We were on the balcony by 7:30 am. Down below, all the shops were boarded up with plywood. People lined all balconies and runners crowded the street below. We were warned that the "running" would be short: no joke! A total of 6 bulls run the 850 meter stretch, from the starting point to the holding pens in the stadium. Those 6 bulls will be fighting in the ring this evening. Guiding them through the street was a team of 6 steer. Thousands of people run alongside the animals. They stage themselves in particular places along the route. Nobody runs the entire 850 meters: they just run a portion of the race.
The bulls passed our perch in about 8 seconds flat. That's it. Race over. But it was fun. Paco tried to shoot a video but kept pushing the wrong button, so no video for us! But then he accidentally shot lots of cool video from his pocket this afternoon. (Not uploading that.)
We left Pamplona on a 10:00 am bus to France, where we'll start the Camino bright and early tomorrow. It took us 2 hours by bus to make the trek. Now we're going to have to walk for 3 days to make up that lost ground. What were we thinking?
St Jean Pied de Port is the ancient capital of the Basque region of Basse-Navarre. It's stunningly beautiful. After lunch, we had our pilgrim passports officially stamped at the pilgrim office, then spent the afternoon exploring the town.
There's an archway leading out of town, which we'll pass through early tomorrow morning. The church of Notre Dame du Bout du Pont stands beside it. We lit a candle for my late parents and brother (Emily, Al, and Art Jadach), all of whom passed away in 2016 and 2017. We'll be lighting candles in every church we pass to honor their memory.
The surrounding areas are beautiful, with Tannat grapes growing in the Irouleguy appellation.
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| Cityscape |
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| Views from the river.
We leave early tomorrow. We'll always know The Way, because special markers will guide the way, all the way to Santiago!
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