The sun also rises in Pamplona

Saturday, Oct 16

Hola from the city that Hemingway made famous!

We trudged into Pamplona bout 4:00 pm today after a day that was more arduous than we had anticipated. It was supposed to be 15 miles - about the same as the day before -- but the way was not marked well. We got lost and ended up adding at least of hour of walking onto the route. Normally you always can find an "flecha amarilla" - a yellow arrow -- or a scallop shell pointing the way. Sometimes the arrow or scallop shell is painted on the road, curb, a house, or there is a special marker with tile. All of the sudden the arrows starting pointing in different directions, for a time there were no arrows, and the route guide we had was confusing. We ran into two men we had seen earlier and they pointed a way to go.

That was our mistake -- we should have sat down and re-read both route guides and then we would have stayed on the camino. So we wandered or rather meandered for along time by the side of a river -- we entered a town still looking for yellow arrows. We stopped to ask directions and were sent to the local albergue -- pilgrim lodging -- but it was closed for the season. So off we went again and found another nice person to ask and finally we started seeing yellow arrows and were back on the camino.

I can´t find the parentheses on this keyboard-- European keyboards are setup differently -- but this is a parenthetical -- As I try to type, our elderly concierge at the hotel has the TV blaring and switches between a soccer game and a reality show that looks and sounds like a Spanish Jerry Springer. It is driving me nuts, and I may not be very coherent.

When we walked in this afternoon through the ancient gate that still has the original chains and mechanism from the 16th century drawbridge there was no one in the streets. It was like a ghost town -- it was the time that all the shops are closed. By 5:00 pm the plazas and street were teeming with people, and we literally were having to push our way through crowds as we looked for a place to recharge John´s camera battery and have a bite to eat. We were not forceful enough to make any real headway until one Spanish couple in front of us just charged throug, and John said, "Follow them!"

The chill wind is in Pamplona -- not Ava Gardner or Tony Quinn -- but we did walk into the Hemingway Pizza and Kebob Restaurant. Rather a forlorn place so we wandered back out. Pamplona is a big city -- the casco antiguo -- old part of the city -- is wonderful with six-story homes refurbished in the 1700 and 1800´s. There are several churches, and we went to San Saturnino to have our credencial stamped. Por desgracia, no stamp person there, but we did sit through part of the rosary, and I noted the wonderful statues of St. Catherine of Alexandria with her spiked wheel and St. Barbar with the 3-windowed tower.

It is late and I must get to bed. But I wanted to thank everyone for their comments -- I am thrilled that you take the time to read my postings and even more thrilled that some of you feel prompted to post a comment! ¡Muchisimas gracias - Ustedes son muy amables!

Tomorrow we are off to Puente La Reina -- who knows about the internet?