Slept in due to the excesses of others the night before and the fitful sleep that followed. Getting ourselves together and downstairs to a bar serving pinchos or a finger food including fried egg on bread, proscuitto and pimiento on bread with goat's cheese, chorizo and black coffee. God it was wonderful. So what next, a day off and no plans. A quick look at the map and we decide to look at the Cathedral of Santa Maria going via the Av de Estafeta and the Plaza de Toro. The famous festival of the running of the bulls is held along this avenue.
Around the P de Toro and along the ramparts of the old city to the Archbishop's Palace and the Rincon del Caballo Blanco, the most impenetrable part of old Pamplona. The fortifications built and reinforced as a response to French occupation of Navarre which resulted in Pamplona becoming the northern most outpost of Spain.
The Cathedral of Santa maria is a wonder (I hope we get the pics up) and as we leave some time later it is siesta. A slow stroll around the streets via an alimentacion (grocer) to by fruit, bread and wine, and we are back at Bearan to catch up on blogging, pic downloading, lunch (wonderful peaches) and housekeeping.
The afternoon we spend walking around the Ciudadela (Citadel), a walled fortification built between 1571 and 1645 in the shape of a regular pentagon, an early example of military architecture. This area is now a cultural centre with parks, sculpture and outdoor art exhibitions.
It has been exhausting and exhilarating. Walking, history, art and fresh air. The weather superb. Time to return to our hotel room for a rest, shower and off for dinner. Just downstairs again, a different restaurant, eating salad, pimientos, goats cheese and calamari in black squid ink. Looks gross but tastes great. Australians just can't eat that black shit no matter how good it tastes.
Back to the room, getting photos on the blog, energy rapidly fading, tomorrow we walk.
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