A Free day in Pamplona

May 16, 2025

We are in Pamplona for two nights, primarily so Dave can do laundry but also because we have ridden four days in a row and are ready for a break. Otherwise we don’t have much planned other than a few other chores: perhaps the Intersport and a bike store? Neither is an emergency but we don’t have too much free time in bigger cities.

We went down for breakfast and enjoyed the usual minor variations in food. Dave had to use google translate to figure out what was butter and here is his special Basque sandwich of spicy tomato paste and ham. I had tomato juice, a rare treat for me.

Dave’s special tomato sandwich; that small package is butter

I spent four hours working on the journal. When we are on the road everyday I fall behind: Dave tells me that I say this every year. Indeed, I am not sure after four tours I have anything original to say so I apologize if I sound like a broken record. The journal, tubs, the knee (his and mine), laundry, weather, trains, wine… and so on. Our travel themes repeat themselves!

I worked on the journal in the breakfast room until the kitchen staff politely kicked me out at 11 am. It’s interesting how you can understand so much when you know so little of the language when it's spoken to you in context. The woman cleaning up came over and said something apologetically. I couldn’t understand a word she was saying but I knew she was asking me to leave.

I resettled in the hotel lobby with the rest of my tea and eventually a man sat down at my table (it’s a small lobby). It’s interesting how they can suss out we Americanos with just a glance. He spoke in English asking if it was okay to share my table. He had on a Colorado Buffaloes sweatshirt and I normally would have started a conversation but it looked like he needed to work, so I refrained. An hour later Dave showed up after his laundry run and while we were chatting the guy overheard us and joined in. It turns out his name is Xavi (from Mallorca) and he is married to a tenured professor at the University of Colorado, hence the sweatshirt. He loves Colorado. He teaches at Brandeis University but he was over in Pamplona teaching a course at the University of Navarra. He likes Americans, thinks we are very generous and distinguishes them from our administration.

We had a good laugh about a spoof of the updated US Customs and Border Questionnaire in the New Yorker. If you haven’t read it, and you appreciate international travel, it’s pretty hilarious. We especially liked question 4: If you are an international cycle tourer you will love it.

Our good friend, Hilary sent this to us.

Dave had to go to two different laundromats: the first was fully in use with people hanging about waiting for a washer, but he had no problems at the second. Unfortunately when he got back to the hotel he realized he had forgotten to put his long pants in the wash (he was wearing them - hence the oversight) which was a bit of a crisis because he has been wearing them on and off the bike for the last four days.They were overdue for a wash. He wound up going back in the afternoon and doing another small load as a result.

My knee has been feeling cranky all day so I laid low and we scratched any other plans. It scared me a little.

This evening we dined at Restaurant Anttonenea which was recommended by our hosts in Vente de Arrieta. It was a classic Basque place which meant it was grill and meat-focused. This was fine with us because we wanted some variation from last night’s trendy cuisine. I had suggested we take advantage of all the fine dining in Pamplona because the next few days we were staying in tiny villages and I expect the food scene to be limited.

Because of the discomfort in my knee, we opted to take the bus to and from the restaurant rather than walking as we had the night before. It turned out to be a fun experience. Public transportation worked very well. The bus ran every 6 minutes and the details on google maps were clear so we knew what we were getting into. Pamplona shows off very well and it was fun to be out and about. We wish we had had the energy to explore a bit more but the truth is I always map out a potential activities for off-the-bike days and we do about 20 percent of them. It doesn't stress us out. We can only do what we can do and we cling to the idea we will get back some day.

Dinner was fabulous. We walked in at 8:30 and were the first people there (The good thing about that is that the waitstaff then had time to walk us through the fussy process of how to load the English language menu onto our phones!)

See if can spot the early (8:30!) American diner in this photo.

Their take on tarte tatin. That's a dollop of a creamy cheese, (a specialty of Navarre), crême anglais and topped with coffee infused cotton candy.

In a hour the place was full and the waitstaff were slammed. The next group to be seated was a family of 8 with two little kids (maybe 6 and 7 years old?) We were amazed at how they dealt so politely with a two hour dinner and the kids both ate steak tartare, which blew us away. Our anecdotal observation was that Europeans are much more willing than Americans to take their kids out to nice places, and European kids behave pretty well. This discussion at dinner prompted Dave and me to recollect fondly about my sister’s family. She and her husband raised 5 kids all while building serious careers, and the kids turned out great and the family is very close and still really like each other and being together! We realized while talking at dinner that I missed her and Dave suggested I call her when we got back to the hotel. I did, she picked up, and we had a great call and caught up. It has been tough as some of my niblings work for the federal government (or did and have already been laid off) thanks to DOGE.

On that happy thought, on the road again tomorrow.

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