I was thankful to finally arrive in Bilbao after our sleepover at Dusseldorf airport. Air Berlin safely transported us to Bilbao and we took a bus and the metro to reach our hostel. We weren't allowed to check in until the early afternoon, but in the interim we had showers and I had a quick nap on the sofa :) Once our room was ready, I continued my nap in there (I guess at this point you could call it a sleep) and woke up just after 6pm. Time to get ready to board the 2 hour bus to Pamplona for Running of the Bulls!
Pamploma - Running of the Bulls
We took the last bus out of Bilbao to Pamplona - 8:30pm. This meant that we would be up all night to join in on the Running of the Bulls festivities - and boy oh boy, do the Spaniards and tourists party hard. Pamplona basically becomes a 24/7 party for the entire San Fermin Running of the Bulls Festival - from July 6 to 14th.
The customary colours to wear are white and red - you'll see from the photos below. I didn't bring any white tops with me and I didn't exactly want to purchase one, so I went with yellow! It's on the Spanish flag! I also didn't want to bother washing my dirty light beige capris so I wore darker ones. Who cares if I stood out just a little bit....there were a few other anomolies in the crowd as well. The good part though was that Matt and I wouldn't be easily separated in crowds - just look for me in the yellow top - I'd stick out. It's good to be different.
We spent the entire night watching fireworks, street entertainment, dancing, parades, drunk people, musicians etc. There was an endless supply of entertainment which helped the hours pass by. We walked the Running of the Bulls route, saw the barn where the bulls are kept and watched people dance in the streets while spilling Sangria all over each other. White clothes quickly became stained with purple sangria. Somewhere between 4 to 5am, we went to guard our coveted spots where we antipated on watching the main event at 8am. Most of the fences were not set-up so we eagerly guarded our spot where the fence would eventually be placed so that we would have an amazing view for this one in a lifetime event (at least for us).
Here are some of the photos taken throughout the night and early morning:
Pamploma - Running of the Bulls
We took the last bus out of Bilbao to Pamplona - 8:30pm. This meant that we would be up all night to join in on the Running of the Bulls festivities - and boy oh boy, do the Spaniards and tourists party hard. Pamplona basically becomes a 24/7 party for the entire San Fermin Running of the Bulls Festival - from July 6 to 14th.
The customary colours to wear are white and red - you'll see from the photos below. I didn't bring any white tops with me and I didn't exactly want to purchase one, so I went with yellow! It's on the Spanish flag! I also didn't want to bother washing my dirty light beige capris so I wore darker ones. Who cares if I stood out just a little bit....there were a few other anomolies in the crowd as well. The good part though was that Matt and I wouldn't be easily separated in crowds - just look for me in the yellow top - I'd stick out. It's good to be different.
We spent the entire night watching fireworks, street entertainment, dancing, parades, drunk people, musicians etc. There was an endless supply of entertainment which helped the hours pass by. We walked the Running of the Bulls route, saw the barn where the bulls are kept and watched people dance in the streets while spilling Sangria all over each other. White clothes quickly became stained with purple sangria. Somewhere between 4 to 5am, we went to guard our coveted spots where we antipated on watching the main event at 8am. Most of the fences were not set-up so we eagerly guarded our spot where the fence would eventually be placed so that we would have an amazing view for this one in a lifetime event (at least for us).
Here are some of the photos taken throughout the night and early morning:
Impromptu parades
Matt fighting a bull...looks like the bull is winning
The streets of Pamplona were a disaster due to the festivities - broken bottles, plastic cups and trash everywhere. The good news is that the event is so well organized that clean up crews were on the streets by 4am and Pamplona was spotless in time for the main event at 8am. The garbage was picked up, the streets were swepted, mopped and dried to ensure the safety of the runners and bulls. Great organization!
By 7am, the crew began setting up the fences. Two parallel fences were set up. The first fence had "Reserved" signs and was reserved for media, police, ambulance and runners who hop over the fence when the bulls are quickly approaching - wussies! The second fence was for spectators and Matt and I got to sit on a fence near the entrance to the arena. We started to guard our spots just after 4am - so it wasn't luck - it was determination!
We're getting pretty excited at this point. Our fence is almost set up and we can finally stop standing on our tired feet.
Wow - this is what I look like after only 8 hours of sleep over a period of 3 entire days...and most of my sleep was during my nap at the hostel prior to leaving for the event. No wonder they call it "beauty sleep" - I was in desperate need of it! Haggard isn't a look I like to go for. (Note: this is the best of the photos I took - the others I can't even post due to embarassment - LOL!)
As 8am was approaching, the crowds began to appear and the police were taking their spots.
