San Fermines festival in Pamplona: bullfighting and brutality, drink and song, joy and excitement

I remember first reading Ernest Hemingway’s novel “The Sun Also Rises” (or “Fiesta”, how it is sometimes named) while still at school and from that daydreaming to see and experience San Fermines – a festival of bullfighting and brutality, drink and song, joy and excitement.

All day and all night, for the whole week – ongoing fiesta and parties

This year I finally did it – while traveling in Spain, visited Pamplona, where the festival takes place every July. And you know what? Now I have a small understanding why San Fermines was Ernest Hemingway’s obsession.

And only in Spain, this can be followed by religious processions next morning

He first came to San Fermines in 1923 and paid his final visit to the annual fiestas in 1959. This festival has everything a traveler can dream off: long-standing traditions, special clothing, food, street-parties, religious processions, performances and etc.

Be careful – big heads are considered bad creatures and might hit you with a balloon… :)

Pamplona stops to be a normal city for the whole week, while everyone’s on Fiesta! This short video shows running of the bulls, that takes place every morning of the festival – from the river, where they are kept through the night, to the corrida.