplona's must-see Hemingway hangout, Café-Bar Iruña. Even from fifty feet away, you can see why anyone, even someone of Hemingway's cultural stature, would want to spend time here. Located on the city's biggest square, this café is an absolutely gorgeous work of art deco - you can almost feel the history just from its wonderfully preserved state. (I'm sure things have changed since Ernest frequented the place, but most people probably wouldn't be able to notice many differences besides the flat-panel television and speakers.) Mirrors, high ceilings, and huge windows give the café an extremely large, wide-open feel that almost makes you feel like you're in a ballroom; the only thing missing, which you can nearly hear in your mind, is the jazz band. I'll let the pictures explain the rest.
Once we were satisfied with soaking in the aura of genius, both literary and architectural, we made our way to the car, which was parked just beneath the surface of the café.
