Camino: a day in Pamplona

Pamplona is definitely a city. All day and all night you hear the sounds of horns and sirens and people. I’m looking forward to the day here, but I’m also looking forward to getting back into the country and the quieter places.

This morning’s alarm clock was brought to you by the guy walking down the street yelling at the top of his lungs. That’s OK. It was almost time to get up.

I made a quick coffee and I had a few cookies before heading off for mass. There were not many people out this early. The air was cool. I found the church pretty quick, so I stopped in and had a café con Leche and a pastry. Then I made my way back up to the church.

from the plaque out front: CATEDRAL DE SANTA MARÍA LA REAL — Pamplona Cathedral was built during the 14th and 15th centuries over the remains of a Romanesque church. The neoclassical façade from 1799 is by Ventura Rodríguez and the interior is French Gothic.

It was a full sung, Latin mass. I didn’t understand a word but the bells helped. The sermon lasted about five minutes, and even though I couldn’t understand it, the dean of the cathedral seemed quite passionate.

Located in the center of the cathedral is The Royal Mausoleum with the death statues of Carlos III el Noble and his wife Leonor de Trastamara, Monarchs of Navarre. This sculpture is a unique work of European XVth century sculpture and was carried out between 1413 and 1419 by Jehan Lome de Tournai and his craftsmen.

For those back home in Oklahoma, I found the four Evangelist and identified our favorite.

Coming out of the church, and to the south a bit, you arrive at the Townhall of Pamplona. You can follow this link to read all about the symbolism in the work.

After all that, I was ready for another café con Leche. I found a beautiful little café where I also ordered a baked scallop. I can highly recommend this tasty little treat.

I have less than 3 miles on my feet this morning, but they are already asking to be put back up again, so I headed back to the hotel to find a place to do some laundry. I started to do it myself when the gentleman cleaning the rooms interrupted me and said I could not do that because they were washing the sheets and all of that for the hotel. He said for 5€ he would do it for me and have it to my room by 10 o’clock tonight. I took him up on that offer. I’ll go back out later today, but for now I’m just going to enjoy the quiet.

I made it back out today and just wandered around a bit. I came across a beautiful garden. I had a glass of wine and some tasty little treat that I have no idea what was. If I see something that I’ve never tried before, I’ll give it a day in court. I have not been disappointed yet.

Afterward, I walked until I found a church that was open and stopped to pray my rosary. I timed it so that I would be praying while my church in Oklahoma was celebrating the mass. I think it worked out.

Tomorrow will be my longest walking day yet. Almost 15 miles. I’m going to rest my toes for a bit now and then try and get a good night’s sleep. The weather is supposed to be much cooler tomorrow and probably raining. In my opinion, that makes for good walking weather.

5.2 miles/10,023 steps. I’m not a step closer to Santiago than I was at this time yesterday. The beautiful thing, this is not a race.

Santiago: 438.74 miles to go.