![\"\"](\"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/FSC_0980.jpg\")
<\/a>We met Leo, \u00a0our tour guide for the city of Pamplona. He made a good impression by taking us to a cafe that enabled us to take shelter from the rain and to warm up with coffee, tea or hot chocolate, with Spanish cookies that are known in \u00a0New York as Italian cookies.<\/p>\n There was a side entrance to the cathedral that was only available for entry by musicians. Many years ago, an American clarinet player was allowed to enter through that door. He was Woody Allen.<\/p>\n There are tributes to Hemingway throughout Pamplona, \u00a0as in this sculpture, because he put the city on the world map in his classic novel, The Sun Also Rises. <\/em>Iru\u00f1a is the Basque word for Pamplona.<\/p>\n Next we visited \u00a0a private bullfight museum that was maintained by the widow of its creator. Many \u00a0items relating to bullfighting were displayed. The proprietor, Mari Carmen, served us ros\u00e9 wine and pintxos that she prepared: roasted peppers on toast and peppers stuffed with chorizo. We devoured them! After that, \u00a0Leo showed us the path on which the Running of the Bulls takes place each July. We learned that \u00a0the white clothing that the runners wear \u00a0represent purity, while their \u00a0red scarves and \u00a0sashes represent the \u00a0blood of St. Ferm\u00edn, the city’s patron saint.<\/p>\n There are private dining clubs clubs in Pamplona, \u00a0at which only men are members who cook for each other and for guests. We were invited to such a \u00a0club \u00a0for the midday meal. Our \u00a0hosts offered us drinks (sangria, cider, water, and white wine), \u00a0and a pintxo (bread rubbed with garlic, sprinkled with olive oil, and topped with thinly sliced Roma tomatoes). There was a mushroom course, followed by a paella-like dish of mussels and calamari in vermicelli, because vermicelli takes less time to cook than rice. After that there were pork cheeks that were so tender that no knife was needed to cut them. Dessert was lemon sorbet. At some point during the day, I told Todd that I had concerns about walking five miles on the Camino, because of my hip replacement. He said that the hills on the Camino were not nearly as steep as the ones we climbed to reach the citadel in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. He told me that \u00a0our bus would be available to any of our group members who might want to stop walking after forty-five minutes. \u00a0The final decision would be mine.<\/p>\n 14, 589 steps<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We began our day by learning that one member of our group had hurt her ankle while walking in the cobblestone streets. Fortunately, her ankle was not broken. Then we began walking in the rain. We met Leo, \u00a0our tour guide for the city of Pamplona. He made a good impression by taking us to … Continue reading Basque Country, Day 7 \u2014 September 11, 2023<\/span> <\/a>Then <\/a>we walked in the rain to the Cathedral (officially “Catedral Metropolitana de Santa Mar\u00eda la \u00a0Real de Pamplona), which has a neoclassic exterior and a gothic interior. We could have spent hours there. The tombs of King Charles III \u00a0and his wife Queen Eleanor \u00a0were in the center of the nave, done in alabaster, while the surrounding art is made of marble. At the foot of the queen’s tomb, there are two dogs fighting over a bone. The bone represents Pamplona. A lion representing his power is at the king’s feet.<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a>There was so much to see inside the cathedral. There was a museum that housed many artifacts. \u00a0We saw what was a \u00a0spacious dining hall in which monks took their meals in silence. A kitchen is \u00a0off that room. \u00a0There was a room for Gregorian chants, an Archaeology Room, and a cloister. Nick was so taken by the many \u00a0things to photograph that he became separated from the group. I was just about to bring this \u00a0to Todd’s attention when Nick caught up with the rest \u00a0of us.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n