Pamplona

Last night we we're able to attend mass and have communion in a church in the old quarter of Bilbao which made us feel better about getting our sello in the tourist office! We had dinner using the available small plates (like tapas but they have another word for it in this area - pinchos) from 2 different bars. Along with the small plates we had small glasses of wine so we were able to try a couple of good red and white wines. Wine was cheaper than the food. Tapas dinner cost 27€. Left our empty suitcases with the hotel and took a tram to the bus station early so that we could catch cafe' there. Made ourselves a protein drink for breakfast.

Fashion note: Interesting clothes in the shop windows. The glasses frames are much different here than in the USA and also body piercing is more prevalent. We listened to our Spanish lesson while sharing a set of ear phones on the bus. The bus ride was 2 hours from Bilbao to Pamploma, so by 10:30 we were out on the streets trying to navigate our way to the Hotel Eslava, which was on the old wall ramparts in the old city. This hotel has wonderful old world charm just like the hotel in Bilbao but with new modern bathrooms. We love the location and the atmosphere and would recommend it to others.

Lunch was at Cafe Iruna, an art deco interior venue that Hemingway visited frequently. The menu of the day is very good value at 13€s a piece. I had a wonderful gazpacho soup followed by salmon and melon for dessert. Wine or water included. (had to pick the bones out of my fish --). David had salad mixed (mista), pork roast and fruit. We went back again for dinner just like Kay and Roger did. Sunday night did not really have many bars open for tapas. The rose' wine from this area is noted to be very good.


It is rather embarrassing but we have collected 3 sellos from Pamplona - the first at the tourist office in the old town. Then we found the peregrino auberge near the Cathedral Jesus y Maria, which was a church until 2007. The central knave is an art exhibition area and the side cloisters have been made into dormitories. We went to just peek inside and ended up with a sello. From the lady there we learned there was a special peregrino benediction done at 7:15pm in the Cathedral. So we went back at the allotted time and a priest came out and lead 40 perigrinos back through the vestry (all lovely ornate Rococco rooms) to another small chapel in the cloisters (beautiful). There we had a blessing and then received yet another sello.

I can´t do spell check from the BB nor from a computer here in Spain so I am sure I have many things misspelled.