Pamplona has a charm that is difficult to forget. It is a simple city that is both ancient and modern.

With barely 182,000 inhabitants, it boasts an excellent life style with no bottlenecks, smoke and with good health care services. The new quarters are really attractive with all the facilities close by, but the nucleus of social and commercial life is set in the beautiful old part of the city.

Its  origin dates back to the years 75-74 before Christ when the Roman general Pompeyo camped in this area, which was already a settlement of indigenous Basques, and founded the Roman city of Pompaelo. In 276 it was razed to the ground by the barbarians.

Present day Pamplona is home to people from all over the autonomous community. As the capital city, it is the synthesis of the Mountain area and the Ribera, or Ebro Valley. It is also a great university centre thanks to the Public University of Navarre and the University of Navarre. Students invade Pamplona in October, with a desire to have a good time, and don’t leave until July.

Also, if you want to, in less than 10 kilometres you can be right out in the countryside. Otherwise, without having to leave Pamplona, you can enjoy its many parks and gardens, a real pleasure for the senses.

Finally, the cuisine is very good in Pamplona. The best of all the Navarre cuisine, roast lamb or stewed lamb in a pepper sauce, exquisite green vegetables, fresh fish (the sea is just an hour away) and top quality wines, can all be found in Iruña. It is an excellent opportunity to go round the bars sampling the Pinchos or tapas, small portions on sticks.

From the Plaza del Castillo square, go down Chapitela street to the Town hall square – Plaza del Ayuntamiento – with its Baroque façade, where the rockets are fired in the San Fermin festivals.

Above the mythical slope of Santo Domingo, you will find the magnificent Museum of Navarre. On the slope, a small niche in the wall marks the spot where San Fermin receives the chants of the runners before the bull running. Following the bull route, pass by the Town Hall and the famous bend of Mercaderes. Move off the route and head up the street Calle Curia until you reach the great Gothic cathedral and the Diocesan Museum.

Following the ramparts, you will come to the Portal de Francia, the gateway where the Pilgrims on the Way of St James come into the city. Return along the street Calle del Carmen and up the street of Estafeta, the bull route. There you will find the house of the Itúrbide and the 18C Palace of the Goyeneche. At the end there is the bull ring and the monument to the North American writer, Hemingway, who made the San Fermin festivals famous with his book “Fiesta”.

The avenue of Carlos III is dominated by the Monument to the Dead (Monumento de los Caídos) at the far end, by the Gayarre Theatre and the neo-classic Palace of Navarre or Government building. It was constructed in 1851 by José de Nagusia and has a beautiful Throne Room. Next to the façade by the Paseo Sarasate is the elegant Archives of Navarre and the very old red wood tree standing tall in its garden.
     

   
Opposite, you will find one of the most pretty gardens in Pamplona: the Taconera.

Go out onto the Avenida del Ejército and you will reach the charming Vuelta del Castillo a green area around the Ciudadela or Citadel, with well preserved ramparts in the shape of a star with pointed bastions. Inside the citadel there are various cultural exhibitions.

Everyone from Navarre, whether born there or not, professes a particular fondness for the Plaza del Castillo. Numerous generations have celebrated the fiestas here, the summer afternoons and the Sunday mornings under its porches. Like the centre of a spider’s web, all the narrow and busy streets of the old part of Pamplona lead off from the square.

Construction began on the square in 1651 and it was given its name because it was formerly a spot close to the former fortress of Luis Hutín where tournaments and even bull fights were held.

Construction of the square finalised in the 18C and bull fights continued to be held there until 1844.

It is a nice experience to go up to the kiosk right in the centre of the square and look right round each of the houses making up the square. Almost all were built in the 18C, their balconies, turrets, attics, large windows...

Beforehand, until 1910, instead of the kiosk there was a fountain designed by Luis Paret with the statue of Abundance “La Mari Blanca” which is now located in the gardens of the Taconera.

This square with porches, houses bustling terraces and cafés which have barely changed since their inauguration in 1931 and which are the delight of the visitors.

The Cathedral of Pamplona is impressive yet deceptive. Looking at the neo-classic façade reconstructed by Ventura Rodríguez in 1783 you tend to imagine a cold cathedral. This is nothing further from the truth. Its gothic interior is profoundly welcoming.

The Cathedral, and its towers in particular, are the city emblem. It began as a Romanesque edifice in the 12C until it was destroyed during the war of the Navarrería. Of this period, the Museum of Navarre still preserves some beautiful capitals and the present gothic cathedral still maintains the chapel of San Jesucristo. In 1394 the work started and it was completed in 1472.

