What to do in Madrid
The city's major museums should not be overlooked. Note that the hours of many museums may vary during the summer, and smaller museums may be closed during July and August.
The Basilica de San Miguel
This is an unusual 18th-century church with an air of Italian Baroque in its convex facade and graceful interior.
The Church of San Isidro
This imposing 17th-century church was temporarily designated Madrid's cathedral in 1885, pending the completion of the Catedral de la Almudena, which was under construction for more than a century before its final completion in 1993. The entombed remains of St. Isidro, Madrid's male patron saint, and those of his wife, Santa Marfa de la Cabeza (St. Mary of the Head), are on the altar.
The Sorolla Studio and Museum
Joaquin Sorolla, the Valencian Impressionist painter of light, lived, worked, and died (in 1923) in this house. The studio and library remain intact. There's also a collection of his works.
The Cerralbo Museum
The palatial 19th-century mansion of the Marquis of Cerralbo houses an important collection of art, antiques, ceramics, tapestries, and ancient artifacts. Outstanding among the paintings are works by El Greco, Ribera, Velazquez, Zurbaran, and Van Dyck.
The City Museum Madrid
This relatively new museum testifies to the evolution of Madrid.
The Wax Museum Madrid
An international gallery of historic personages, including celebrity bullfighters and such fictional Spanish notables as Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Open daily. Admission charge. Centro Colon.
The National Museum of Decorative Arts
Four floors of furniture, porcelains, jewelry, Spanish tiles and fans, a full Valencian kitchen, and handicrafts from the 16th through 19th centuries.
The National Railway Museum Madrid
Madrid's first train station, the Estación de las Delicias, now is a museum complete with intact antique trains, royal cars, and other predecessors of the modern railroad.
The Pantheon of Goya Museum Madrid
Goya painted the magnificent religious frescoes on the dome and walls of this small 18thcentury church, which was to become his tomb. It's also called the Ermita de San Antonio (Hermitage of St. Anthony).
The Bullfighting Museum Madrid
A major collection of bullfighting memorabilia. Open daily during bullfighting season (May through October). Admission charge.
Templo de Debod Madrid
A gift from the Egyptian government in the 1970s, this 2,500-year old Egyptian temple was shipped to Madrid in 1,359 cases and reassembled, towering over a reflecting pool. Theater and music performances are held here in summer.
Pamplona and the bull run
The ultimate expression of Pamplona's gusto is the world-famous Fiesta de San FermIn, held annually in July to honor the city's native-born patron saint, martyred in 287. Without a doubt it is Spain's wildest event, highlighted by the famous encierros, or running of the bulls through the town streets, and by attendant non-stop revelry.
Festival de los San Fermines
The fiesta, also known as the Festival de Los San Fermines, originated in the 17th century and was immortalized by Ernest Hemingway in his first novel, The Sun also Rises (known as Fiesta in Spain). A number of other Spanish towns have similar runnings of the bulls, but they did not have the luck to be chronicled by Papa Hemingway. His book's vivid descriptions have drawn millions to Pamplona over the years, and in honor of his elevation of local fortunes there is a statue of the writer on Paseo Hemingway, next to the Plaza de Toros.
The capital of the ancient Pyrenean Basque kingdom of Navarre was founded as Pompaelo, after the Roman general Pompey, who camped here with his troops on a hillside above the Rio Arga (Arga River) in the winter of 7574 BC (in euskera, the Basque language, the city is called Iruiia). Long known as the Gateway to Spain, it lies at the junction of two mountain passes through the Pyrenees from France. Pamplona is now the capital of the region of Navarre, one of Spain's 17 autonomous communities, and with its large populartion has grown beyond the core of the Casco Viejo (Old Town) and its fortress walls.
The history of Pamplona
The city was occupied by the Visigoths in the 5th century, by the Franks in the 6th, and by the Moors in the 8th. The Basques, with the help of Charlemagne and his Frankish troops, drove the Moors out in 750. Charlemagne remained in Spain as an invader, however, and soon after he sacked Pamplona and tore down its defensive walls.
In an act of patriotic revenge, Basque forces annihilated the rear guard of Charlemagne's army, led by the legendary knight Roland, at Roncesvalles Pass in 778, an event later romanticized in the epic poem the Song of Roland. Sancho III of Navarre made the city the capital of his kingdom in the year 1000, and so it remained until 1512, when the forces of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella destroyed a second set of walls and occupied the city in the process of annexing Navarre to Castile.
In the same century, during a battle to recapture the city, a young army captain named Iigo Lopez de Loyola (who later became known to the English-speaking world as St. Ignatius of Loyola) was seriously wounded and endured a lengthy convalescence here. He began to study religion, and in the 1530s founded the Society of Jesus, the Catholic religious order whose members are called Jesuits. Still later in the century, Philip II began a third set of walls, turning Pamplona into the most heavily fortified city in northern Spain.
The old section of the city, still partly surrounded by the historic fortress walls, is filled with old aristocratic mansions, convents, and churches. Pamplona's central point is the Plaza del Castillo, whih offers an overview of the town's diverse architectural styles. Fascist classIc, Art Nouveau, and chrome and glass mix; arcades only make it partway around the plaza, and streets enter at odd, irregular angles.
The lack of architectural consistency carries over to the churches. The mostly Gothic Catedral bears an unusual classical Greco-Roman fa«ade of the Baroque era; the Iglesia de San Saturnino (St. Saturninus Church), a former fortress, is a composite of Gothic and Romanesque; and the exterior of the Iglesia de San Nicolas is that of a medieval castle with Gothic embellishments.
What is consistent, however, is the strong bond among the people of Pamplona, and their independent spirit. When Charlemagne came down from the north to drive out the Moors, the pamplonicas welcomed him WIth open arms as a liberator, but when his plan to conquer revealed itself, they quickly changed their tune. It also was in Pamplona that the Fueros, a bIll of rights similar to the Magna Carta, was signed m the 1st century. It guaranteed the people of Navarre independence from Castlllan monarchs, and imposed a system of justice still practiced today. Neighbors of the strongly separatist Basque Country, the pamplonicas, many of whom are Basque themselves, nonetheless maintain tolerance for political and cultural differences.
Car hire in Pamplona
If you are planning to visit Pamplona, particularly during the bull run, make sure you hire a car in plenty of time from the airport before you travel. The week of the Pamplona bull run in July is the busiest time of the year in the city, so pre-book car hire from Pamplona Airport before you fly.
Places to see in Pamplona
The most spectacular view of this hilltop city is from the roads descendIng the Pyrenees over the Roncesvalles and Puerto de Velate Passes round France. As you approach the city limits, the fortress walls rise dramatically over Pamplona, which is topped by the spires of the cathedral and the clustered buildings of the Casco Viejo. The wide green belt of parks, gardens, and tree-lined avenues' that surrounds the Casco Viejo makes the walls appear even more spectacular.
Special places to go in Pamplona
Pamplona is composed of a hlstoric core, the Casco VieJo (Old Town), rounded by modern suburbs. Just about everything a visitor will want to see is located in the old section, a compact area of extremely narrow, picturesque streets which can be traversed on foot in less than 15 minutes.
Three new parking lots in or near the Casco Viejoat Plaza de Toros, Plaza Blanca de Navarra, and Plaza San Franciscohave greatly eased the parking problems in the city center, but it's still a better idea to park on one of the streets outside the Casco Viejo. Pamplona's modern suburbs, more than mere residential areas, are centers of life with a full range of restaurants, shops, bars, nightclubs, and discotheques. The suburb of San Juan, west of the Casco Viejo, is considered the most desirable place to live.
The Plaza del Castillo Pamplona
This elegant, arcaded square is shaded by the intertwining boughs of carefully pruned trees. At the southwest corner of the plaza is the Palacio de la Diputacion Foral. Built in 1847 and enlarged in 1932, it is the seat of the regional government. The treelined Paseo de Sarasate, Pamplona's main promenade, begins at the south end of the plaza and runs past the imposing Monumento de los Fueros, commemorating the region's 13th-century bill of rights.
Pamplona Cathedral
Pamplona Cathedral stands at the northern tip of the Casco Viejo, hard against the ramparts. Built on the foundations of a 12th-century Romanesque church, it is basically 14th and 15th century Gothic, but its west facade is a Baroque, Greco-Roman fantasy that was constructed over the original Gothic portals in the late 18th century. The effect of stepping through this Baroque facade to find a soaring Gothic church on the inside is strange, to say the least. The major work in the otherwise bare cathedral is the 15th-century alabaster tomb of King Carlos III, the founder of the cathedral, and his wife, Queen Leonor of Castile. Besides various chapels and altarpieces, there is a beautiful Gothic cloister, with lacelike stonework over the arches and delicately carved doorways.
The cathedral's diocesan museum (museo diocesano), housed in the former monks' kitchen and refectory, contains polychrome sculptures of religious figures and other relics.
The annual bull run in Pamplona
The route from the bull corral to the bullring is 1.8 miles. At 8 AM, a chupinazo, or signal rocket, is launched as a warning to the participants, most of whom immediately start to run. Seconds later, another rocket signals the release of the bulls and the start of the encierro. If the bulls are not in a tight herd, a third rocket is fired to warn the runners of a separated or stray bull.
The encierro lasts only a few minutes. Once the bulls reach the ring, they are quickly penned, although the festivities continue inside the ring as the runners and other amateur matadors (equipped with blankets, sheets, newspapers, and other homemade capes) do battle with assorted escort calves and steers. The side streets along this mad, run for your life course are planked up, funneling both runners and bulls from the corral to the ring. Vantage points for spectators are hard to obtain after about 7 AM. The six bulls that are run each morning appear in the ring for the evening bullfights.
For many spectators, the real show is not the bullfights but the antics of the peiias (spectators) in the stands - one of the rowdiest crowds in the country who spend the entire time spraying each other with champagne, flour, powdered sugar, and sangria. Tickets for the bullfights are sold almost a year in advance, but 10% are held back and sold at the bullring each evening for the next day's fights. Get in line at about 5 PM if you hope to get one of these tickets; otherwise, deal with the dozens of scalpers who ring the arena each afternoon.
Though hotel space is tight during San Fermin, it is less of a problem than it used to be. In addition to standard accommodations, local families offer rooms for rent, and many of these are excellent bargains. For those interested in participating in the bull run, talk to a seasoned veteran and decide upon a strategy.
Local officials often discourage foreigners from participating in the encierro, and postcards and photos posted throughout the town showing gory scenes of bulls' horns sticking through runners usually serve as sufficient deterrence (last year more than 50 people were gored or otherwise injured during the encierros). Those who want to watch the festivities are encouraged to make arrangements to see them from the balcony of a pension or a private house, or to watch them on television (the runs are broadcast live throughout Spain).
Additional San Fermin festivities are focused in the Casco Viejo, including parades of papiermache giants and bands from Pamplona
The Basilica de San Miguel
This is an unusual 18th-century church with an air of Italian Baroque in its convex facade and graceful interior.
The Church of San Isidro
This imposing 17th-century church was temporarily designated Madrid's cathedral in 1885, pending the completion of the Catedral de la Almudena, which was under construction for more than a century before its final completion in 1993. The entombed remains of St. Isidro, Madrid's male patron saint, and those of his wife, Santa Marfa de la Cabeza (St. Mary of the Head), are on the altar.
The Sorolla Studio and Museum
Joaquin Sorolla, the Valencian Impressionist painter of light, lived, worked, and died (in 1923) in this house. The studio and library remain intact. There's also a collection of his works.
The Cerralbo Museum
The palatial 19th-century mansion of the Marquis of Cerralbo houses an important collection of art, antiques, ceramics, tapestries, and ancient artifacts. Outstanding among the paintings are works by El Greco, Ribera, Velazquez, Zurbaran, and Van Dyck.
The City Museum Madrid
This relatively new museum testifies to the evolution of Madrid.
The Wax Museum Madrid
An international gallery of historic personages, including celebrity bullfighters and such fictional Spanish notables as Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Open daily. Admission charge. Centro Colon.
The National Museum of Decorative Arts
Four floors of furniture, porcelains, jewelry, Spanish tiles and fans, a full Valencian kitchen, and handicrafts from the 16th through 19th centuries.
The National Railway Museum Madrid
Madrid's first train station, the Estación de las Delicias, now is a museum complete with intact antique trains, royal cars, and other predecessors of the modern railroad.
The Pantheon of Goya Museum Madrid
Goya painted the magnificent religious frescoes on the dome and walls of this small 18thcentury church, which was to become his tomb. It's also called the Ermita de San Antonio (Hermitage of St. Anthony).
The Bullfighting Museum Madrid
A major collection of bullfighting memorabilia. Open daily during bullfighting season (May through October). Admission charge.
Templo de Debod Madrid
A gift from the Egyptian government in the 1970s, this 2,500-year old Egyptian temple was shipped to Madrid in 1,359 cases and reassembled, towering over a reflecting pool. Theater and music performances are held here in summer.
Pamplona and the bull run
The ultimate expression of Pamplona's gusto is the world-famous Fiesta de San FermIn, held annually in July to honor the city's native-born patron saint, martyred in 287. Without a doubt it is Spain's wildest event, highlighted by the famous encierros, or running of the bulls through the town streets, and by attendant non-stop revelry.
Festival de los San Fermines
The fiesta, also known as the Festival de Los San Fermines, originated in the 17th century and was immortalized by Ernest Hemingway in his first novel, The Sun also Rises (known as Fiesta in Spain). A number of other Spanish towns have similar runnings of the bulls, but they did not have the luck to be chronicled by Papa Hemingway. His book's vivid descriptions have drawn millions to Pamplona over the years, and in honor of his elevation of local fortunes there is a statue of the writer on Paseo Hemingway, next to the Plaza de Toros.
The capital of the ancient Pyrenean Basque kingdom of Navarre was founded as Pompaelo, after the Roman general Pompey, who camped here with his troops on a hillside above the Rio Arga (Arga River) in the winter of 7574 BC (in euskera, the Basque language, the city is called Iruiia). Long known as the Gateway to Spain, it lies at the junction of two mountain passes through the Pyrenees from France. Pamplona is now the capital of the region of Navarre, one of Spain's 17 autonomous communities, and with its large populartion has grown beyond the core of the Casco Viejo (Old Town) and its fortress walls.
The history of Pamplona
The city was occupied by the Visigoths in the 5th century, by the Franks in the 6th, and by the Moors in the 8th. The Basques, with the help of Charlemagne and his Frankish troops, drove the Moors out in 750. Charlemagne remained in Spain as an invader, however, and soon after he sacked Pamplona and tore down its defensive walls.
In an act of patriotic revenge, Basque forces annihilated the rear guard of Charlemagne's army, led by the legendary knight Roland, at Roncesvalles Pass in 778, an event later romanticized in the epic poem the Song of Roland. Sancho III of Navarre made the city the capital of his kingdom in the year 1000, and so it remained until 1512, when the forces of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella destroyed a second set of walls and occupied the city in the process of annexing Navarre to Castile.
In the same century, during a battle to recapture the city, a young army captain named Iigo Lopez de Loyola (who later became known to the English-speaking world as St. Ignatius of Loyola) was seriously wounded and endured a lengthy convalescence here. He began to study religion, and in the 1530s founded the Society of Jesus, the Catholic religious order whose members are called Jesuits. Still later in the century, Philip II began a third set of walls, turning Pamplona into the most heavily fortified city in northern Spain.
The old section of the city, still partly surrounded by the historic fortress walls, is filled with old aristocratic mansions, convents, and churches. Pamplona's central point is the Plaza del Castillo, whih offers an overview of the town's diverse architectural styles. Fascist classIc, Art Nouveau, and chrome and glass mix; arcades only make it partway around the plaza, and streets enter at odd, irregular angles.
The lack of architectural consistency carries over to the churches. The mostly Gothic Catedral bears an unusual classical Greco-Roman fa«ade of the Baroque era; the Iglesia de San Saturnino (St. Saturninus Church), a former fortress, is a composite of Gothic and Romanesque; and the exterior of the Iglesia de San Nicolas is that of a medieval castle with Gothic embellishments.
What is consistent, however, is the strong bond among the people of Pamplona, and their independent spirit. When Charlemagne came down from the north to drive out the Moors, the pamplonicas welcomed him WIth open arms as a liberator, but when his plan to conquer revealed itself, they quickly changed their tune. It also was in Pamplona that the Fueros, a bIll of rights similar to the Magna Carta, was signed m the 1st century. It guaranteed the people of Navarre independence from Castlllan monarchs, and imposed a system of justice still practiced today. Neighbors of the strongly separatist Basque Country, the pamplonicas, many of whom are Basque themselves, nonetheless maintain tolerance for political and cultural differences.
Car hire in Pamplona
If you are planning to visit Pamplona, particularly during the bull run, make sure you hire a car in plenty of time from the airport before you travel. The week of the Pamplona bull run in July is the busiest time of the year in the city, so pre-book car hire from Pamplona Airport before you fly.
