After the Cinque Terre we had to make our way to Spain. We had a flight from Pisa in the afternoon so we left early, caught a few train and got to Pisa in time to make it to the leaning tower and get a few snaps. Apprently there isnt much to do in Pisa so we had achieved our one goal for the day.

We made our way to the airport and caught our Ryanair flight. Ryanair is this ridiculously cheap airline across europe. The only problem is, they are so annoying to fly with. On the flight the stewards would be on the speaker 95% of the time trying to sell something: sim cards, perfume, raffle tickets, phones etc. The volume was so loud that my ipod couldnt drown it out and half the time it was in spanish or italian so you are stuck on a 2 hour flight with blasting voices in your ears.

Albeit we made it Santander in Spain. We chose Santander as Sam and Fedda were keen to run with the bulls at San Fernin festival in Pamplona and it was only a few hours away by bus. All accomodation in Pamplona was taken months ago so this was the best option we had. We decided to take last bus of the night into Pamplona which got in about 10pm and we would stay awake all night for the run at 6am in the morning. I was never going to run it myself, if anyone asked me why I wasnt running it I just say 'cos i have potential'.

When we got to Pamplona it was pumping, I have never seen anything like it. It was the biggest party I have ever seen, Pamplona streets were covered with people in only White with red accessories. Horn Bands playing every where, drunken dancing, people sleeping (or passed out), people pissing everywhere, pubs and nightclubs everywhere chock full of people. The place was just insane, i didnt overly like it.

We met an aussie group throughout the night a few guys and a few girls (of which was a mother and daughter who seemed to be both very young) all of them were going to run so they kinda helped guide sam and fedda on how to be a part of the run. at about 3.30 am we needed to get just a few hours sleep, so we found a heated bus centre and went in side, everyone was in there sleeping, it was crazy. We found a bit of space and slept on the concrete for an hour or two. I doubt sam and fedda got any sleep they looked like they had seen a ghost, so would i if i knew huge bulls were going to be running me down in a matter of hours.

So the time arrived and i said my last goodbye to my mates and I went off to the stadium while they went to the course with the aussie group. The stadium was full of spanish people, singing and yelling. They actually had a little horn band play before the bulls entered and they would all sing along to the same songs over and over again, was quite an expeirence to see.
They had a big screen there and they showed a profile of the bulls that would be running that day, they were F'king massive. One of them was 695kg's. Picture me in a stadium looking at a screen with my mouth wide open with my hand over it, saying 'oh s***, what are the boys doing'. Then they showed previous runs from different years and i couldnt shut my mouth. Then all of a sudden they show a shot of the course with all the guys jumping up and down on the spot nervous as hell and a rocket is fired to signal the bulls being released. THis is when alot of tourists start running and they get into the stadium very early and all the spanish boo them and throw things. THe second rocket means the last bull is out and you really should get running. Before you know it the stadium is flooded with people and then huge bulls come staright through the middle and out the opposite side. They then release little bulls to go around bucking people. One american grabbed the tail of a bull and started swinging it around, the spanish hate this and they all started punhcing him in the head and booing from the stands.

I had no idea if the boys were safe at this point and some people got pretty messed up from what i saw on the screen. We had an agreement to meet at Pamlona Bus Station at 9.30 so i made my way there and found Fedda. We later found sam. All safe and free of a second butt hole! Only after they had run we found out Mitch Davie from back home had been totally gored and had an artery ripped from his leg. If we had known we could have visited him in Pamplona hospital as we had to wait until 5pm that day to go home.

So overall the Pamplona experience was very unique and glad i got to see it, but I probly would never do it again. The morning everything smelt like piss and the town was littered with people sleeping in every nook and cranny, only to get up and do it again for a week or two. Highlight was probly the firework display, it went for about 20 minutes and was by far the best firework display i have ever seen.

That was it from Pamplona, we made our way back to santander and jumped on bus to Barcelona.