The French Gothic cloisters receive the most praise, and are some of the most beautiful in Europe. You will marvel at the sensation of harmony and peace they give. Note the richness of their arches, large windows and relief work... Its corridors framed by six pointed arches, the Amparo and Precious cloister doorways, the archivolts and their geometric and figurative decoration are worthy of admiration.

The Diocesan museum is located in the cathedral itself. The entrance is via the Calle Dormitalería. Here there are religious images, gothic and renaissance altar pieces, silver work and religious objects.

You can also admire a pretty Rococo sacristy, a 16C Chapel of Music, gothic altar pieces of Santo Cristo, Santo Tomás and San Juan Evangelista, the Crucifix of Juan Bazcardo and the Christ of Anchieta.

Also, next to the Cathedral, don’t miss the delightful Square of San José!

Pamplona is full of fresh air: and has good lungs. You can loose yourself in its four million square metres of Gardens. Even the roundabouts are an authentic work of floral art, particularly in Spring.

The Taconera park, close to the church of San Lorenzo, is of singular beauty. In this garden city, trees, bushes, flowers and paths intermingle with emblematic monuments: 

The one of the tenor, Julián Gayarre or the beloved Mari Blanca (formerly on the fountain in the Plaza del Castillo), the bronze bas-relief of the humanist Huarte de San Juan or the gateway of San Nicolás.

Another beautiful park is the Media Luna (half moon), a spot well suited to lovers. Amongst bushes, fountains and pergolas, you can appreciate extraordinary views of the Arga river, the market gardens of the Magdalena and the Cathedral.

The Japonese park of Yamaguchi is the most modern of them all. In honour of Yamaguchi, the twin city of Pamplona, is has a clear, oriental style with geyser included. Here the Planetarium is located.

A mention should also be made of the river Arga passing through Iruña and the leafy river walks, as well as the beautiful campus of the University of Navarre, next to the river Sadar.

It is not surprising that more than 75 classes of birds have opted to live in this natural paradise.

SAN FERMÍN: THE GREAT FIESTA
   

San Fermín is all over Pamplona. The days are animated and full of light, bustling terraces. The procession of giants and big heads are fun for the small children. Jotas, regional dances, salsa, painters, sellers, and mime take hold of the streets.

The bull fighting is around five o’clock. Bull fighting fans come to see the best bull fighters and herds, and also the young people from the different clubs or peñas, with towels, hats, buckets of sangría, and elaborate meals to be eaten after the third bull. For them, the least important part is what is happening in the bull ring.

At 11 o’clock at night, the magic of the fireworks begins, lit from the Citadel. And afterwards, everyone is ensured a good time. Dressed in white, with a red scarf, there is street music to dance to, people from all over the world who want to enjoy themselves, bars open non stop... an incredible atmosphere.

However, everything ends on 14th July in the Town Hall square with two songs. One sad song “Pobre de mí, pobre de mí que se han acabado las fiestas de San Fermín” (Poor me, the San Fermin Fiestas have ended) and one cheerful one that makes everyone dance “Ya falta menos, ya falta menos, p’a San Fermín” (The next San Fermin festival is getting closer).

Surrounded by runners, the animals advance. Some slip up, others butt in the direction of the pavements. The mozos or young men run, jumping over anyone who has fallen over; if a bull turns back along the route they do everything possible to make it go in the right direction. If everything goes OK, in three minutes’ time the bulls reach the ring and a rocket is fired when the last bull enters the ring. They are taken to the bull pens. The final rocket is fired and the whole of Navarre breaths again.

Thousands of people from Navarre, lovers of the bull running, come to see it live or, wherever they are, they get up to see it on the television. They passionately follow an exciting encierro or bull running which is in response to a medieval custom when the cattle farmers used to bring the bulls over the hills for the bull fights. At dawn, on the day of the bullfight, with the help of the shepherds, tame cows and leading oxen, they would take the bulls through the streets towards the Square used for the bull fighting. Back in the 19C the Pamplonicas or people from Pamplona began to run in front of the animals, creating a rite that is still maintained today.

Experienced runners have a good night’s sleep, they train and know what to do. The greatest danger is not the bull, but the many incautious people who want to run but are still under the effects of alcohol. Many have not ever seen a bull in their life. In all, thirteen people have died in the bull running with more than 200 people gored. So, take care, if you’re not an expert runner, it’s best to stay behind the fence or watch on TV.