Spain

PAMPLONA - RUNNING OF THE BULLS

Well after a hectic travelling schedule - some of you may not know but I had to go home for 6 days in July and it was hectic. I flew back to London just after the bombings and arrived on the 9 July, caught a bus from Heathrow to Stansted, spent the afternoon and night at Stansted before flying to Bilbao. I was undecided if I would go to the running of the bulls as I thought I would be exhausted but once on the flight and hearing people talking about it I got all enthusiastic and decided to go. Except I hadn't organised any accommodation. I met this Aussie guy on the bus - Bryce and he conviced me to stay at the camping ground where he was. He was part of group who provided breaky and shuttle service to town. So arriving in Pamplona we jump on the bus to the camping ground. We don't have a map and no one speaks english so we get off the bus a little too soon. (3-4km too soon) still not knowing where to go we ask at the pub - still no english, but a lovely guy figures it out and gives a lift (after wandering around for about and hour in the heat). So we get to the camping ground and of course there is vacancies but you need a tent. So people I am now the proud owner of 1 tent!!!! So after finally putting my tent up we head for the bar for a few cold ones (Yeah!) Then of course because I arrived with Bryce the organisers of his tour just think we are together and I take advantage of the the free shuttle into town. Great night out and fantastic atmosphere. We met two Poms, Jamie and Callum (who are actually from the lovely Newcastle area I am living in and have restored some faith for me). So we got really drunk and had a great time. It is such a fantastic party going on in all the streets. You buy a drink and just walk around with it. None of this 'no drinking in the streets'. They have fireworks at 11pm every night.

We got back to the camping ground at around 3am ish ready for the first days running at 7am. So I headed to the arena, Bryce headed for the start line and the poms stayed asleep! So I didn't actually see the run on this day but the action in the arena after the run is far more spectacular. After the runners arrive and the bulls pass through, they let a young bull into the arena with all the people. Absolutely mad some of them are, provoking the bull to charge them and then when they get hit they get up and cheer. This day two bulls jumped the barrier! This goes on for about 40mins with 4 bulls entering one at a time.

So it is all over at about 9am and everyone goes to sleep for a few hours. (Except me who's body is unsure of when to sleep and when not to) So I layed by the pool with the Poms who were feeling very unwell. That night we went into town with the intension of going to a bull fight. You can't pre buy tickets you have to get them from scalpers in the street and lucky for us we did. Bull fights are very different and would not be allowed in most countries of the world. But it was definitely interesting watching the control the bull fighter has over the bull after watching the behaviour of the bulls earlier in the day. And of course they slowly kill the bull and it gets dragged through the arena by 3 clydesdale horses. This occurs 6 times (The six bulls that run in the morning get killed that night).

BEWARE SOME OF THESE PICTURES MAY OFFEND

So this night is relatively quiet (for us) as the poms want to be able to run the next day. So 7am we head to town again and line up for the run (Bryce heads for the stadium today) I am absolutely shitting myself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I have a plan. 5min before the bulls are released walk up to about 200mtres to go then when the first cannon goes and the bulls are relaesed time 1 min 20 then run (It takes the bulls about 2mins to run and you don't want to get into the arena too early as you get booed and cans thrown at you) So I entered the arena about 10 sec before the first bull and managed to find safety!!!

SAN SEBASTIAN

So that was the excitement of the trip the first 2 days. Then I went to SanSebastian with the Poms and layed on the beach for a few hours before they flew back to the UK and I headed on another epic bus trip to Tarifa (18 1/2 hrs).

TARIFA

Tarifa was not what I really expected. It's a half done surf town. Or a wanna be surf town. Has some cute restaurants and bars, however, no one is really all that friendy and the hostel I stayed in was pretty crappy (I didn't speak Italian So I didn't really get spoken to) Would be quite fun if you went in a group and stayed in town.

I attempted the kite surfing a few days. Managed to learn to fly the kite in and out of the water but again language was a bit of an issue so will have to have another lesson when I get back to Aus to see it I like it or not.

Then it was just really laying on the beach and resting (I definitely needed it) The hostel didn't really have running water (more like a trickle) so was desperate to have a good wash too.

MOROCCO

Anyway, went to Morocco for a day trip. Quite a good day. A bit like Bali with the harrassing but no where near as cheap. Infact Aus is probably cheaper and it didn't help that we had an American family that just paid whatever they asked. So that was one day.

GRANADA

So stayed in Tarifa a week and then headed to Granada. Absolutely loved it there. The Hostel was great and plenty of English spoken. The town too was a real spanish town. Lots of Tappas and cheap tappas too.

It was soooo hot as well. 30+ at 6pm. I don't think even dropped below 30 actually. So the hostel ran little day trips and I took one to a lake - It was gorgeous and freezing cold!!!

THE ALHAMBRA

The Alhambra is massive. 4hrs looking around but worth it. Definitely worth the stop if in the area.

BILBAO

Then I caught a flight back to Northern Spain (avoided the epic bus ride) To Bilbao. Had a few hours to explore the city and it is a nice mix of very modern art and history.

Then back to London and onto Newcastle. So I now have a fantastic tan that no one is going to see it because it is a raging 18 degrees here.