Zubiri and Pamplona

This post is going to cover two days, as yesterday I was too tired and got to bed too late to write anything.

Yesterday we started off in Roncesvalles, eating breakfast at the (very efficient) cafe attached to the albergue. We were in high spirits heading out, mostly because we didn't have to gain nearly as much elevation.

The hike was hard on the knees, as there was a lot of downhill, but the weather was lovely. A bunch of us walked as a group, and we talked together all morning. Around noon we stopped at a cafe for some much needed food. I got a basque quiche-like dish for lunch, which was delicious.

The cafe had a bunch of birds in their yard.

We continued on through some of the foothills of the Pyrenees, with views not quite as dramatic as the day before, but still beautiful.

That evening we made it to Zubiri, though some of our group continued on to the next small town in order to get a place with a pool. Those of us staying in Zubiri checked in to our hostels, then got together to go to a basque sporting event one of our group members had heard about. It turned out to be the finals, and even without knowing the rules going in, the sport was riveting!

The basque event also had these people with bells on their back "cleansing the evil spirits from the town". The bells were loud enough that I think they cleansed a lot of things!

After the event, we got dinner at one of the albergues in town, then a few of us did a puzzle and went to bed.

The next day, we got up before sunrise to get breakfast, only to find that the only bakery in town was closed. They were also setting up metal fencing around town for what we later found out was the end of a half-marathon. We eventually discovered that the town's only bar was open, and was serving pastries for breakfast, so we snagged some food and hit the road. We planned to pick up the rest of our group at the next stop, but they headed off before we got there, and we ended up only meeting up at the midpoint cafe for lunch.

We also learned some cool bird facts.

After lunch, someone in my group forgot their water bottle, so I accompanied them to go back and get it, planning to catch up with the group later. That ended up not happening. Instead, we met up with a father-daughter pair, and eventually the father went on ahead, so it was just the three of us. 

We compounded the whole "not catching up with people" thing when we decided to take a detour to see a medieval church. It was well worth it, as the church was gorgeous, we got to talk to one of the sisters who volunteers there, and she even let us ring the bell.

It was loud!

Heading out from there, we decided to take a slight detour in order to follow the river into town instead of going along the usual route. There were a few false starts, and a confusing conversation where a very nice Spanish man tried to give us directions, but eventually we made it back to the main trail and into Pamplona. We checked in to our albergue, and then had some time to kill before we were all meeting up to see the cathedral and get dinner.

I needed to do laundry, so the friend who I'd accompanied to pick up their water bottle offered to keep me company while my loads ran, so we explored Pamplona in between washer and dryer timers. The old town was lovely, and I hadn't seen any of it when I was in Pamplona on my way to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. We did a bit of souvenir shopping, saw the shops for the running of the bulls (including a very helpful clock telling us how many days until the next running of the bulls), and walked around the old fort.

At six, we met up with everyone else and went in the see the cathedral. It was magnificent, as any good cathedral should be.

After that, we went and got food, opting for a basque style of food called pintxos, whose difference from tapas is not entirely clear to me. I had three, all of which were delicious, and none of which I got pictures of.

After dinner, some of us decided to go for a walk around town, as two of our group have to leave us tomorrow. We walked through the old town and up to the top of the fort and watched people play volleyball below as the sun set.

After that we headed back and hung out for a bit in the common area before heading to bed, which is what I'm going to do now. Goodnight!