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Tag Archives: Spain
Toilet Paper Street Art
Plaza Mayor, in Madrid, Spain, seems to be a gathering place for a lot of the city’s street artists and street performers. A quick stroll through the town’s square and you’ll easily encounter a half-dozen performers doing a variety of things, on top of the locals and their children strolling along as well. The town square being an actual gathering place for locals and tourists is something I love about European towns.
On our last night in Spain, my wife and I strolled along enjoying the sights and sounds of Europe for one last time, while reminiscing about the favorite parts of our trip. As we approached nearly the center of the square, we realized came upon a bunch of loose toilet paper streams tied to a grate in the ground. As we looked and tried to figure out what was going on, a train raced by on the subway tracks below and up came the toilet paper.
Apparently it was the work of a street artist, and the toilet paper was light enough to dance around as a trained raced by on the tracks below. Living in Chicago, I’ve seen a lot of street artists and street performers, but it was the first time I’d ever seen toilet paper and subway grates to create art.
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Running Revelers
This is always one of my favorite blog posts of the year.
A few years ago, for my thirtieth birthday, a few friends and I gathered in Pamplona, Spain for the annual Festival de San Fermin — better known as the Running of the Bulls. It was the craziest party I have ever been to and a fantastic way to welcome in another decade of living life.
On my end, it took about a year-and-a-half of planning to make things work, and one person who joined us did it all within a month of departure. The Festival de San Fermin is really whatever each participant makes of it.
Something quite frequent in Pamplona during the Running of the Bulls is people taking a “day trip” from Madrid or Barcelona. They’d spend several hours on a bus drinking and getting revved up only to arrive in Pamplona to hit the ground running. Basically, the bus would drop them off in the late afternoon, they’d party all night long, watch the bulls run in the morning and head back to the bus shortly thereafter, sleeping all the way back to their point of departure. Also, it wasn’t uncommon to see people partying all night long and sleeping in the park during the day.
I’m slightly more prissy, so I booked a room on Calle Estefeta with a balcony overlooking the bull run route. It was the swankiest hotel room I’ve ever stayed in, but well worth the money. The sound-proof doors and windows did their job as I was blasted with a wall of noise when I opened the balcony doors in the morning.
Our view couldn’t have been better as we stood on our balcony watching the longest stretch of the route a few stories below us. Every year since then, I stay awake until 8AM Pamplona time to watch the Running of the Bulls via the internet. The festival continues for eight days, so I may not get to watch every run, but I certainly make an effort to watch a few.
By the way, last year I put together a “So, you wanna run with the bulls, huh?” type of entry. Feel free to click your way over and learn about what I did to make my Running of the Bulls experience an absolutely fantastic (and safe) adventure.
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Cathedral of Segovia, Spain
This is Spain’s Segovia Cathedral. (I also have a night-time picture of this same cathedral posted in the European Photography Gallery).
The fun part about the town of Segovia, aside from it’s centuries old — and still functioning aqueduct — is it was here Christopher Columbus convinced the King of Spain to fund his trip West to find an easier trade route. Instead of finding India, Columbus and his ships stumbled upon the New World.
July 2009. (0160)
Aqueduct of Segovia
No one really knows when the Aqueduct of Segovia, Spain was constructed, but researchers estimate it to have been built around the late-1st Century AD and the early years of the 2nd Century by the Romans, when Segovia was a military base. The aqueduct would supply the town with water from mountains 11 miles (17km) away. It was actively used until the 19th Century, but impressively, it can still carry a stream of water.
July 2009. (0045)
More Running of the Bulls
The 2011 Festival of San Fermin kicked off this morning at noon local time in Pamplona. Each morning, for the next eight mornings, I’ll stay up and watch the bull runs online.
While in Pamplona, we booked a hotel room having a balcony over-looking the route. Every morning we were there, we’d wake up, watch the Running of the Bulls, and go back to bed. We had friends joining us on the balcony, which made it a nice experience for all of us to not have to stand out by the church at 6AM just to make sure we got a quick glimpse as the half-ton bulls ran by. As it worked out, our balcony was two rooms down from Hemingway’s room, when he wrote about the running of the bulls in The Sun Also Rises. Point being, our balcony was in a prime location on the longest stretch of the bull run route (Calle Estafeta) so we had a nice, long glimpse of the shenanigans.
After we left Pamplona for Madrid, Alisha and I would still wake up every morning at 7:45AM to watch the bull run live on national TV, then we’d stay up for a half-an-hour watching the commentary, and then go back to bed.
I still think the Running of the Bulls was the greatest party I’ve ever attended.
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Sangria
While in Spain, I wanted to photograph the 16th-century Cathedral dominating the town of Segovia’s main plaza.
It was our first night arriving in Spain and it was nice to just sit in the plaza, enjoy a pitcher of sangria, and wait for the sun to go down (and the sky to get the color that I’m waiting for). While we waited, locals and tourists alike made themselves comfortable at tables and just enjoyed the evening, as well.
During the course of the night, it occurred to us that the plaza was the town’s babysitter. Men would walk to the plaza with their kids, enjoy a drink and conversation while the children ran around nearby. The sun seemed to set very slowly, which was fine by us (this picture was taken at 9:40PM).
Somewhere during the course of the evening, I decided that, even if we left in the morning, it was worth it to come all this way, enjoy a glass of sangria, and head home. Of course we stayed for the duration of our travel plans, but it was nice to see and experience other cultures and how they do Life. Sometimes that little infusion of another country’s culture is what I crave.
Not unlike Segovia’s town plaza playing the roll of the babysitter, in my neighborhood of Chicago we get together and let the kids run amuck, but it’s usually once a year and we close the street down for a “block party.” In this small Spanish town, it’s called “just another Tuesday.”
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Segovia, Spain
Having a couple of extra days in Spain before making our way to Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls, Alisha and I went to Segovia for a few nights. Two things in Segovia worth seeing are the Roman aqueduct, which is centuries old and still functioning, and the original inspiration for Walt Disney’s idea for the Magic Kingdom’s castle. Segovia is also the town in which Christopher Columbus was in when he convinced the King of Spain to fund his crazy trip West, to the Indie’s, which he accident found the Americas instead.
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Window Watching
I like that I have a new opportunity to take pictures and actually do something with them. Well, not much, but still do something with them — like post them on my website. After having gone through my pictures from the Running of the Bulls, this picture was very quickly passed over. It doesn’t have the same captivating quality like some of the other pictures from that event, but I still really like it none-the-less.
Over-looking the main road that the Running of the Bulls goes down (Calle Estafeta), an older gentleman was peering out of his window all morning long, watching the world go by. Moments before the Running of the Bulls took place, this small boy joined him and watched the festivities as well.
I’d like to think in sixty years the small boy will be looking out the window on the right, and his young grandson will also be looking out the window on the left.
(And I can only hope I’ll be around in sixty years to go back and see.)
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Running of the Bulls Travel Tips
So, you want to do the Running of the Bulls, in Pamplona, Spain?
The first thing you need to know is the entire festival is EXTREMELY graphic with the half-ton bulls goring whoever they can. The bullfights. The excessive drinking. The protests. If you’ve got a good head on your shoulders, you’ll be just fine.
Officially the festival is referred to as the Festival of San Fermin, but thanks to Ernest Hemingway and his book The Sun Also Rises, most refer to it as the Running of the Bulls. (It should be noted there is FAR more going on for the festival then just The Running.) Originally the festival was nothing to do with running of bulls down the street, and it was just about the bull fights in the evening. However, some time back, as the people were walking the Bulls from the fields to the bull ring, someone thought it’d be fun to run in front of the bulls – instead of behind. After a couple of years things caught on, some guy mentioned it in a book and the Festival of San Fermin would become one of the parties of Europe.
PLANNING
To coincide with my 30th birthday, we decided to attend the 2009 Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain. Two years prior we started planning where we were going and how to get there. Once we booked our hotel, we then booked flights. (The Festival was July of 2009. We booked hotel and flights in November of 2008.)
GETTING TO PAMPLONA
Our airfare would have been over $1,000 per person (Chicago to Switzerland to Madrid), but we used frequent flyer miles to save on costs. As mentioned earlier, we booked our flights in November and had no issues with using airline miles. One of the other guys meeting up for the festival decided last-minute to join up and his flight was $800 (Chicago to Dublin to Barcelona).
In Europe, you can mostly show up at a train station and purchase tickets in the hour or so before you travel. This is not the case with getting to Pamplona for the festival. Make sure you get your train tickets in advance. (We bought them in Madrid the day before travel, and one train had no second class seats remaining, and the other train had no first class seats available.) We purchased our train tickets back to Madrid once we reached Pamplona.
LODGING
We stayed at the Gran Hotel la Perla, which one side faces the Plaza del Castillo while the other side is on Calle Estafeta, which is part of the route the bulls will use. The hotel wanted their money — paid in full — at the time of booking through a wire transfer to their bank. The cost of a room with a balcony on the route was six times what the “off-season” price was. The six of us fit snugly onto our balcony. (The four others split two rooms at a hostel for 200 euros per night, with a shared bathroom.) http://www.granhotellaperla.com
THE FESTIVAL
One account I read about the Festival of San Fermin was how many days to stay for the Running of the Bulls? The suggestion was four days/three nights. I think it was the perfect amount of time. We arrived in Pamplona the night before the opening ceremony (trying to make it for the Running of the Nudes), then left after the second bull run.
PETA leads a protest called “Running of the Nudes” through the bullrun route on noon on July 5th. It’s their way of drawing attention to the cruelty the animals face. (It seems to be a hybrid idea between protesting and the old saying, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”) We did not make it to Pamplona in time to see the nearly-naked folks run down the street, but everything I’ve read says it’s not a violent or angry thing by any means, its sort of the “Opening Act” to the party. http://www.runningofthenudes.com/
The festival begins on July 6th at noon in the main plaza of town, Plaza Ayuntamiento. If you want to be in the plaza for the celebration, arrive no later then 10:00 AM. Do not wear jewelry (this includes earrings, necklaces, bracelets, watches, etc.), nor should you bring along your purse or a backpack. Close-toed shoes are a must with all of the broken glass. Anyone claustrophobic should rethink about going to watch opening ceremonies from the plaza. Whatever you wear will get soiled with a variety of things.
At 12:00 a rocket is fired into the air and everyone holds up their red bandanas to salute San Fermin. At this moment, the crowd starts to dispel and now it is acceptable to wear your bandana around your neck (it’s normally worn around the wrist until the festival begins).
During the festival, a variety of things occur every day. The Toro de Fuego (“Fire Bull”) is a paper-mache bull with fireworks attached and runs the route of the bulls. Fireworks galore. Gigantes y Cabezudos (giant paper-mache dancers and over-sized heads) torment adults and children. Bands in the Plaza del Castillo. Throw in some time to drink and be festive and its very easy to spend three days merry-making and never really stop to sleep.
RUNNING OF THE BULLS
The bullrun occurs every morning at 08:00 AM from July 7th through 14th. The bulls start near the church on Cuesta de Santo Domingo, turn left on Mercedes (in front of the town hall), turn right onto Estafeta, left on Telefonos and into the bullring they go. There are six bulls are four hefers. If you’re not going to run with the bulls, be in position to watch along the route by 06:00AM at the latest. Bring a sweatshirt you don’t mind losing, perhaps a deck of cards to pass some time, and maybe something to read. The church on Cuesta de Santo Domingo is one of the best free places to watch from. If you’d like to watch from the bullring, there are monitors set up to watch the bullrun (televised nationally every day) before they get to the bull ring.
If you are planning on running, please be smart about it. There are websites out there which have pretty good information on the safest parts of the route to run, and what to expect. Time-wise, I never really saw a time-table of what to expect for the Running of the Bulls. Here’s what I saw while attending:
07:30AM the streets are cleared of the drunk people milling about. (I felt sorry for the people who were there ready to run, only to be cleared away by the police.) After the streets are cleared of people, debris and trash is cleaned up by the street sweepers.
07:50AM those willing (and sober enough) to run are allowed to take their positions on the route.
08:00AM a rocket is fired into the air to announce the bulls have been released to the streets. A second rocket is fired when the bulls reach the people. A third rocket is fired when the bulls reach the bullring. A fourth (and final) rocket is fired to announce all of the bulls are safely in the bullrun stable.
If you’re going to run, wear good running shoes and enter the route in the designated entry areas. Know that people are aggressive as they run; every “bull versus man” incident we saw was a result of a runner tripping over another runner and wiping out in front of a bull. (This is one of the reasons why I didn’t run. I knew I could out-manuever a bull, but the guy I saw shoving other runners out of his way was a concern to me.)
BULLFIGHTS
We paid fifty euros to a scalper to sit five rows from the back on the shady side of the bullring. The sunny side was chaos and fantastic to watch from our vantage point. The bull fight was not-so-awesome to watch, as anyone can win when it is eight versus one.
Overall, the Running of the Bulls was an amazing experience. At the bullfight, we sat next to an old Spaniard who filled us in on the goings-on for the festival. He ran with the bulls that morning and the previous twenty-two years as well. He said Pamplona was his number three party on the list, after Carnaval in Brazil and Oktoberfest in Germany. As for our party, it was an awesome experience and I’m so glad to have been a part of it. We didn’t run, but didn’t need to with a spectacular balcony overlooking the longest stretch of the route.
Random notes: Whoever you’re planning on going with, make sure they’re good, stable people. Don’t bring anyone who is a “bad drunk.” … Be prepared to spend some serious cash. … Be safe with your belongings. Use the hotel’s safe. Use a money belt. … Every bull dies every year. You’ll end up cheering for the bulls during the festival. … If you’re a vegetarian, you’ll have a slightly more difficult time finding food. … Red and white is the attire of the festival. Cheap white pants and white shirts can be purchased at several locations around Pamplona. Red scarves and bandanas can be purchased readily as well. … Don’t wear any clothes at the festival that you don’t want to get dirty. … About.com has an information-packed website, but I wanted to write down some random things which I thought were good to know. Click your way over there when you’re done here (if you haven’t already been over there yet). http://gospain.about.com/od/spanishfestivals/a/pamplonabullrun.htm
That’s our trip in a nut-shell; there are some pictures posted in the Europe travel gallery. Make your trip your own adventure and take a lot of pictures along the way.
And send home postcards. Everyone loves postcards.
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Follow Along
