Javi's mother and father live in Navarra just north of Pamplona, so we have spent quite some time there. The hills rising up to the Pyrenees are beautiful and green in the spring and summer. We spent most of our time in a tiny village called Zubiri.
In Zubiri, there is not very much to do except hike. So, almost everyday, we would head to the mountains. We would take the narrow road up into the hills past other villages. We would watch the sheep in the pastures next to the road. It was always so quiet; like there was nobody else in the world.
On our hikes I would always be happy to check out the plants and trees. In the lower areas there were beech trees (left) and up higher were the European larch (right). On one of the paths we would take, the pines had an extreme infestation by some insects (below). Almost all the trees had these nests hanging from their limbs.
One of my favorite walks was to this little village 5km from Zubiri. We would never see anybody there. It seemed almost deserted.
Back in Pamplona, there plenty to do. You can go to one of the main squares and see the hotel where Hemmingway stayed so long ago, you can take a walk along a portion of El Camino de Santiago, or you can just go get some tapas and relax. The city itself is nice. With its winding roads that the bulls of San Fermin try to navigate. Pamplona is famous for its San Fermin Festivities - also called the running of the bulls - but we will get to that later.
