Pamplona Rest Day

It’s really important to have a rest day on the Camino! Today, in Pamplona, the sun smiled on pilgrims. There are numerous sights to see, museums and churches to visit - but I’ve done all that. All I wanted was to sit in the Plaza del Castillo soaking up the sun. It was a cold start (2 degrees in Trinidad de Arre) but by lunchtime it had warmed up to 20. What a change. This is more like Spain!

Looking across the square to Cafe Iruna where I eventually had lunch.

Lunch was baked fish, salad and a glass of white wine.

Earlier, I had the idea to pop into a hairdresser to get them to cut my fringe. While I was there, a film crew entered the shop and asked if they could take a few shots to accompany a segment about the new no mask wearing rule. So I’m probably on Spanish TV tonight!

Pamplona City Hall in the sun.

While I was enjoying my lunch at an outside table at Cafe Iruna, a familiar face appeared: another guest from Casa Tau. He is an American priest who mentors new Deacons, now on sabbatical from his home in Boston. He told me that his Bishop had granted him $5000 to pay all his expenses on the Camino. Wow! I’m in the wrong job!

Before I conclude this post, I must just say something about the albergue at T de A. The guy who was managing the place on behalf of the owner, the one who never stopped talking, became more and more of a pest. He would not take the hint to leave us alone and insisted on telling us his life story, where he had visited in the USA, where to shop in Pamplona and all the unusual idioms in the English language that he could think of. At 9.15 pm, I was in bed trying to read, the Canadian woman of my age was trying to get to sleep and the two younger girls (Chinese American and Danish) were in the kitchen next door and couldn’t get rid of him. He was so loud and words were spewing out of his mouth non-stop. Eventually I got up in a fury and told him to be quiet and leave us alone immediately. The others were a bit taken aback, but it did the trick! We didn’t see him this morning.

PS. Later in the day, near the Cathedral, I chanced upon Chris, the American priest. He was sitting on a park bench playing medieval tunes on the recorder: very beautifully all from memory. He told me I had paid for his lunch along with my own. What a joke! I suppose the waiter thought he was my toy boy.

Some photos near the Cathedral: