Pamplona: Running with Bulls
Have you ever wanted to follow in Hemingway’s footsteps and run with the bulls through the streets of Pamplona?
I must admit to some romanticized notions about the annual event. However, every year in the reporting about the event, there are details about the injuries (and occasional death) of the foolish runners. The most common injury is goring. Big surprise. It also seems that alcohol consumption is often involved, and if that’s the case, I’d much rather be sitting in a café drinking wine and watching the runners (humans and bulls) pass me by.
The running of the bulls is just part of the larger fiesta, named after the city’s patron saint, San Fermin. Originally, the running of the bulls was merely a convenient way to re-locate them to a different area of the town. Despite repeated efforts to stop the running, by the late 1800’s it had become a well-established tradition.
The modern day running of the bulls occurs daily during the fiesta, at 8 a.m., and is a roughly a three minute, half mile run with six bulls. The run ends in the bullring.
If the running of the bulls appalls, rather than excites, you can check out an alternative offered by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). Its annual event is called the Running of the Nudes, and will take place the day before the Festival of San Fermin and the running of the bulls. It’s an organized run through those same streets by scantily clad runners.
Travel is about choices, so next week (the festival runs July 5th-14th) you can run with the bulls or run with the nudes. What a choice.
Charge!
Photo credit: flickr
Tags: flight+attendants, Pamplona, Spain, travel, vacationRelated Stories
POSTED IN: European Travel, Things to See & Do
0 opinions for Pamplona: Running with Bulls
No one has left a comment yet. You know what this means, right? You could be first!
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: