Walking the Camino de Santiago
Pamplona was the first Spanish city I’d been able to explore. It’s an explosion of colour and movement, with quirky corners and crooked streets. It’s still one of my favourite cities. Here we find our intrepid pilgrims completely lost as we try to find our albergue. Nobody’s complaining – we are lost in wonderment as much as physically. It would […]
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After the drawbridge gate, we come to the second gate. And like a magical door into another world, from the parklike area outside the walls we are suddenly within the old city of Pamplona. A moment of wonder! This was one of the first big “aha!” moments of the Camino, and I treasure it. Date: 03 April 2013Place: Pamplona (Navarra, […]
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This is a view backwards through the first of the gates into the city of Pamplona. I was fascinated by the mechanism of the sixteenth century drawbridge, and also somewhat unnerved by cars driving through the gate and over the bridge. I mean, I’m sure they’ve done the appropriate maintenance on it. Surely. Date: 03 April 2013Place: Pamplona (Navarra, Spain)
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It’s difficult to get a sense of the scale of Pamplona’s walls from a photograph. So here’s another photograph, taken of the same place as yesterday’s photo, but this time from the top of the hill looking down on our former position. Ali is encouraging other folks from our Camino family to catch up to us. Date: 03 April 2013Place: […]
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After crossing the Puente de la Magdelena, we come at last to the city walls of Pamplona. They are just massive. Although these particular walls were built in 1515 as a defense against France, Pamplona had city walls for more than 1500 years before then. From the time the city was founded by Pompey the Great in 74 BC, it was […]
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Just before we approach the walls of the old city, the Camino comes to this beautiful riverside park. Then we pass over over the Río Arga on the Puente de la Magdelena (Magdelene Bridge). The bridge was built in the twelfth century, modified with Gothic elements in the fifteenth century, and extensively remodeled in the twentieth century. This bridge has […]
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I just love places like this, where modern construction has been used to repair traditional stonework. For many buildings, especially churches and grand houses, this is of course a terrible idea. But for something like a barn or a stable or, as here, a wall, I think it’s a wonderful way to make modern use of older things while reminding […]
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We saw these houses down a side street in the Pamplonan suburb of Burlada. Decorated with shells and stones, they display coats of arms and other decorative elements. Despite the attempt at representation here, due to the size of the stones used in the construction I found it impossible to tell if the arms depicted were meant to be the […]
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You might think this is a castle, just sort of hanging out in the urban core surrounding Pamplona. It is, in fact, a restaurant. They even have a pilgrim menu, albeit an expensive one. At some point, I’m going to stop in for “un mojito en la terraza”. But for today, we felt the call of Pamplona. Onwards! Date: 03 […]
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Ali stops a moment to admire the local fiber arts. I can’t remember if this shop was still there in 2016 when Francine and I passed through. I feel like if it was, we would have stopped in. Of course, given that it’s afternoon, it’s possible that it’s siesta time. Date: 03 April 2013Place: Villava? Burlada? (Navarra, Spain) Maps! On […]
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