Places to see in Pamplona
The most spectacular view of this hilltop city is from the roads descendIng the Pyrenees over the Roncesvalles and Puerto de Velate Passes round France. As you approach the city limits, the fortress walls rise dramatically over Pamplona, which is topped by the spires of the cathedral and the clustered buildings of the Casco Viejo. The wide green belt of parks, gardens, and tree-lined avenues' that surrounds the Casco Viejo makes the walls appear even more spectacular.
Special places to go in Pamplona
Pamplona is composed of a hlstoric core, the Casco VieJo (Old Town), rounded by modern suburbs. Just about everything a visitor will want to see is located in the old section, a compact area of extremely narrow, picturesque streets which can be traversed on foot in less than 15 minutes.
Three new parking lots in or near the Casco Viejoat Plaza de Toros, Plaza Blanca de Navarra, and Plaza San Franciscohave greatly eased the parking problems in the city center, but it's still a better idea to park on one of the streets outside the Casco Viejo. Pamplona's modern suburbs, more than mere residential areas, are centers of life with a full range of restaurants, shops, bars, nightclubs, and discotheques. The suburb of San Juan, west of the Casco Viejo, is considered the most desirable place to live.
The Plaza del Castillo Pamplona
This elegant, arcaded square is shaded by the intertwining boughs of carefully pruned trees. At the southwest corner of the plaza is the Palacio de la Diputacion Foral. Built in 1847 and enlarged in 1932, it is the seat of the regional government. The treelined Paseo de Sarasate, Pamplona's main promenade, begins at the south end of the plaza and runs past the imposing Monumento de los Fueros, commemorating the region's 13th-century bill of rights.
Pamplona Cathedral
Pamplona Cathedral stands at the northern tip of the Casco Viejo, hard against the ramparts. Built on the foundations of a 12th-century Romanesque church, it is basically 14th and 15th century Gothic, but its west facade is a Baroque, Greco-Roman fantasy that was constructed over the original Gothic portals in the late 18th century. The effect of stepping through this Baroque facade to find a soaring Gothic church on the inside is strange, to say the least. The major work in the otherwise bare cathedral is the 15th-century alabaster tomb of King Carlos III, the founder of the cathedral, and his wife, Queen Leonor of Castile. Besides various chapels and altarpieces, there is a beautiful Gothic cloister, with lacelike stonework over the arches and delicately carved doorways.
The cathedral's diocesan museum (museo diocesano), housed in the former monks' kitchen and refectory, contains polychrome sculptures of religious figures and other relics.
The annual bull run in Pamplona
The route from the bull corral to the bullring is 1.8 miles. At 8 AM, a chupinazo, or signal rocket, is launched as a warning to the participants, most of whom immediately start to run. Seconds later, another rocket signals the release of the bulls and the start of the encierro. If the bulls are not in a tight herd, a third rocket is fired to warn the runners of a separated or stray bull.
The encierro lasts only a few minutes. Once the bulls reach the ring, they are quickly penned, although the festivities continue inside the ring as the runners and other amateur matadors (equipped with blankets, sheets, newspapers, and other homemade capes) do battle with assorted escort calves and steers. The side streets along this mad, run for your life course are planked up, funneling both runners and bulls from the corral to the ring. Vantage points for spectators are hard to obtain after about 7 AM. The six bulls that are run each morning appear in the ring for the evening bullfights.
For many spectators, the real show is not the bullfights but the antics of the peiias (spectators) in the stands - one of the rowdiest crowds in the country who spend the entire time spraying each other with champagne, flour, powdered sugar, and sangria. Tickets for the bullfights are sold almost a year in advance, but 10% are held back and sold at the bullring each evening for the next day's fights. Get in line at about 5 PM if you hope to get one of these tickets; otherwise, deal with the dozens of scalpers who ring the arena each afternoon.
Though hotel space is tight during San Fermin, it is less of a problem than it used to be. In addition to standard accommodations, local families offer rooms for rent, and many of these are excellent bargains. For those interested in participating in the bull run, talk to a seasoned veteran and decide upon a strategy.
Local officials often discourage foreigners from participating in the encierro, and postcards and photos posted throughout the town showing gory scenes of bulls' horns sticking through runners usually serve as sufficient deterrence (last year more than 50 people were gored or otherwise injured during the encierros). Those who want to watch the festivities are encouraged to make arrangements to see them from the balcony of a pension or a private house, or to watch them on television (the runs are broadcast live throughout Spain).
Additional San Fermin festivities are focused in the Casco Viejo, including parades of papiermache giants and bands from Pamplona
Labels: The Bullfighting Museum Madrid
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