Pamplona's Softer Side

There are some things that are on everyone's life list. Running with the bulls in Pamplona may be on your list, but it sure ain't on mine. I'm a slow traveler, so running through any city isn't my idea of a good time, and the threat of being gored doesn't make it any more enticing. Factor in that last week saw the terrible death of a 27-year-old runner (the first such death since 2003), and the severe injury of two other participants, and it secures my status on the sideline for good.

Which is why I was glad to see this article by Lionel Beehner in the New York Times this weekend highlighting Pamplona's softer, slower side. The city gained international fame in Ernest Hemingway's classic novel, The Sun Also Rises, and according to Beehner, little has changed.

First-timers can spend hours getting happily lost in the Old Quarter's maze of narrow canyonlike alleyways, hopping from bar to bar and sampling exotic examples of the small-plate combinations of colorful finger food locally called pinchos -- like pigeons stuffed with truffles and foie gras -- and filling up on a favorite local libation, the tangy red liqueur called pacharán.

Sounds tasty. Read the full story for more tips on the city. It may be less of an adrenaline rush, but I think I prefer it that way.

[The New York Times]

Have you been to Pamplona for the running of the bulls... or otherwise? What's your take?

Photo: Lola Akinmade