One step forward, two steps back...
Puente la Reina marks the end of the Camino Aragones and (for us) the start of the Camino Frances.
That makes it the perfect place to take a day out and rest - especially when rain is forecast all day long!
This morning we said goodbye to Suzanne from Montreal, with whom we have been walking since Oloron-Sainte-Marie. Her camino ends here. We accompanied her to the bus stop to take the bus to Írun, then the train to Bordeaux and the plane back home. Then we waited for the bus to Pamplona.
Across from us on the other side of the street, a dozen or so pilgrims, looking like colourful hunchbacks in their rain ponchos, huddled in the rain waiting to take the bus forward along the Camino, perhaps just one stage to get to their intended destination for the day without walking in the rain, or perhaps to skip a number of stages because they are short of time. But we were the only ones taking the bus back a stage to Pamplona!
The Camino Aragones does not pass through Pamplona, and we wanted to see the city before going on. Tomorrow we will walk from Pamplona back to Puente la Reina, and perhaps a few kilometres farther.
Upon arriving in Pamplona we left our backpacks at our hostel and then attended Mass at the cathedral. We spent the rest of the day wandering around Pamplona, looking into shops with names like Caminoteca and enjoying a large and delicious lunch at Maltea bar/restaurant across from the city hall.
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| Monument to Hemingway in front of the Plaza de Toros |
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| Basque squat/social centre |
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