Like A Prayer

CAMINO FRANCÉS – Day 3: Friday 11 April 2025 – REST DAY in PAMPLONA

It has been a pleasure to have 36 hours here in Pamplona: to explore and learn, to stock up with consumables, and to complete some purchases of kit that I had neglected from home (not least sunglasses), and of course to rest. Nevertheless, I have managed well in excess of my ten thousand steps today, around and about the historic city centre. This morning I downloaded a Pamplona Walking Tour, and here are a few pictures from my meanderings.

Well, as if all of that was not enough for one ‘rest day’, then the evening was to take a significant turn or two from the ‘quiet night in’ that I might have planned.

And now for something completely different. The rain started as we left the tapas bar, my walk taking back along the Calle Estafeta:

I had no idea what I had just witnessed, but a quick google back at the hotel revealed that the first ‘Semana Santa’ festival falls tonight. Further explanation was not available online in English, so I ran the Spanish definition through an AI translation function, and this is what it said:

“Pamplona Semana Santa” translates to “Pamplona Holy Week” in English. Semana Santa in Spanish is the name for the week preceding Easter in Spain, and it’s a time of religious celebrations and processions. In Pamplona, the capital of Navarre, and other places in Spain, it’s a time for public processions, often including floats (pasos) and religious statues. The most representative event during Holy Week in Pamplona is the Procession of El Santo Entierro (The Holy Burial), which takes place on Good Friday. 

Wow! If that is all the case then it seems that my timing was exemplary – an experience that will last long in the memory. I will keep my eyes open for any more such festivities in a week’s time, on Good Friday.

So, my ‘day off’ in Pamplona, turned out to be as exciting as it was restful – now bedtime beckons, though not now with the sore limbs of the last two days. My day here has also given me some time to read up on the history and essence of the Camino Francés, and on some of the other various pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela. I was surprised to read that whilst the number of pilgrims who undertake the Way of St James from St Jean Pied de Port each year has risen around ten times in the last decade(!), the figure has now only just achieved equivalence with those walking the path in medieval times! So we pilgrims are truly following in the steps of our predecessors, and perhaps also of some direct ancestors, in undertaking this long trek. And I guess that, in keeping with our forebears, we are all seeking answers to questions, solitude and companionship, an escape from the happenings of the wider world, and above all time for reflection. I think I now need to hit that trail again, and I will do so tomorrow with renewed zest.

My Blog heading today ‘Like A Prayer’ follows the song title by Madonna of that name, a number that was the lead single and title track of her 1989 fourth solo album. Madonna wrote the lyrics to longtime collaborator Patrick Leonard’s music, and she has said that she took her inspiration for the song from the Catholic belief in transubstantiation.