Gigantes

Jo’s sister was here over the weekend, which was lovely. We drank too much wine and coffee, debated the merits of Russel Brand and Jane Austen, and Jo and I had an opportunity to show off a bit. I think we’ve fallen in love with this city so much that we’re like people in the irritating early stages of a relationship. All I want to do is talk about how much I love Pamplona, and how wonderful it is, and oh, it did the funniest thing the other day. Sigh. 

The Monday was a public holiday, something to do with San Saturnino, and the Gigantes were broken out for the occasion;

These are representations of saints and kings and queens, and the kids love them. There are also these guys

who wander through the crowds, hitting people with rubber balls on strings. They’re hilarious to watch, partly because they quite often manage to sneak up behind people and smack them around the face (don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt – I’m one of those who was sneaked up on), but also because the reaction of kids to them is fear mingled with hilarity. As they approach the kids, you can see the reaction swinging wildly between gibbering terror and hysterical glee, and there are those great moments of tears turning to laughter and back to tears in the space of a few seconds. 

We hung around for a while but nothing seemed to be happening and we had planned to go to San Sebastian that day, so we left. Then, as we were pulling out of the bus station the parade of Gigantes appeared

(there were more people, these were just the participants who had managed to get separated from the main flow)

Then we were off to San Sebastian. If there’s anywhere that could compete with my love for Pamplona it’s San Sebastian. It is just the prettiest city I’ve ever seen, and it is just as charming in the winter as it was in summer. Unfortunately, a few weeks ago part of the seawall collapsed due to the huge waves, killing some people (the day after we were there with my mum, which was a bit spooky), so a lot of it was closed off. Obviously it was a tragedy and I really don’t mean to sound callous, but it was a pity that we couldn’t walk all the way around as it was such a beautiful day. The first time we went there was sunny and warm and sparkly, and it was almost as sparkly the other day, though this time it was the sparkliness of frost and bitter winds. There was even some frost on the rock platform;

We had a bit of a wander around, and looked at the marina;

Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to visit the cement museum or the aquarium, which I love Instead, we ate some pinchos, and then I fell over. Not because of the pinchos though. I wasn’t looking where I walking and my feet got tangled in one of those plastic straps bundles of newspaper get wrapped in, and I went straight down, face first. Because I am extremely shallow, my first thought was ‘oh no, I’ve broken my iPod’, and it wasn’t til a few seconds later that I thought ‘ow, that really hurt’. Happily, I had not in fact broken my beloved iPod, and I also discovered that chivalry is not dead in San Sebastian. I was immediately scooped up by some nice men who looked very concerned, especially as the shock had forced all my Spanish words out of my head and all I could think to do was sob pathetically and say ‘gracias’ in reply to their questions, so I think they probably thought I’d given myself a concussion. I don’t think I had, though, because a fish on a bike will never find me, blurbledurblewurble. So yeah, no concussion, and no lasting damage except for a gratifyingly large bruise on my knee that has got me out of playing volleyball yet again with the exchange students, all of whom are much lither and fitter than me, and who are young enough that the sight of me crying hysterically in confusion as sport takes place around me has the potential to cause them psychological damage. I’m doing them a favour, really.

Sorry, I got a bit side tracked there. Where are we after all that? Oh yes. In summary, the fiesta of San Saturnino has big heads and grievous bodily harm against small children and unwary tourists, San Sebastian has boats and frost, and I probably don’t have concussion.