Pamplona

The San Fermin festival in Pamplona was definitely my most memorable experience from the summer in Spain. Commonly known as “the running of the bulls”, San Fermin is one of the craziest things I have ever witnessed. Tens of thousands of tourists descend on Pamplona for a week every July for an incredible 24/7 party. Every morning at 8am, 12 bulls are released and hundreds of runners chase (and are chased) by the bulls through town on the way to the stadium. The race was much faster than I expected (bulls are fast – the race only lasts like 3 minutes!) but the surrounding fiesta goes on non-stop.

I went with 7 friends for a day and a night in Pamplona. We arrived just in time for the afternoon bullfight. The bullfight was a mix of enchanting and disgusting, with matadors elegantly performing an ancient ritualistic dance with the bulls, but also killing them in a gory mess that concludes with a stab to the head and horses dragging a dead bull covered in blood out of the ring. The packed crowd of Spaniards loved it though. An interesting tradition is the cutting of the ear. If the crowd thinks that the matador did a particularly good job, they call for him to receive the ear of the bull as a reward. A member of the royal family (of what family, I’m not sure) sits in the royal box. Like a scene straight out of Gladiator, he listens to the roar of the crowd after the fight, and raises his handkerchief if he determines the matador should receive the ear. We saw one granted in the six bullfights of the night.

After the bullfight, we reveled in the streets, parading around, snacking on tapas, and popping in and out of little bars. The scene was smelly, wine-soaked, and energetic, as a number of tourists come to town for the week and just nap in the park whenever they must before jumping back into the fiesta. The fiesta itself is aided by two surprisingly good Spanish drinks – the callemocho and tinto de verano – which are red wine mixed with coca-cola and red wine mixed with a Spanish drink kind of like 7-up.

The actual running of the bulls was quite a scene as well. Part or our group ran and part watched from balconies or wherever they could find a view. I was torn between running and watching but after a twenty-something Californian was gored and needed extensive surgery the day before we arrived, I opted for the balcony. I think it turned out to be a good choice. To run, you really need to scout out the section of the run you want to do ahead of time and prepare some escape options. Having seen it once, I am sure that I could do it. But running on your first day there is a huge mistake, according to both my Spanish friends who have been and having seen the race I would agree. The biggest risk in the race is not really the bulls but that you fall and get trampled, first by the crowd of runners (who will NOT stop to help you up) and then by some angry running bulls.

The runners are a mix of young European and American travelers who want to have an adventure and generally don’t know what they are doing and a bunch of experienced locals who not only want to say they ran with the bulls but who actually want to run as close to the bulls as they can for as long as they can. In my photo below from taken from our balcony, you can actually see one of the runners reaching out and touching a bull. Crazy. But an amazingly fun couple days.

Bullfight

Running with the bulls
The running begins
Fellow spectators
Even we got in the bullfighting act