Old Town Festival Day

We had the good fortune of arriving in Pamplona yesterday, just in time for the Old Town Festival today. Every other street had musical bands and and large paper mâché characters. Quite lively! Some streets were impassable. People everywhere  -  and the buggy brigade was out in force. 

The kids had a great time, running around the characters and getting bopped by the sack this dude carried. 

We visited the Cathedral of Santa Maria la Real. It also houses a museum that contains artifacts of prehistoric bones and relics, a collection of medieval statues of the Virgin Mary, and a modern display that was beyond me - see picture below.

When David saw a display in the catacombs of a child's bones, he said - and I kid you not...

"They killed Kenny!"  I can't take him anywhere. 

Afterwards we sat out on the Plaza de Castillo having a ham and cheese sandwich at Cafe Iurana - a Hemmingway favorite. David pretended to be Hemmingway.  I had my picture taken with both "Hemmingways". 

We had a pleasant conversation with a UK couple sitting at the next table. They had just arrived in Pamplona and were waiting for at bus back to St Jean-Pied-de-Port, so they can start their walk tomorrow. He had all ready done his Compestela last year (last hundred kilometers to Santiago). But she had driven their RV from stop to stop, meeting him with a warm meal and bed every evening. This year they both will do the whole thing the more traditional way. 

A word about ham and cheese. It must be the regional Navarra dish. Aside from omelette sandwiches, it's about all you can get for lunch in the smaller villages. And it's usually the salty, cured variety. Every town has shops with cured ham and pork in the windows.  Thankfully we like ham and eggs.  Even so, it is nice to have hamburger on the menu tonight. 

The rest of the day was spent relaxing, nursing shin splints and checking out a new app (ecamino) for the trip.  It is supposed to publish a track of the hike so family can see where and how far we traveled each day.  Stay tuned we'll let you know if we get it to work.