Well, I read Hemmingway’s book ‘Fiesta: The Sun also rises’ and it failed to give me an insight into the soul of Pamplona. It talked about his unrequited love, other relationships, and his efforts to get to Pamplona to excite his passion, or ‘aficion‘ as the Spanish call it. The book talked about this ‘aficion‘ as something so powerful that bullfighters’ anxiety and nervousness were not seen as weakness as long as they had ‘aficion’. None of this helped to give me an understanding of the bullfighting mentality, or whether it has a wider following in Pamplona.
We visited the imposing fourteenth century Gothic cathedral, walked more of the town’s ancient streets, spent some time in the huge Castillo Plaza, carefree within the comforting shadows of the surrounding buildings with their differing themes. There was one with painted figures, another with cardboard cutouts, colours that show no defining pattern like the red and white basque we have witnessed recently.
We’ll continue to look for more in this fort town of centuries past as we enjoy it’s peace, easiness and friendliness as we stay for a short time in one of it’s narrow, lanterned streets in the heart of this centuries old town. Whatever we find here, the location is such that we don’t need a lot to excite us, just being able to stay in one of these places for more than one night is an experience in itself.
