taking the bull by the horns

I spent a wonderful day in Pamplona today! Pamplona is a city in Spain most known for being the Roman city in Spain, the Running of the Bulls and Ernest Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises." I had been wanting to visit because I almost studied abroad there! It was a little chilly when we arrived but I was so excited. The bus station was right next to the old city fort so we decided to go there first. It was so neat to see the old walls that used to surround/protect the city. Taylor and I enjoyed blowing dandelions at each other! Michael, a friend from Ole Miss who is studying in Pamplona met us at the fort and graciously took on the job of being our tour guide for the day! We made our way to Casco Vieojo where we walked along the street that the bulls run down on the festival of San Fermin (first picture on the left). We saw the outside of the bull-ring, but apparently it is only open the week of the Running of the Bulls. It was interesting because you could see the covered holesthat are removed each year to block the street off for the bulls. We decided to eat chinese for lunch and let me tell you, we feasted. After we walked to the Cathedral but as we got there a priest was closing the gate! We walked to the oldest part of Pamplona and then walked along more of the ancient walls. We came to a cool look-out that you could almost see France from! The walls were built up in levels for protection. We also got to see the original entrance gateway. We also saw the ayuntameinto (town hall). The city was quiet because it was siesta so we decided to have coffee and dessert at the famous Cafe Iruna! We strolled around a little more and wandered into Corte Ingles for a few items. As we were pulling out on the bus back to Bilbao I also saw the first lit Christmas lights of the season!!! It was a short but sweet visit. Definitely good to see familiar faces and Michael was so great to show us around all day!

We couldnt leave without posing with bulls!