Beaches and Bulls!

Toros! Toros! Toros!

(Pamplona/Iruna San Fermin Festival – Running of the Bulls 2009)

First of all, a huge

“Good Onya!”

to Jase, Mesiti and Para for doing the run. Way to go guys! Pam, Szemei and I cheered on in spectatorial and photographic support 🙂

Trio the afternoon before the big run!

…but more on that later.
……

San Sebastian

Days were spent lazing around the gorgeous beach town of San Sebastian. I stayed in an amazing hostel called David Quinn, which was more like a guy’s apartment – super chilled and run by great people, and always with a fun crew of travellers!

Pam, my travel buddy and fellow St.Joey’s (primary school) girl joined me here. Hi Pam!

Pam (on mountaintop retro fun park) !

I was literally a stone’s throw from the beach and promenade, where I spent a lot of time…

Playa de la Concha - San Sebastian

The same beach at sunset around 10.30pm

The Old Town/Latin Quarter/Parte Viaje was beautiful, and full of great pinxto/tapas bars (as well as hidden surprise churches)…

Parte Viejo - Old Town

The views from the hilltop Jesus (statue), the ancient fairground up the top of the ‘mountain’, and other piers were also beautiful!
People here live and breathe the beach, everyone is so tanned and weathered!

Of course, the Saturday Sangria Party and crowded bars also added to the experience 😀

Also, I don’t want to eat for another week!

…

Pamplona – San Fermin!

…

A sea of red, white and pink (for those covered in Sangria).

Red & White!

What a vibe! From the tiniest baby to elderly couples, and all inbetween – everyone got into the spirit of San Fermin!

It was wicked to share the fun with mates from Sydney 😀

We were going to be there for the last bull run on the morning of July 14th. The night before, like every night, was one huge street party. Pam and I had many a fun run-in with the friendly locals while the guys got some much-needed rest!

Mesiti getting into it 🙂

Pam & revellers!

Daddy & daughter! Awww!

Unlike many, we weren’t relegated to crashing in some freezing park. Thank you guys for the hotel room floor!
In the morning, the guys awoke to prepare themselves for the daunting task ahead, while Szemei, Pam and I set out to find the best vantage point. Good luck guys!

Going to bed before the run!

Girls at the stadium

Medicos & Policia - the essentials

We ended up upstairs in the stadium, where we stood outside with a view of the runners and bulls entering the stadium. The atmosphere was electric!
A few minutes past 8am, we saw runners start to trickle in, then more and more running with more panic! Szemei even managed to catch Para and Mesiti on her camera! Then came the crowd of huge bulls running in a pack.

Running into the stadium! - the last stretch of the run

As soon as they entered the stadium, we ran inside to the ringside seats, where we could watch the release of the baby bulls on the crowd of runners. Jase, Para and Mesiti were all in the ring, but had enough brains to stay out of the line of fire!

Throw!

Trodden!

Runners form a bridge for the bull to jump over, into the ring

…
The guys said that the scariest part was waiting for the gun to go. The anticipation, not knowing what was going on or where the bulls were, the panic on everyone’s faces as they started bolting…intense!

Again, awesome work guys! You’ve done it now!!!

…
Xox

Ange