Памплона
Наварра
Испания
Fiesta San Fermin is a holiday that has been celebrated for over 800 years in the small town of Pamplona in northern Spain. The main event of the fiesta is “Encierro” – the running of festival participants from 12 angry bulls through the streets of the city.
San Fermin became widely known after Ernest Hemingway described it in his book The Sun Also Rises. Since then, more than 2.5 million tourists from all over the world come to this small town every year.
The Running of the Bulls takes place daily during the week of July 7-14 at eight o’clock in the morning. The signal to start is the launch of a signal flare. The bulls run along a specially designed track running through the city streets. The race ends in the bullring. The length of the distance is more than 800 meters. Duration of the race: about 4 minutes. Ambulances are on duty everywhere, as race participants are often injured as a result of collisions with a bull.
Not all tourists are allowed to participate in the race; many of them only watch the race from the balconies of houses that are rented out for big money by local residents.
In addition to the running of the bulls, the fiseta also includes mass folk festivities, during which a huge amount of alcohol is drunk: sangria, champagne and wine, which the participants pour on each other.
Pamplona is a small town and there is no airport. Nearest major cities: Biarritz and Bilbao. From Barcelona you can fly to these cities by plane. The best option to get from Barcelona to Pamplona is to come by train. Ticket price is about 35 euros. Travel time: about 4 hours.
