My happy place is definitely getting out and going! I was so excited to be on the road again. It was a long drive to Spain, basically 8 hours, with amazing and varied scenery.
The drive was picture perfect!
Someday Greg and I will walk the Camino de Santiago. It is the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. We mutually added it to our bucket list right after watching Martin Sheen's "The Way". The main character begins his 500 mile journey from Saint Jean Pied de Port in France. We made a slight detour to stop there.
Saint Jean Pied de Port, France. The Notre-Dame gate was once a drawbridge.
About 46,000 pilgrims started out here in 2012.
The Pilgrims Friends Office only welcomes pilgrims embarking within 24 hours. We were given directions to the nearest library for a guide book.
The Pilgrims Friends Office. Pilgrims check in here before your long journey to Santiago. Don't forget to buy your official credential here, which must be stamped at each stop along the way or you won't earn your certificate at the end!
We will return here someday!
To get to Pamplona from St. Jean Pied de Port, we followed along the Camino de Santiago. We're in Basque country now, so signs are in both French/Basque or Spanish/Basque. Basque country is beautiful, especially the homes!
Pilgrims follow the signs with the scallop shell of St. Jacques. From here, only 790 km to go!
Pilgrims, with shells dangling from their packs, walking through the town.
Greg, Chris and Kate refused to believe that everyone in Pamplona wears white shirts. "Only tourists do that." Immediately upon arriving to Pamplona, I laughed that every single person we saw - walking on the street, riding on the bus, driving in cars - everyone had on white shirts and red scarves!! Hence began our white shirt jokes, with the best laugh at Christopher's expense, when he assumed a man was Greg because he had on a white shirt. We burst out laughing so hard he couldn't even finish what he was saying.
The kids are great at keeping track of us in a crowd. However, following the white shirt didn't work well here.
San Fermin is one of the coolest things I have ever done! Pamplona's city center and immediate outskirts are flooded with entertainment. Streams of people of all ages dressed completely in white accented with a red panuelo (bandana) and faja (sash) wind through the streets in every direction. For 8 straight days there's live music, food, and lots and lots of sangria.
The very first thing we had to do was buy our souvenir panuelos - you can't be here without one!
We are thoroughly enjoying San Fermin!
You can tell you are in a popular hangout when the ground gets really sticky!
The kids went back but Greg and I stayed out a couple more hours.
When we were finally ready to call it a night, we got sucked into the crowd heading to watch the 20-minute fireworks show.
- Panuelos are readily available for 2 euros except if you buy the first one you see, like we did, for 3.75 each.
- Hotels charge 4 times as much during San Fermin. I booked Abba Reino de Navarra (1 mile from the city center) 12 months in advance.
- The best place to watch the fireworks (11pm) is at the park of the Vuelta del Castillo...just follow the flow of people.
