Luxury Cruise News

We started the day at the Hotel Castillo de Gorraiz, a luxury golf resort found just outside the city, before heading into town to visit the Plaza del Castillo to find two of Hemingway’s favorite destinations. Next, we enjoyed lunch at Pamplona’s incredible Abaco Restaurant, a Michelin Bib Gourmand and Repsol Guide two time “Sole” winner. After we’d explored a decent bit of Pamplona to work off our meal, we made our final destination of the day the Caravinagre Bar, located at the Hotel Maisonnave. During the Founder’s Grand Cruise, you’ll have the opportunity to visit these same brilliant places, each of which only enriches the San Fermin experience.

​Waking up on our last day, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast of Spanish Tortilla, the traditional omelet of Spain, sausages, yogurt, toast, and espresso in the restaurant of Hotel Castillo de Gorraiz. We then took a tour of the facilities, which had recently expanded to allow the hotel to host even more visitors. A modern addition to the historic castle from which the hotel gets its name, each space of the hotel was beautifully designed to echo the tranquil feel of the old structure. We visited the spa, pools, meeting rooms, and lounges of the hotel, walking from one to the other along floor-to-ceiling windowed corridors lined with mature trees.

​After a relaxing morning at the Hotel Castillo de Gorraiz, we boarded our transport into Pamplona to the Plaza del Castillo. Pamplona’s most well-known plaza behind City Hall Square, the Plaza del Castillo fills with locals, tourists, and Hemingway aficionados during the Festival of San Fermin. Hosting farmers’ markets, a number of restaurants and bars, street musicians, and all varieties of life, the plaza is one of Pamplona’s liveliest destinations. 

During our visit, we set out to see two of the Plaza del Castillo’s best attractions: the Hotel La Perla and Café Iruña. Both are famous for playing host to Ernest Hemingway, the patron saint of our Founder’s Grand Cruise. La Perla, a luxurious five-star hotel, is a traditional hotel where the author once stayed. Though usually booked many years in advance, one can still rent the exact suite that Hemingway stayed in, and you’ll find tributes to him all over the hotel. 

​Next, we made our way over to the Café Iruña. Hemingway enjoyed this spirited café so much that he featured it prominently in his novel, The Sun Also Rises. In the story, the main characters meet each day at the Café Iruña during San Fermin to converse and watch the square. Inside the café, you’ll find a statue of the author himself, posed at a corner of the bar fondly referred to as “Hemingway’s Corner.”

We found our final destination once we’d had seen a good bit of Pamplona and walked the same route that the bulls run each July. Before we returned to the Hotel Castillo de Gorraiz to pack for our journey home the next morning, we stopped at the Hotel Maisonnave’s Caravinagre Bar for some light tapas and wine. There, we learned about the hotel manager’s passion for preserving the San Fermin Festival in its traditional form, something that her family had been doing via the hotel for four generations. 

During San Fermin, you’ll have the opportunity to visit the Cavinagre Bar, as it opens its windows to the streets, when the hotel hosts a family-friendly San Fermin. Complete with a running of the bulls for children, where a bull costume-wearer chases them through the street, anyone can come and enjoy the fiesta in the street or in Caravinagre Bar.

We began our day at the luxurious Hotel Castillo de Gorraiz, where we’d slept off the previous day’s adventures. Once we were ready, we visited the Catedral de Santa María la Real – also known as Pamplona Cathedral. With magnificent stained glass windows and towers reaching to the sky, the working cathedral is significant to the medieval Kings of Navarre. Next, we visited the Plaza de Toros de Pamplona, where guests of the Founder’s Grand Cruise will watch the famed San Fermin bullfights. After we’d worked up quite the appetite, we were treated to the tasting menu at Trastienda del Colmado, one of the brightest new stars in Pamplona’s restaurant scene. With a day full of excursions, the Authentic Voyages team was able to get a glimpse of the city as it geared up for San Fermin.

First up after breakfast at our hotel, we made our way to visit the Pamplona Cathedral. An awe-inspiring church located in Old Town with a neoclassical exterior and gothic interior, we entered as a set of priests finished their morning prayer. From the stained glass windows to the golden-hued features, the church was a sight to behold. We made our way through the main church and into the 13th century cloister, which runs alongside a courtyard, giving access to the numerous chapels and rooms. We were silent as we walked through the cathedral’s facilities, amazed by the history and beauty of each space. 

Once again silent when we visited – awe-inspired as we were at the cathedral – we could immediately sense the importance of the arena. Filled with seats, we could spot where the chairman of San Fermin would sit beside a number of other important figures to judge the bullfights below. With bull barricades that looked like they could stop an army, the arena had an air of intensity even while empty.

The menu of Trastienda del Colmado was an inspired assembly of traditional recipes with a twist. Our team ordered several appetizers and a good portion of the tasting menu. As each dish came to our table, the meal became more and more adventurous. After our late lunch, which quickly turned into dinner, Chef Israel came out to greet us. A young man, he had immersed himself in the culinary world from an early age, and was currently studying under a Michelin-starred chef in Pamplona. No doubt a talented fellow, we were more than happy to sample the food at his new restaurant -- a place that Hemingway would've certainly enjoyed.

We disembarked our ship that morning with the help of a few of the ship’s gracious crew. The captain – leading his team by example – assisted us in carrying our luggage across the quay and to our motorcoach. Our driver was a Pamplona native named Michel, a retired Formula 3 racecar driver and a dear friend to our founder. He would speedily take us to to our destination with the smoothest mountain driving we’d ever seen in a late-model Peugeot minibus.

Leaving Bordeaux behind at 9:30 AM that morning, we drove south towards the Spanish boarder. Eventually we connected with the lower French Pyrenees, before crossing into Spain. Along the way, we had the chance to see parts of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route, which runs from Lyon, France and south to Santiago, Spain. Certain spots between Lyon and Santiago, like the esteemed Bordeaux Cathedral, are UNESCO protected as destinations of the pilgrimage route.

We were welcomed by Felix, the owner of Ganadería Hermanas Azcona, a friendly Navarra local. Felix also owned a demolition business, and received the bull ring at his ranch when his company was charged with taking down an old one in the city of Vitoria. After some introduction, we had the opportunity to learn a good bit about the process behind San Fermin bull selection and the history of the area’s bull fighters. We were astounded by Felix’s knowledge, and even had the chance to drive amidst a herd of his San Fermin bulls. Safe in our vehicles but within fifteen feet of the bulls, we were in awe of the magnificent creatures.