San Fermin festival in Spain スペインの牛追い祭に行ってきた2015夏の夢

San Fermin festival in Pamplona, Spain. Every year It takes place on July 6th until 15th, 10 days in a row.

Truthfully, with hotels being pricey and AirBnB places all booked, I had almost given up on the idea of going to this festival that I was always dreaming about.

But on July 11th, I randomly stumbled on a bus line that ran between Pamplona and where I was then (Barcelona) so I jumped onto the tickets then later onto the bus to Pamplona, the town well-known for being the origin of the Bull Running festivity.

Lesson: Sometimes it works out to be persistent. Sometimes.

Itinerary

12th 22:05 - Leaves Bercelona

13rd 04:05 - Arrives in Pamplona

        08:00 ~ all day - Sam Fermin festival

14th 01:45 - Leaves Pamplona

       07:45 - Arrives in Barcelona

       10:00 - Leaves Barcelona for Valencia

I was hoping to go to Valencia directly after Pamplona but there was no bus between Pamplona and Valencia, so I once went back to Barcelona. Besides I had no place in Pamplona to keep my big luggage in during the festival (a friend of mine said it was ok to leave it in her place but it would have been super early in the morning I didn't wanna disturb her and her family) so I used a locker in a station to which I wouldn't have had to go otherwise, called the Barcelona Sants station. One locker there cost 5.2€ per 24 hours (smaller ones 3.6€), so not so bad. Then headed to the Barcelona Nord station where the bus to Valencia came in. 

Barcelona - Pamplona = approx. 25€ (I think)

Pamplona - Barcelona = approx. 21€ (I think)

http://www.monbus.es/es/ofertas-especiales/37/barcelona-pamplona/

Festival day (July 13), 4:30 AM, arrived

Pretty cold with no sun... The stupid me had only a t-shirt on as in Barcelona it was like 25 degrees even in early mornings those days. So I bought a pull over at a random shop, which was seriously like everywhere in town. 20 Euros. Ouch.

And a t-shirt. 15 Euros. Ouch ouch.

I was intending to get a whiter one, because wearing red and white is one of the traditions of the San Fermin festival. Knowing that, the t-shirt I already had on was a normal white one. But finding this San Fermin t-shirt, the urge of mine welled up too high to hold down, when the other t-shirts were from 4 Euros...

(According to a group of Irish guys, it was still 15 Euros after the main programmes of the day. Maybe it's natural given that the day was not the last day.)

5:00 AM, strolling in town

Wearing red and white is one of the traditions of the San Fermin festival. A friend of mine from the town later told me that the locals go out anywhere wearing red and white (even with a red scarf), not just to the festival.

6.00 + 0.50 Euros. Not sure if the prices go up by 0.5 Euros only during the festival, but this seemed like a usual price for a kebab set in town.

5:40 AM, made it to the place

A fair amount of people were already there, dancing, talking, making whatever noises. (Me envying them as I was by myself.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P709WIYqwCE (8 sec)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyGHqdhT8ik (12 sec)

While they are at that, I got a good place for Bull Running :D

(A few min later the stranger Polish girl next to me suggested to swap place and I got an even greater position with no pole.) 

This beautiful angle... 

A tout(? ダフ屋). 5 Euros for a 3 Euro ticket to the bull ring, where the Bull Fights would take place hours after the Bull Running (I think). Honestly 5 Euros is not that bad I thought but I didn't buy it, as I didn't really wanna support the Bull Fights and the tickets were for the Bull Running only, not the Bull Fights and I already got a great spot anyways.

There were 3 touts around. One of the 3 was a very nice, smiley guy. Sorry for being curious and asking a bit too many questions with no intention to purchase.

Arrested before bull run? (I know how excited you were...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCPdJJnMDfM (2 sec)