Thursday, June 9, 2016

Pamplona


On Tuesday, we left Madrid for Pamplona by train. The Atocha Station in Madrid is very easy to access and has metro lines, train lines, and bus lines. You can buy train tickets online, but we wanted to get to the station before buying tickets to be sure of our timing. We arrived at the station at 10:30 before an 11:35 train. It is a good thing we were there so early because the line to buy tickets took 45 minutes. The blessing in this though was that instead of charging us 67 Euro per ticket for 3 tickets, the man at the ticket counter sold us a family pack of four tickets for 23 Euro per ticket which saved us about 100 Euro.

The train station is well marked and it was easy to find our platform, specific car, and seats. We grabbed triangle sandwiches and chips to eat on the way.
When we arrived in Pamplona, it was not very clear where we should go next. The city bus line maps made no sense, but we decided to hop on one and see where we ended up. Bus fare for the three of us was 4 Euros. After about 10 minutes on the bus, we realized that we left one of our bags at the train station bus stop.

We decided to get off the bus and try to figure out how to return to the station. We tried to catch a bus going the other way but then realized it was not going to the train station. We walked about a block and saw a taxi cab. Hallelujah! The taxi driver took us back to the train station where we found our bag sitting right where we left it. Then the taxi driver took us straight to the Jesus and Maria Albergue, and all for only 9 Euro. I really feel we were meant to leave the bag so that we would find the taxi and make our way to the albergue. The phrase used is “the Camino provides.”

The albergue is in an ancient Jesuit monestary where the beds are tucked into the cloisters of the old church. It is run by an organization that employs people with cerebral palsy. It has 114 beds in top and bottom bunks with shared bathroom and laundry facilities. It was surprisingly quiet for all of the people it housed.

We walked the streets of Pamplona that evening. Something interesting about Spanish culture - all of the locals come out into the street in the evening to stroll or talk with friends. Adults, kids, dogs - everyone is outside enjoying the evening air. Dinner is not served until 8pm at the earliest. We ate at an outdoor cafe and had seafood paella and a cod, potato, and tomato stew with red wine (vino tinto) and bread. All for 12 Euro each. What we didn't do (and what Pamplona is known for) is have tapas also known as pintxos (pronounced “peenchos”). We looked for a tapas bar and couldn't really find one, so the outdoor cafe was our dinner. It was muy delicioso!

At the albergue that night, we suited up with earplugs and eye masks to drown out the “sights and sounds” of all those people sleeping. It was actually a fairly quiet night.

The next morning we went to the cafe down the street for desayuno (breakfast). Breakfast in Spain is coffee or tea with a bread of some kind (muffin, croissant, coffee cake). Then we stepped out to begin the Camino Frances.

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