Founder’s Grand Cruise: Day 10

Scouting Pamplona, Spain: Day 10’s Exploration of Pamplona

On the final full day of our Hemingway-esque journey across Southern Europe, we explore even further the city that the author lovingly returned to again and again. Our team set out to visit Pamplona’s best – from restaurant’s pushing the boundaries of Spanish cuisine to the historic places where Hemingway left his mark. 

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.

Walking the streets of Pamplona, Spain

The main floor hallway of the Hotel Castillo de Gorraiz

A Quiet Morning at the Hotel Castillo de Gorraiz

​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.

During the Founder’s Grand Cruise, the Hotel Castillo de Gorraiz is your home base in Pamplona. A luxurious retreat with all the exciting festivities of San Fermin just 10 minutes away, the hotel is close to the action while still maintaining its tranquility. You’ll have easy access to and from the hotel during your stay, so you can jump into the midst of San Fermin whenever you’re ready.

Chasing Hemingway in the Plaza del Castillo

​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. 

Plaza del Castillo, Pamplona

Street performers at the Plaza del Castillo

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.”

Consuming Culinary Innovation at Abaco Restaurant

Once we’d visited Hemingway’s famous stops, we continued our day with a meal that rivaled the author’s own spirit of adventure. We made our way through the cobblestone streets of Old Town Pamplona to a row of restaurants, bars, and venues that faced the Plaza de Toros, the famous bullfighting ring. We found Abaco Restaurant in the midst of the row of shops, an unassuming spot tucked away behind a small gate and courtyard. Our team was shown to the back room where Chef Jesús Íñigo, the proprietor of the restaurant, kept his Michelin Bib Gourmand and Repsole Guide Sole awards. 

Once we were seated, we were shown the tasting menu at Abaco:  11 courses of creative, traditionally-inspired dishes from Chef Jesús himself. Paired with delicious wines like the Herederos de Marqués de Riscal Rioja, a 2016 Reserva from the first winery in the Rioja region to produce wines in the traditional Bordeaux fashion, each course was a mouthwatering new experience that seemed to harken back to our entire Founder’s Grand Cruise journey. While most dishes were loving tributes to Spanish cuisine, like the Eel Snack with Citronella and Dashi, others borrowed from Spain’s northern neighbors, France. Examples include a delicious Foie Gras with Pear and Vanilla and a post-dessert Petit-Fours.

Part 1 of Chef Jesús' tasting menu

Part 2 of Chef Jesús' tasting menu

Herederos de Marqués de Riscal Rioja Reserva 2016 wine at Abaco Restaurant

Michelin Bib Gourmand awards at Abaco Restaurant

Chef Jesús Íñigo and our founder, Mark, at Abaco Restaurant

​The meal was something we’ll each remember for a long time to come – a celebration of our time in Bordeaux and Pamplona, the wonderful people we’d met along the way, and the adventurous spirit of Hemingway and the Founder’s Grand Cruise. We’d go on from here to explore evening Pamplona as its streets filled with life, becoming the living rooms of its good people.

A Passion for San Fermin at the Caravinagre Bar

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.

The Founder's Grand Cruise team enjoying tapas at the Caravinagre Bar

A Retrospective of Day 10’s Excursions

The last day of our Founder’s Grand Cruise before we headed separate ways, Day 10 was an eventful day that bookended our Hemingway journey. From Bordeaux to Pamplona, we had followed in the author’s footsteps:  along the tranquil Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage Route he'd fished along and by the Chateau Margaux, for which Hemingway’s pervasive fondness of has trickled into his books and through his family, so that even his granddaughter was named Margaux. In Pamplona, we’d visited the same places he’d frequented, like the Plaza de Toros – with its monument to the author out front – and the Hotel La Perla and Café Iruña. 

​Day 10 was the perfect cap to our trip, giving us the opportunity to see many more Pamplona destinations as we prepared to leave. With our quiet morning at the Hotel Castillo de Gorraiz, we were given the chance to reflect on our expedition as we relaxed in one of the luxurious lounges. In addition, we had the opportunity to eat one of the most adventurous meal’s we’d ever had at Chef Jesús Íñigo’s Abaco Restaurant. A resounding success, we would be sad that the journey was over, but excited to share it with our loved ones as we traveled home the next day.