Pilgrims on the Way

We headed back to the Café Iruña for dinner. Here we see two happy pilgrims raising their glasses of vino tinto. Spanish red wine is a Camino staple, and most pilgrim meals come with a half bottle ration per person. The entire region around Pamplona has been surrounded by grape vines since Roman times, and their wine is so good! […]

Here’s just one of those bulls from yesterday, up close and personal. And life-sized! Date: 03 April 2013Place: Pamplona (Navarra, Spain)

I think this photo speaks for itself. This is a statue of the running of the bulls in Pamplona, with a pilgrim being goofy and another laughing at him. Story of my life, really. Date: 03 April 2013Place: Pamplona (Navarra, Spain)

Ernest Hemingway is so popular in Pamplona that there’s a statue of him in front of the bullring. He lived in the city for a number of years, and he very much put it on the map in terms of visitors, so it sort of makes sense to me. Still odd to see statues and other memorials of an American […]

Although it’s difficult to tell from the outside, the Cathedral of Santa María la Real is actually a Gothic church. Built in the 15th century, the interior is undeniably and gloriously Gothic. However, the current facade – really a shell – was built around the older structure in the 18th century. The cathedral and the surrounding neighbourhood is the oldest […]

This year for Hallowe’en, I give you… this. An art installation in the tiny plaza in front of the Cathedral in Pamplona. It was… odd. Happy Hallowe’en! Date: 03 April 2013Place: Pamplona (Navarra, Spain)

On our way back to the albergue, we chanced upon these two musicians playing on a nearby street. In my experience, street musicians are ubiquitous in the larger cities of Northern Spain. Whether this is a general cultural norm, or whether they flock to the Camino cities, I couldn’t say. I’m not entirely certain why I snapped a photo of […]

The Café Iruña is a magical place. Even a simple beer and sausage is somehow an elevated experience. It is the Platonic Ideal of a café, and every other café but a shadow or an echo of this perfect place. This is, no doubt, why Hemingway favoured it. Or, perhaps, this is just the ravings of an exhausted pilgrim. Date: […]