Sun 24th Sep – Day 25 – Tour Day 9 - Pamplona and on to Barcelona

I woke with the alarm this morning and went down to breakfast at 8am. Even though I reported to reception yesterday morning that I could not get access to the wardrobe or the safe in the room, the stuck door still hasn’t been fixed, so I reported it again when I checked out this morning.

We were all onboard the bus by 8 and we were away by 8:03. Almost on time.

It will be a long drive today. Over 500kl. 

08:47 driving through the mountains in fog. I managed to get this pic of a fog covered valley.

We arrived in Pamplona just after 9am.

First up was a walk to the "Running of the Bulls" statue/monument.

After that stop, we then walked to  restaurant Iruna

and had a coffee. I sat outside in the sun. It cost a little extra but the sunshine was worth it. 

We then walked the bull run.

Just a small part of the street of the bull run. Actually that's about half of the run.

After that we had about 10 mins to do any souvenir shopping. I bought another magnet. After that we all met up again and walked to a nearby street, where the bus pulled up and we were on our way again at 10:45. Next stop will be in an hour or so for lunch at a roadside station.

1:20pm

We have just had our lunch break and are back on the road again for Barcelona. Just on 300k according to Rory, so with another short ‘comfort’ stop, we should be at the hotel around 5ish.

2pm and we are passing through some very dry looking countryside. Not at all green like the previous landscapes on this tour. I didn't take a photo.

14:24 and we just passed from UK Meridian time into European Meridian time. All of Spain is in European time though in actual fact, part of it should actually be UK meridian time.

14:30

Green fields again but these crops  are being irrigated. Apparently this is the desert part of Spain, hence the irrigation.

14:45 and the outside temp is 26c and the sun is shining.

15:25 and our last stop before Barcelona, where we arrived just after 5pm.

The lifts in this hotel work differently from all others. There is a keypad in front of the lift door, Lifts A, B, C & D. Punch in your floor on the keypad  and it tells you which lift will be going to that floor, so when that door opens, just enter and it takes you to your floor. An efficient way for lifts to run.  If I remember, I'll take some photos tomorrow.

I have a room with 3 beds. 

Might need a degree to work out the shower though.

I had a bar snack for dinner tonight with a glass of wine.  I'm not doing any of the optionals here in Barcelona. I'm planning on going for a walk around the neighbourhood in the morning, as I don't have to be up early.  It's a public holiday tomorrow, so many places will be closed. 

I'll be doing the included visit to Sagrada Familia, which goes into the church and the farewell dinner tomorrow night but apart from that, it will have a leisure day.

My pickup for the airport on the 26th, departs at 06:30am BUT I have to have the luggage outside my room by 05:30am.

That's it for today.

Night .