Pamplona in northern Spain is a city renowned for its running of the bulls festival, as featured in Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises.
Few visitors to the July San Fermín fiesta, while swigging their sangría (that vile concoction invented in the 17th century by English mariners in the Caribbean) in the Plaza del Castillo might imagine that Pamplona also holds the title of the city with the best quality of life in Spain.
First, a confession. Yes, my writing partner Helen Crisp and I have run with the bulls, and for me, it was not a pleasant experience.
‘Watch out for the Australians,’ I was warned by a local tourist guide. ‘They are far more dangerous than the bulls.’
It is strictly forbidden to run in a state of inebriation, a rule cheerfully ignored by a great number of Aussies (and others).
Authors Jules Stewart and Helen Crisp here sing the praises of Pamplona, the city ranked as having the best quality of life in Spain. They describe taking part in Pamplona’s running of the bulls festival (above)
Jules reveals that he was knocked down by a ‘horde’ of runners from Australia during the running of the bulls (file image)
That was literally my downfall, when a couple of minutes into the run, I found myself flat on my face, knocked over not by a pair of horns but a horde of runners from Down Under.
Helen, of course, got through unscathed.
Apart from its fame of thundering bulls who incidentally have no interest in goring anyone who does not get in the way of the steers they are chasing, the 2,000-year-old capital of the Navarra region recently placed first in a quality-of-life survey issued by the influential networking platform Madrid Capital Mundial (MWCC).
Pamplona soared ahead of prosperous rivals such as Palma de Mallorca and Málaga on the basis of its comparatively low cost of living linked to income, accessibility to housing, eco-friendly environment, low crime level, efficient health service and well-managed traffic.
It is also no secret that the city’s 200,000 citizens benefit from its agricultural production, especially its wine, as well as a Volkswagen factory whose German owners consider one of their most productive assembly plants.
On the subject of wine, it is well worth taking a morning tour of the Señorío de Otazu winery, a 20-minute taxi ride from the centre of Pamplona.
Otazu is one of only twenty Spanish wineries to have earned the designation Denominación de Pago, the highest certification and recognition in Spain that recognises the outstanding personality of each of its wines.
Pamplona recently placed first in a quality-of-life survey issued by the influential networking platform Madrid Capital Mundial
The uniqueness of Otazu lies in its art collection. Indeed, its slogan could be, ‘We also make wine.’
Irony aside, what makes Otazu different from other Spanish wineries is its world-class collection of more than 700 pieces of art on display.
The winery boasts works by internationally known names such as Ai Weiwei and Venezuela’s Carlos Cruz-Diez, who designed bottle labels with different colour harmonies for each vintage.
A stroll through La Taconera gardens or along any of the walkways around the city’s extensive walls reveals the city’s efforts to promote sustainability, with more than 60,000 trees (roughly one for every three inhabitants) and 300 hectares of green area, as well as 56 kilometres of bicycle lanes.
The MWCC report reveals that 98 per cent of Pamplona’s citizenry, who enjoy an average 84.4-year life expectancy, consider it a wonderful place to live.
Pamplona boasts a comparatively low cost of living linked to income, accessibility to housing, an eco-friendly environment, a low crime level, and an efficient health service, notes Jules – plus well-managed traffic
Pictured above – Jules and Helen
Pamplona’s cultural and education facilities – 12 museums and three university campuses – are without equal for a Spanish city of its size.
The Old Town’s winding medieval streets, meanwhile, are full of individual family-run shops, from ironmongers to haberdashers and candlemakers, with the ancient parish churches and the ornate baroque town hall nestled in among them.
There’s a grand neoclassical cathedral, too, that overlooks the city from its hill by the city walls and that has the largest working bell in Spain.
On a budget? Your euros go a long way when shopping in the local markets for fruit, vegetables, bread, pastries, meat and fish.
The local cheese production is centred around the Valle de Roncal. The Roncal cheese is made from rich sheep’s milk, ripened slowly over the course of several months to develop a rustic, nutty flavour and a moist, smooth texture.
Jules sings the praises of Pamplona’s restaurant and bar scene
Jules writes: ‘Pamplona’s cultural and education facilities – 12 museums and three university campuses – are without equal for a Spanish city of its size’
Jules has written three books on Madrid. His latest tome is Cádiz: The Story of Europe’s Oldest City, co-authored with Helen
With Pamplona being only fifty miles from the ‘vegetable garden of Spain’ in Tudela to the south, the freshness and quality of the beans, tomatoes, asparagus, peaches, plums and strawberries, to name but a few of the local products, have no rival.
It’s hard, too, to find a city that’s so easy to navigate.
As Londoners and part-time residents of Pamplona, we heartily appreciate that if we have arranged to meet someone for dinner at 9.00pm, we can happily leave home at 8.50pm, with time to spare. That said, I would almost certainly make my way down the 106 steps (the less said, the better, about the climb back to our flat after a night of dining and drinks) from our Pamplona home a bit earlier to indulge in the city’s renowned pintxos bars, a number of which have walked off with top prizes in national competitions. These are haute cuisine tapas, smaller and more exotic.
Javier Cía Alcorta, owner of the landmark rare books and antiques shop Antigüedades Miqueleiz, is a pamplonés de pata negra, or dyed-in-the-wool native of Pamplona.
He cites as one of the advantages of living in Pamplona the way the city facilitates moving about with ease, getting anywhere in a short space of time.
‘There is no doubt that this enables us to improvise with ease our daily plans, for business as well as leisure,’ he says. ‘This is a city with a wide range of services, notably schools, libraries, hospitals and other facilities, including an excellent choice of restaurants, musical events, courses and art exhibitions. It is also an easy base for a quick getaway into wilderness.’
That leaves but one question: is anything missing in Pamplona?
Alas, yes: Marmite. But no doubt El Corte Inglés supermarket, which already sells houmous, several varieties of bagels and Bovril, will before long be stocking this essential delicacy.
Helen Crisp and Jules Stewart are the authors of Cádiz: The Story of Europe’s Oldest City, published by Hurst & Co. in November 2024.
