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Baltasar G S, CC-BY

BLANCA: We have prepared a plan for you for next Monday morning. As you have spent all the week in on the course, we think that you will probably prefer some to breathe fresh air, to do a nice walk or something like that. What do you think?

MIKEL: That’s a good idea!

ANA: There are some nice walks around the walls….They are not the Great Wall of China, but the walls of Pamplona are said to be one of the most interesting and best preserved defensive complexes in Spain. They say a lot about the military character of the city, which remained safe from the attacks of her enemies over the ages.

One of the most beautiful places on the wall is The Ciudadela, once the place for the military pavilions, ditches, bulwarks and bastions, now made into a sports and cultural venue. While crossing through one of the big gates that surround it, we can visit one of the art exhibition rooms, or just have a walk, or take a rest on the wide grass fields and imagine for a while that you are in the 16th century. I used to do it when I was a student and needed to relax after an exam!”

BLANCA: Surrounding the Citadel like a green belt, you can find the Vuelta del Castillo. With 280.000 sq.m. covered with trees and grass fields, It is the green lung of the city. This area is a meeting place for joggers, amateur footballers and walkers and it’s also the best place to attend the fireworks every night during the Sanfermines festival. I remember the Circus settling there when I was a child.

And then we could go to see The Taconera Gardens. It is the oldest and most beautiful and emblematic park in Pamplona. Its 90,000 square meters are located near the old city walls very close to the Old Quarter of the city, and the park has a marked romantic and Versaillesque character. In fact, my wedding photographies were taken there, so I ‘m very fond of this place.
The mini-zoo in the moat of the walls that contains deer, ducks, pheasants, swans, peacocks… in a state of semi-freedom and is often visited by families with little children.
The Viennese Café is a popular place for artists and students or simply to meet friends.

ANA: From the Taconera, we can get to the Museum of Navarra, the most prestigious museum in Pamplona, it’s worth the visit. It occupies an old hospital, and overlooks the Cuesta Santo Domingo, on the old part of the city. From there, we can pay a visit to the General Archive of Navarre, a beautiful building which used to be a Palace, the residence for Bishops and Kings in the Middle Ages, and now are the new headquarters of the Archive, which holds very valuable documents that give you an idea of the importance of the old kingdom of Navarre.

MIKEL: What about the Cathedral of Saint Mary?

BLANCA: Well, it’s the most emblematic monument in Pamplona and it’s devoted to a Romanesque Virgin from the 12th century, the oldest image of Maria in Navarre. Do you know that the kings of Navarre were crowned, christened or blessed before this image? Although I particularly hate his neoclassical facade, when you enter it you are immediately transported to the Middle Ages, thanks to the Gothic architecture, with its stained glass windows, the starry blue vault, the alabaster sepulchre of King Carlos III and his wife, Leonor. Another curiosity is that it has the second biggest bell in Spain, la Campana María, weighing around 12.000 kg.

What it’s essential to visit is the Cloister, the jewel of the Cathedral. Few cloisters around Europe can match it.

The most important spots are the Puerta Preciosa, the most beautiful gate, the keystones, the 24 lancet arches or Barbazana Chapel, devoted to the bishop Arnaldo Barbazán.

Next to the Cathedral is The Caballo Blanco, one of the best viewpoints on the Northside of the town and the oldest part of the walls. I remember going there with my grandmother when I was a child to see a man making ropes with a big wooden wheel. It has also a nice terrace and the Barbazana Way, a pleasant walk that takes you to the Parque de la Media Luna.

ANA: I like very much that park, one of the oldest and most beautiful parks in the city and a romantic place. It owes its name (literally, “half-moon park”), to its design in the form of a waning moon and it is located in the southern end of the city walls. The park has excellent views from its elevated position over the river and a wide variety of tree species, including a beautiful giant sequoia. In a corner of the park there is a monument to Pablo Sarasate, the famous violinist from Pamplona.

At to finish the walk, we can have a drink in the terrace of its café, a particularly popular meeting place during the long and warm summer nights.