Running with the Bulls Pamplona Spain
On the morning of July 6th, the group of anglers we had in Spain all traveled from the lodge in Santa Celia to the Pyrenees foothill town of Pamplona, for the world famous Running of the Bulls. This group stayed for 4 days of great meals, excellent wines, numerous late-night cocktail parties and of course, the bull runs at 8 am each morning and the bullfights at 6:30 pm each evening.
The bulls that run in the streets each morning are the ones the fight in the ring that night. We have Seasons Tickets to the Bullring in Pamplona and every guest for the July 6-10 group got to sit in the 3rd row seats we own.
These seats put you about as close to the action as you can get and they offer an extraordinary vantage point from which to watch the fights. We all stayed at my apartment right on La Curva, where the bull run course transitions from Mercaderes to Estafeta Street. The apartment is amazing and its awfully nice to be able to wake up, grab a cup of coffee in the kitchen and then walk right out on to your balcony to watch the bull run each morning. This kind of experience is simply not available anywhere else.
The Running of the Bulls is one of the great parties on the planet and it rages both day and night from July 6-14. It is a highly social event that draws people from around the world. And with good reason considering how much fun everyone has when they get there. The party is non stop, with many brass and drum bands maurading the streets at all hours of the day and night.
On the morning of the 10th of July, the anglers left and a new group arrived that afternoon. All ladies and they were ready to have fun. One of the guests had been before with me while the others clearly had no idea what they were in for during the next four days. There were some absolutely hilarious late nights at the bars and some bleary eyes the next morning. All good clean fun and the entire group had a superb time.
The bullfights were slow to start the week with what I deemed to be fairly low quality bullfighters. No one stood out during the first four days. As the week progressed however, the bigger name matadors started to come in to town and the bullfights improved dramatically. The night of July 13 offered the finest night of bullfighting that I have ever seen. Pamplona favorite Juan Jose Padilla had a beautiful first bull and cut two ears. And Roca Rey then did the same with his second bull. Both were carried out of the ring triumphantly and with Padilla finally retiring after a brilliant 24-year career, there wasn’t a dry eye among the 20,000 fans in the ring who were lucky enough to get a ticket. It was extraordinary!
Only 320 days to go until San Fermin starts at noon on July 6, 2019
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