When you hear the word Pamplona, what do you think? First guess- “Running of the Bulls.” Correct? Okay, T.W.O. thought so! While in Spain, T.W.O. had the chance to experience the weeklong festival celebrating San Fermin, patron Saint of Navarra for one day. Actually, lets clarify….a couple hours!

Getting to Pamplona from San Sebastian isn’t hard, but making a day trip of it can be a little bit challenging if you wanted to see the run at 8am. (The first train that arrives is at 8:30am, which is already too late to see the run.) The solution….car service! T.W.O. travelled to Pamplona in style with a private driver. Arriving in Pamplona around 7am, T.W.O.’s first mission was to get the gear…the white capri pants and the red scarf. CHECK! Next, T.W.O. luckily had some family friends that were saving a spot on the last turn before going into the bull ring so they were able to see the run from the first row. Well, behind the barricades that housed the police and medics…so second row. CHECK!

The town was lively, full of “hydrated” people roaming/ stumbling the streets of Pamplona. Ambulances lined the city streets… re-assuring, right? Balconies were filled with spectators, anticipating the run as we watched them hoping the balcony didn’t collapse. Needless to say, it was quite the scene!

8am…..GO TIME! It was the fastest 30 seconds of T.W.O.’s life, watching people run for their lives….Some making it, others eating it on the cobblestone and the rest jumping over the barricades to escape the large beasts. The bulls wore bells around their neck, so the runners heard them coming. Torro! Torro! Torro!

It was a trip well-made and T.W.O. was glad that they can say they “ran with the bulls”.

Ole! Ole!