{"id":2180,"date":"2017-07-20T18:39:26","date_gmt":"2017-07-21T01:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/?p=2180"},"modified":"2017-07-20T18:39:26","modified_gmt":"2017-07-21T01:39:26","slug":"running-of-the-bulls-is-a-unique-pamplona-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/uncategorized\/2180\/running-of-the-bulls-is-a-unique-pamplona-tradition","title":{"rendered":"Running Of the Bulls Is a Unique Pamplona Tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Plaza

Plaza del Ayuntamiento during the opening ceremonies of Fiesta San Fermin<\/p><\/div>\n

Before dawn on the seventh day of the seventh month in Pamplona, Spain I walked out of the Hotel Palacio Guendulain, but not before swallowing a couple glasses of Russian vodka for courage\u2026an act I justified by imagining it came with the approval of Ernest Hemingway \u2013 a writer known for pickled prose. As revered as \u201cPapa\u201d is for glamorizing the dramatic annual tradition in his book \u201cThe Sun Also Rises,\u201d Hemingway, after witnessing a man being gored to death, refused to actually \u201crun with the bulls\u201d himself. But I was about to just that after first making the traditional stop at the\u00a0Church\u00a0of\u00a0San Fermin\u00a0to pray for my safety and the deliverance of the others who would join me on the old town\u2019s narrow, cobblestone streets after sunrise. Six massive bulls and six steers would be released to charge over a manic, half-mile route – and some of the runners \u2013 into the bull ring. For all the revelry and partying that went on throughout the opening night of the Festival of San Fermin, the church was quiet and tense as participants filed in and out on their way to the \u201cEncierro,\u201d a word that translates to \u201cenclosure,\u201d which is what the walled-off, boarded up streets become during the cartoonish cultural phenomenon known as \u201cRunning of the Bulls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Participants, each dressed in all white with a red neckerchief to salute the beheading of the martyr San Fermin, have to be on the streets by\u00a07 a.m.<\/span>, an hour before the church bells ring and two rockets signify the bulls have been released from their pen at Calle Santo Domingo and are storming up the sloped street.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you go through with this you must realize you are literally running for your life,\u201d warned Francisco, the local guide from MadeForSpainAndPortugal.com who coached me on where to position myself on the street and what to expect. Francisco told me he gave up running with the bulls once he had children. We practiced some \u201cwalk through\u201d simulations and the guide\u2019s advice, not only for the run but for authentically navigating the zany, boozy fiesta and its parades and cultural events, plus the Hemingway haunts and bullfights, was priceless.<\/p>\n

\"The

The bulls below a balcony bowling into “Dead Man’s Corner” along the “Encierro”<\/p><\/div>\n

After a pensive hour enclosed in the stately Plaza del Ayuntamiento, with residents leaning out of their balconies above the route above to watch, scream, and cheer, I heard the explosions of the rockets, which chilled my spine and shook my heart. There was no turning back\u2026especially when a platoon of panicked people came pouring up the street fleeing from the bulls, which, unbeknownst to me, had already, at the very start of their run, gored the first of three men they would injure that morning. Caught up in the stampede I began to run, bearing left, as I had been advised. In the corner of my right eye I caught a flash, and with a turn of my head, finally a full view of the ghostly beasts \u2013 the stars of the show \u2013 barreling in a mighty pack up the street to my right. Relief washed over me as I realized I unscathed as the bulls passed me and I ran with joy behind them up through \u201cdead man\u2019s corner\u201d and onto Estafeta, where the six, slower and less harmful steers then slid by on my left.<\/p>\n

The adrenaline had burned up all the pre-run vodka, so it was time for champagne to celebrate!<\/p>\n

Ultimately, three men were gored during that three-minute run, so if you\u2019d rather experience the world\u2019s most intriguing custom from the safety of a \u201cfront row seat\u201d with a local family in a balcony above the street, MadeForSpainAndPortgual.com can arrange that, too. It\u2019s like having a luxury box view of history at the world\u2019s greatest party!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Michael Patrick Shiels may be contacted at\u00a0<\/em>InviteYourself@aol.com<\/em><\/a>\u00a0or via TravelTattler.com\u00a0His talk show can be heard weekday mornings in\u00a0Lansing\u00a0on 92.1 FM.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before dawn on the seventh day of the seventh month in Pamplona, Spain I walked out of the Hotel Palacio… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":2181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[15,998809,1750,998838],"class_list":["post-2180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-europe","tag-pamplona","tag-spain","tag-running-with-the-bulls"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2017\/07\/Pamplona.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2180"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2183,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2180\/revisions\/2183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}