Madrid to Pamplona – Counting down to Camino

On our last night in Madrid we went on a tapas tour. Our host, Maria, was vibrant and passionate about her job, food, wine, her family, Spain and Galicia where her family lives. She took us to three bars to sample their tapas and wine specialities, all were delicious! The streets of Madrid were packed – happy people enjoying Saturday night out with friends and family. People have tapas by moving from one tapas bar to the next, so the streets are always busy. It is certainly a culture lacking in Australia. We liked Madrid and might go back after finishing the Camino. It seems a pity to miss the Prado Museum, Toledo and Sergovia.

We had an early start the next morning to catch the train to San Sebastián. Madrid’s streets were still busy with the night before’s revellers, with long queues for pizza, even at 6am. Our train left from Puerto de Atocha Station, the site of the Madrid train bombing several years ago. The machine guns at the entrance were a reminder of the constant threat of terrorist attacks in Europe today. It is particularly evil to target ordinary people just living their lives.

We had splurged and were traveling first class. The first train to Zaragoza which travelled at 300km/hr was very comfortable – definitely a great way to travel in Spain. The countryside was very dry. The grain crop had recently been harvested and olive trees were the only crop we saw except for a few fields of corn. We changed trains in Zaragoza and headed north to San Sebastián. There were more villages as we neared the coast and the land became much greener, with a greater variety of crops. There were also large bird nests, presumably storks, on power pylons and rooftops. The top of hills ridges were lined with wind farms, but on this particular day the turbines were mostly still, little electricity being produced.

San Sebastián is a charming seaside town. La Concha Beach is protected by headlands, Igeldo to the east and Urgull to the west, with Santa Clara Island in the middle of the bay. Stone forts to defend the city from attack between the 16th and 18th centuries sit on each headland.

We arrived on Sunday and the town was busy with holidaymakers and visitors to the International Film Festival – probably explaining the cost and lack of hotel rooms when we booked. The beach was crowded, though the water looked cold, at least to we North Queenslanders.
In the afternoon we walked to the foot of Igeldo & caught the funicular to the top, where we found a small, old but still operational theme park, dating from 1912. The views over the town and ocean were spectacular. After traveling back down on the funicular we walked around the base of the headland to the Construccion Vaccia sculptures by Jorge Orteiza. The headland was made up of tightly folded beds of rock, which, naturally, John was very interested in!

That night, we went on a pintxos and wine tour of the old town with Jane and Michael. Similar to having tapas in Madrid, we moved between the different bars to sample each bar’s specialities. They used local products and we the standout pinxtos were prawns, mussels, foie gras and cheesecake. The local cider and txakoli wine were very easy to drink. We had lots of fun, but we weren’t too keen on all the standing up – the best pintxos bars do not have chairs and tables so we were on our feet all night. Why is it that it is harder to stand still like that than walk around?

The next morning, we woke up to rain & decided to book an express Spanish lesson for the afternoon. In the meantime, as the showers cleared, we walked up to the fort on Urgull, involving lots of steps – hopefully good practice for Camino. The fort was occupied by Napoleon and then San Sebastián was besieged by the British. Once again, the views across the city were spectacular! After another visit to old town for lunch (delicious of course), we went to our Spanish lesson, hoping to learn a few useful words and phrases to use over the next couple of weeks,p. It was lots of fun and hopefully a few words will stick in our minds! Our teacher was very funny & we enjoyed the afternoon.

The next morning we met up with Jane and Michael to catch the train to Pamplona. We arrived to bright sunshine & a beautiful town. Pamplona is the largest town in Navarre and is just south of the French border. Over the centuries, it has been a strategic stronghold for the Romans, Charlemagne, the Moore’s and Napoleon. These days it is most famous for the running of the bulls in July.

The old town was bustling. Pamplona is the first big town on the “French Way” and the pilgrims were easy to identify by their day packs adorned with scallop shells and a few even with wooden staffs. The scallop shells and staffs are traditional symbols of the Camino. We could not check into our hotel so we walked around the city walls, found the starting point for the running of the bulls and had a look through the museum, though it was hard to understand without English translations so we could put it into context.

We had lunch at the wonderful Cabello Blanco Spanish restaurant where we ate far too much and needed to wash it down with a few bottles of a very good local rose. We checked into the very luxurious Palacio Guendulainin the centre of the old town. The hotel was once a palace and there are old carriages and cars displayed near the foyer, large paintings on the walls and period furniture throughout the lobby and dining rooms. In the afternoon, John and I walked around the old town and to the bullring to see Hemmingway’s statue. We met a couple of Canadian women who were having a rest day in Pamplona. They laughed about sleeping in large dormitories with snoring pilgrims, sharing bathrooms & their excitement at arriving at a hostel where there were plastic covered mattresses and therefore, no bedbugs!

We have one more sleep now until our Camino starts. We have tomorrow morning (Wednesday) free and then we meet up with our guides and group at 2pm. Time to get ready!