The Police are coming in to move the crowds back and to kick people out who aren't running.
At 8am, the gun went off and people began to run. There are 2 starting points and the first gun shot signals the first group of runners as pictured above. Many of them wait close to the entrance for the 2nd gun shot and jump up and down to see if the bulls are in sight. Once they see the bulls coming, they boot it into the arena.
Run! Run! Run! The bulls are coming!
The view to the right of us as the runners entered the arena
Here come the bulls!
There they go! Wow!
The Running of the Bulls was the fastest 2 minutes and 16 seconds of my life. Here is a brief video I took of the event:
After watching the event unfold in front of our eyes and seeing the relative safety involved, Matt decided that he too was going to run with the bulls! So, on the morning of July 14th, the last day of the festival, Matt ran with the bulls. It would have been nice to see his race, but I was in desperate need of rest and stayed back at the hostel. I couldn't bare the thought of 4 nights with minimal sleep. Plus, you might have heard me say on the video, "Oh my, I would never do this". Yeah, not my cup of tea. On the other hand, Matt rested up during the day and was ready to stay up all night again. Good news - he survived! Here are some of his photos:
The barn where the bulls are kept during the night
Matt in the arena after the run. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience.
Bilbao
We had a great stay in Bilbao. It was originally just supposed to be our hub while we went to Pamplona for Running of the Bulls, but I ended up really liking the city. The best way to describe Bilbao is "perfectly manicured". Not a thing was out of place. There were many gardens within the city with perfectly arranged flowers and trees with all its twigs perfectly manicured. The city was clean...spotless, actually. I also broke my "no shopping" rule and decided that after 2 months of travelling and wearing the same cycle of clothes week in and week out was getting tiring. I bought a few new shirts and tossed the old ones and also bought a new pair of shoes and tossed the old (which were actually only 3 months new). The reason for the shopping - the tempting rebajas signs in every store front. Soon I will know the word for "sale" in every country I visit. Here are a few photos from Bilbao:
Beautiful city despite the overcast & rainy weather.
Gardens like this are located all over the downtown core
The Guggenheim Museum with a giant dog made out of flowers
What a great time we had at Running of the Bulls and relaxing in Bilbao. Next stop - San Sebastian and Madrid!
White and Red, White and Red, White and Red! BULL! RUN! haha
ReplyDeleteWhat a gong show! The Spanish can party! The firework I saw twice and some of the best displays I have ever seen!
I knew that if I was going to be in Europe I was not going to miss out on one of the world´s biggests festivals! It would have been nice to have a video of me running but Jane was really tired and well so was I but I was not going to miss out on something like this!
I never planned on running with the bulls, but I met an Aussie! Funny how they always bring out the life out of people! Any who I met John in Galway, Ireland! We have been chatting back and forth and were supposed to meet up for San Fermin! Greece came along and we missed each other by a day even with our crazy schedule prior to San Fermin! He told me he was going to run from the half way point. A place called Dead Mans Corner. Its called this because it is a 90 degree turn in which case the bulls lose traction and slide into the fences you can check out videos on You Tube. We were told that when you come to this corner to take it tight as the bulls WILL go wide!
Knowing that John turned out ok. I decides I may do it myself. I watched it first with Jane and then I noticed how safe it could be. So I decided to rest up and return to experiance this craziness from the pits!
I stayed up all night again and at 6am watched as they closed us all in the roads as the fences slowly got built! We were pushed back to Dead Man´s Corner and were let go 15 min before the release of the bulls. We were told that we could go where we like to start and wait for the bulls. The bulls for the most part are kept in the center by the guides running behind the bulls. They were in green in the video.
I decided I was going to go up near the plaza de toros and just run in when I saw the bulls. The ¨firecracker¨ went off telling us the bulls were out of the pen. The second went off telling us the bulls were at Dead Man´s Corner. Then the guys started jumping to see the bulls! I knew I wanted to see a bull before I ran. Some started to run early before the bulls came and I waited on the left side against the fence. I saw a bull and with so many people infront of you and behind you running so fast you couldn´t see the the ground you just ran. I went through the tunnel in the plaza and booked left. I spun around to see the bulls coming into the plaza just a few feet behind me! I was running on adreneline for a 24 hour period after! It was the most intense thing I have done so far! I would do it again in a second if I was there for the whole 10 days, but as I ran on the last day I didn´t have a chance. If I was to do it again I would wait further down by the corner on the inside and wait for the bulls to go by and run after them into the stadium.
If you decide to do this definately watch the run before doing it yourself! Good luck and thanks John for the motivation, I will remember this for the rest of my life!