So, Pamplona’s annual bull running extravaganza is into day 2. All the fuss started with Hemmigway’s book, Fiesta/The Sun Also Rises, begins every year with an explosion of fireworks and ecstatic crowds (the chupinazo), and revolves around the daily encierro (running of the bulls), which often ends in serious injury, or even death, for an unfortunate foreigner.
Have you been? Is it the party of the century, the greatest of Spanish lunacies, or just one big excuse for getting very drunk? I suspect that the answer is all three roled into one!
I went four years ago, towards the end of the week’s fiestas, and found a city ravaged by drunken partying – very messy, empty bottles of drink all over the streets, young men wandering around like dazed, permanently hung over shadows of their former selves. So, NFS travel advice: aim to get there at the beginning of the week (starting July 7th) when the city’s energy levels are still at 100%!
Notes from Spain by Ben Curtis 