Pamplona Things to Do

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The local interest in bullfighting and love of equestrian expertise is combined in the astonishing skills exhibited in El Rejoneo. The rider and horse as one, keeping deftly inches away from the horns of the bull. Often teasing the bull. As the bull charged, the horse would fake one way and sometimes pull away the other direction in a 360 degree turn. Unfortunately, the bull comes to a grisly end. during the San Fermin Festival, this only occurs on the first night, July 6.

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I am not sure what it is like down by the bull ring for the run, because I was on the first part of the course, but the streets seem a little wider. i would not get caught running into the ring with the bulls it is to narrow, if you want to go into the ring just do it before the bulls get there as many (100's) do, you may get booed by the crowd though.

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I took a cab and got downtown early around 6:30am, the cab let me off by the bull ring, from there you can just follow the fences down the street and stop where ever you think would be a good spot. I walked up to the plaza constitutional and basicaly waited around until the 8am start. Make sure you have nothing with you, keep your camera and phone in your pocket or they will kick you off the course, bring it out last second if you want after the bulls have been released. My plan was just to hang out near the fence and wait for the bulls to run by and then run after them, that did not work as the police made you stand away from the fence. So I got out in the middle and watched them come up the street from where they started. The crowd started to move/run very early (100 yards away), as the bulls got closer (50ft) I started to run and look for a place to hide and I got trapped in a huge traffic jam of people, I could not move at all. all I could think of was if the bull runs through this group of people it will be bad. But the bulls ran right by us, I could of reached out and touched them. As the last one went by I broke loose and started to run after them down the street to the corner of death, I was about 30 ft behind the last one when I heard this bell behind me(all the bulls wear bells) I turned around to see a bull on my ass so I went to the side and let the bull go by, we were 50 ft from the corner of death(dont ever run there), and they closed the gate at the corner of death too early so the bull could not get through, so it turned around and started to run back up the street. It took them about 20 seconds to open the gate (as there were 2 injured people there) and there was a handler that turned the bull and ran it through the gate and up towards the bull ring. about 1 minute later they ran 3 cows with bells down the street just in case there was a loose bull this would get him to follow I guess. This was July 13th 2010.

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My 4 year old son loved going on all the rides, it is open during the day and at night, there are a lot of places to eat, games to play and people to watch. Also a big fireworks show at night too. A don't miss for the kids.

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After the bulls (all have bells around neck) leave the holding pen this is the narrow street they run up past the shrine to the plaza contutional (about 300 yards). People say you are crazy to run here but the bulls seemed to stay in line in ths area. Good luck.

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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.

In Paseo Sarasate there are six statues of Spanish Kings.

Several initiatives were instigated in 1895 to make Paseo Saraste more attractive. The statues here were designed by the Italian architect Sachetti for Madrid’s Royal Palace during the reign of Philip V.

The Paseo walk (Promenade) is named after the composer and violinist Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate. He was native to Pamplona and began playing the violin from the age of 5 years old. In his later years he composed a number of pieces. George Bernard Shaw said that he "left criticism gasping miles behind him." During his travels around the world composing and playing the violin, Sarasate returned to Pamplona each year for the San Fermín festival.

Even if you are not doing the whole pilgrim walk through Spain, if you want to walk the route the Santiago Compestala Pilgrims use through Pamplona, start at the city wall at the Gate of France. Next make your way to the facade of the Town Hall, along San Saturnino and Calle Mayor, cross through the park La Toconera and Vuelta del Castillo. Leave the city south towards Puente la Reina.