A little history for The Running of the BullsWednesday, July 7th
I got up today at 5am. I walked over to the bus stop and took the 6:50am to the Marco Polo Venice Airport. (There are 2 airports - so be careful if you're flying out). Because I have alot of places to be in a short amount of time, I decided to fly from Venice to Barcelona, Spain to get to my next destination quickly.
As of 10pm yesterday - I hadn't heard of the airline I was flying - Vueling Airlines. The flight was only $70. You can get really inexpensive flights from city to city in western Europe. I would prefer the train (as I have my Eurail pass) - but the train just takes too long sometimes. I arrived in Barcelona at noon. I had 4 hours to get my travels confirmed to/from Pamplona, Spain.
Let me take a minute to introduce Pamplona, Spain and why I'm going there. Every year from July 7-14, they have the San Fermin festival - otherwise known as the 'Running of the Bulls' festival. It's a crazy event that brings more and more people each year.
It started as an honor to San Fermin many years ago. It used to be held in the fall but was changed to July for more predictable weather. In addition to the 'Running of the Bulls', there are daily fireworks, bands everywhere, a daily bullfight, a cattle fair, etc. The 'Running of the Bulls' has become the drawing card. It originated a while back when some teenage boys would run in front of the bulls being led to the arena for the bull fight event. This was greatly frowned upon. However, it started to pick up attention - more people began to join in. This has brought us to today. See my picture explaining the history.
As I'm a big fan of interesting - I wanted to see this in person. Pamplona is located in Spain - north of Madrid and west of Barcelona. It's not an easy location to get to, on even an arbitrary day in January. It's virtually impossible to get to during this 9 day period in July.
As I've been accustomed to doing on this trip, I completely decided to wing the travel plans. Not smooth - I'm aware. But, I knew I could do it. Once arriving at the Barcelona Sants train station, I was informed that the trains were full to Pamplona. I got in another line to inquire about buses. Then, I was told that I COULD get the train. (I think of airline/bus personnel like I think about doctors - get a second opinion. Many times a different person can get you a new result. This happens to me almost daily). I booked the 4:35pm train from Barcelona - arriving in Pamplona at 8:34pm.
OK - I have plans to get there. Now, how am I going to get from Pamplona to Geneva, Switzerland by Friday night (July 9th). This would prove to be more difficult. The trains weren't full, but the timing was just really poor. I opted for an overnight bus from Pamplona to Barcelona on Friday morning at 1:15am. Then I got a train from Barcelona at 8:45am to Geneva - arriving at 8pm on Friday night in Geneva.
Wow - this set of transactions and mind shuffling took me the complete 4 hours in Barcelona before boarding the train. It was 4:35pm - time for some rest.
I had booked a hotel yesterday about 25 miles from Pamplona. It was not possible to get anywhere near the city unless booking months ago. I was arriving at 8:30pm - how was I going to get to this hotel?
On arrival, I found a taxi to take me there for 60 euro. Ouch! But, my hotel was cheap. This cost, in combination with the taxi - I was still paying less than the hotels in Pamplona.
I got to the hotel about 10pm. A great lady helped me get set with buses to/from Pamplona on Thursday. I would need to take a taxi again in the early morning, but all buses from that point forward. I watched the end of Spain vs. Germany in the World Cup semis. Spain won 1-0. They are going to the Championship Game. I could almost hear the screams of joy from Barcelona and Madrid. Even in this 'Bloomsdale, MO sized town', cars were going up and down the streets blaring music and beeping their horns. It had to be absolute pandomonium on the streets of Pamplona. I wish I could have been there. I just couldn't swing this without dropping my bags. Tomorrow will be one of the most interesting days of the trip. Check out the website http://www.sanfermin.com/ to get a taste for what I'm going to.
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