Express By Holiday Inn Pamplona

A must-do for the true adventure seeker.

by ADV27

The best thing about Pamplona and the reason that it is on the map, is because of the Festival of San Fermin. During this one week festival, the street, bars and clubs are packed with locals and travelers from around the world, coming to experience soemthing that they have heard about all their lives. THE RUNNING OF THE BULLS. My fondest memory of Pamplona is definately my experience running with the bulls. To enter the arena with 1 bulls in front of me and 2 behind me as I ran out of the tunnel and seeing the entire stadium roar with cheers as the bulls entered was something that can't be descirbed.

Corridas and toreros.

by breughel

The "encieros" of San Fermin i.e. the bulls running through the streets of Pampelune/Irunea constitutes an extraordinary witness of the long-lived traditions of Spain. It is always with interest and emotion that I look at them every morning at 08.00 am on the international Spanish TV between July 6th and 14th.

For sure there are injured persons, mostly among the foreign (sometimes drunken) tourists, but it is a part of the game and it is less dangerous, for oneself and for the others, to run in front of the bulls than to drive against sense on the highway.

But the bullfights in the after noon following the "encieros" are often mediocre. The public is that of a football match, nothing to do with the aficionados at the corridas of Las Ventas arenas in Madrid or the Maestranza in Sevilla.

I accept bullfighting as expression of the Spanish culture and tradition but I hate bad toreros.

This year 2010 from 7/07 till 15/07. Encieros at 08.00 h

Parque Yamaguchi and the Planetarium

by mikey_e

I went to the Parque Yamaguchi and the Planetarium mainly because I figured that, if I was already this far out in this direction, I might as well see the area. Unfortunately, the Planetarium was closed, so I wasn't able to actually see what it had to offer. The Parque Yamaguchi, which is not named after the skater, is in fact named after the city in Japan where St. Francis Xavier stayed. Catholicism didn't take in Japan, but the Saint's valiant efforts are nonetheless honoured in this park. It is, for all intensive purposes, a standard suburban park with pond and playgrounds for children. It is not sculpted or maintained in the same fashion as Jardines de la Taconera, so it might be a better idea for those with kids than for those on their own.

Running With The Bulls

by whooping_wombat

"Running with the bulls"

This was a fun experience. The most dangerous part is actually the other runners. If you go don't run on Sunday or Saturday. Those are the days that have the most runners and it is slightly more dangerous.