Drinking wine at lunchtime

 Pamplona is the capital of the historic principality of Navarra and the only place on this earth where I have a seen a university cafeteria selling wine at lunchtime. Navarra is naturally very beautiful with  valleys and high snow covered mountains. It is also wine producing country and a glass of homegrown grape juice is quite normal hence the option of wine or coffee with the daily meal. This was also true of our Sunday meals at the nuns residence and on Church Feast day's. But the biggest wine imbibing festivity   in the region is San Fermines. For years I found it annoying that the one reference people had, if they had any, of Pamplona was the running of the bulls. During the first week of July the sleepy university town turns into an international festival made popular by Hemingway, and then later word of mouth, amongst party tourists. 

One year I decided to stay on after finals to see what all the fuss was about. Hemingway had been to Pamplona and to festivities around the running of the bulls on the week of the city's patron saint San Fermin. He wrote a novel call the "the Sun also Rises" in which he portrays British and American expats travelling to Pamplona to enjoy the festivities. Many in Pamplona credit Hemingway with making San Fermines international, that may in fact be the case. In any case people from across the globe travel to Pamplona for them. 

During the day there are activities for all ages and an abundance of food and wine. The day begins early, at 8 am with the running of the bulls from one side of the city centre to the bull ring. I slept through this part having seen it on TV a year previous and realising that to see it safely I would have needed to arrange entry to some balcony overlooking the street. I had not. A day of meeting people, watching a couple of shows, drinking, and generally enjoying the good summer weather end with fireworks around 9pm and dinner. Those with strong constitutions continue through the night at the many bars that are open until the wee hours. 

The rest of the year Pamplona muddles about as many university towns do, around the academic year and the many activities that make such an institution run. Being a mountainous region means that hiking is part and parcel of things to do. As it snows for a good 4-5 months a year skiing in the nearby slopes is also something to do while in Navarra. There is a week in February during which the university organises skiing excursions for students. 

Another thing that makes Pamplona famous, though this is less known than San Fermines, is the camino de Santiago. The Catholic pilgrimage that has people walking the length of the northern Spanish coast especially in the summer ending at the Cathedral of St James in Santiago, Galicia. Along the way pilgrims are suppose to have their pilgrim book stamped, I think they are given a certificate once they reach Santiago.

My faculty is one of those stamp giving places and I would find lost pilgrims at my doorstep on many a spring afternoon. I met some really interesting people on those afternoons as I walked with them from my home to my faculty. I remember two groups in particular, not quite sure why they stand out. Maybe the first stands out because after years of not using French I had to explain in French how to get to the place they were looking for. For once these pilgrims were not looking for my faculty so I couldn't just sign and have then follow me. I never did find out if my explanation in bad French got then where they wanted to go. The second, were a group of very mature Germans on bikes. Having lived in Germany I now know the German attachment to bikes, at the time though it seemed rather puzzling to do a walking pilgrimage on a bike especially given the hills along the way. I had always planned on doing the Camino but never quite got around to it. I guess I am waiting for the right group of people to do it with though I have been told doing it alone can be the best way to walk to Santiago and that you meet tons of people along the way. A friend of mine who walks on crutches because of a childhood disease did it on his own. He wrote about it, I think in a blog or maybe its a book at this point, and he touched many people's hearts along the way.