Probably best not to arrive in Pamplona on a Sunday afternoon…most of the town seemed to be having a siesta.
We found our very comfortable hotel and wandered through the wide, almost deserted streets to the bull ring (the Cathedral was closed until 6pm). Definitely a barbaric sport, but interesting to discover the background around the annual running of the bulls.
Didn’t leave much time to explore Pamplona after the late start from Zaragoza, but not a lot was open..And, it was hot. Found our way back to the hotel for drinks and snacks.
Got away relatively early from Pamplona yesterday so we would have plenty of time at the Gugenheim Museum in Bilbao, around two hours away. Drove straight to the museum and enjoyed three hours or so checking out exhibits on all three floors.
Standouts were the seven massive steel installations by Richard Serra, a large exhibition of acrylic paintings by Helen Frankenthaler, an eye-opening graphic exhibition by Barbara Kruger, a light show “in situ” by Refik Anadol and some fantastic works by Jeff Koons, Lichtenstein, and Andy Warhol.
Helen Frankenthuler
The “in situ” exhibition
After checking in to our hotel, we decided to head to the Ribera Markets for lunch. Word of advice – never trust Google Maps entirely to find the best route. We were lucky to make it safely out of the African immigrant, red light, pick-pocket infested and generally dangerous area we walked through. However, the lunch of tapas at the market was fine and the walk back – this time along the river – put us in the middle of a local beer festival.
Dinner was at a very nice Mediterranean restaurant, Bocadero. The octopus was fantastic.
Today, we headed into La Rioja… more later.
