This is a beautiful old world city. I spent a day there as I was passing through on my pilgrimage across Spain.

Pamplona is of course famous for the running of the bulls festival every summer. I didn't get to see it but I did visit the bull fighting arena.

Pamplona was a fortified and walled city in the past. Some of the very impressive wall still remains today:

They weren't having the running of the bulls festival but they were having another type of festival. There were performers all throughout the city.

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Hemingway made Pamplona famous with the publication of "The Sun Also Rises". He loved Spain and visited it many times. This picture shows the Cafe Iruna which is one of his favorite places to visit. He spent a lot of time at this cafe.

The Cafe Iruna is in a famous plaza named "Plaza del Castillo". Here is a picture. While I was there they were having a big book sale. That's what all those canopies are on the right. I am not sure if this was termporary or permanent.

A snippet from Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises":

We had coffee at the Iruña, sitting in comfortable wicker chairs looking out from the cool of the arcade at the big square. After a while Bill went to write some letters and Cohn went over to the barber-shop. It was still closed, so he decided to go up to the hotel and get a bath, and I sat out in front of the café and then went for a walk in the town. It was very hot, but I kept on the shady side of the streets and went through the market and had a good time seeing the town again.

Let's head to the bullfighting arena

There was no bullfighting on the days I was there but the facility was open to admission so you could walk around and also watch a presentation on the history of the bullfights.

The outside of the arena

Inside the arena

And outside the stadium is a statue of Hemingway himself.

The government center building.

Roaming around Pamplona I discovered this street vendor with Marionettes. And well, I love marionettes :)

Catedral Metropolitana de Santa María la Real de Pamplona

Here is a video of jesters marching down the street during a festival:

The Sun Also Rises is a classic example of Hemingway's spare but powerful writing style. It celebrates the art and craft of Hemingway's quintessential story of the Lost Generation—presented by the Hemingway family with illuminating supplementary material from the Hemingway Collection at the John F. Kennedy Library. Available on amazon with this link (affiliate)