Stephen's Visit - Semana Santa!!

Stephen got here Thursday April 21st!!! :)

We spent the first few days relaxing here in Pamplona.

Estella

Easter Sunday we went to Estella! It is a little town about and hour from here. We went by bus, to see the Easter craft show they were having. There were so many vendors with so many different types of things. From cheese, to leather, to woodwork.. we got to see a lot! It was a little rainy in the morning, but luckily the rain held off for most of the time we were there. It was neat to be there for cultural event, which is what I wanted Stephen to experience. After the craft show, we walked around Estella a bit and explore the beautiful park on the outside of the town. We caught the 7:30pm bus home. When we got back to Pamplona.. we explored the city a bit. I showed him the bull fighting ring and the old part of the town. We did a little souvenir shopping and then walked up to the look-out point at the edge of the city. It was nice because he got to see the whole city.

San Sebastian

The next morning we head out to San Sebastian. It is a coast town about 45 minutes from Pamplona and it is beautiful. We spent two days there.. but, unfortunately, the weather was really sucky. :( Monday we walked around town a little, saw the beach, and had a yummy Spanish burger at a nice littler restaurant by the beach. Tuesday, we went to the aquarium! It was the best part of the trip. The fish and other sea creatures were really cool. And it was nice to spend some time inside, because it was rainy, windy, and chilly. After the aquarium, we explored the old part of the town some more and saw all of the historical monuments like the churches and what not. We also saw the other beach which has much bigger waves. We even saw people surfing! CRAZY! Then we got some yummy mango gelato and enjoyed it by the beach. I wish the weather was nicer.. because we didn't even really get to go down to the beach at all. We just looked at it from the "boardwalk". But, even though it was sucky weather, we still had a good time. We got to see all the beautiful architecture of San Sebastian and enjoy the aquarium. We headed back to Pamplona at 5pm on Tuesday.

Olite

Wednesday, we took our last trip to a little tiny town about a half hour away from Pamplona called Olite. The weather was great!! :) It was sunny and warm.. a little windy, but nothing too bad. Olite is a tiny old town with a huge castle! And the castle is unreal. It looks exactly like what you think a castle should look like. And I'm pretty sure it takes up like 75% of the city!! After exploring the whole castle, which took about 2 hours.. we went to the Wine Museum of Navarra, which is right next to the castle. It was nice.. and very modern. We spent about a half hour in the museum, and the headed back to the bus stop. We got back to Pamplona and relaxed after a couple long days of traveling.

Pamplona

Thursday, Stephen's last day here, we slept in. :) We both needed it after so much traveling. Then we went out that afternoon to get some yummy gelato in the main plaza in Pamplona. And we walked over to the Taconera Park. It is a beautiful little park with lots of flowers and bushes and benches. And then even have this little sanctuary area with deer and pheasants and goats and lots of other little animals. It was so nice to just sit in the beautiful afternoon weather and enjoy watching the animals in the park. It was a nice relaxing thing to do for his last day here.

This morning (Friday).. we woke up SUPER early to get Stephen to the airport for his 8:25am flight to Madrid and then back to Philadelphia.  He is on the plane to Phila now.. and I am still waiting to here from him when he lands.. which he should be doing in about an hour.

It was a fabulous week for the both of us. As Stephen's first time out of the country I think, I hope, it was a great experience. I think he got a little taste of Spanish culture. And, it was nice to travel and relax and just have fun. I already miss him. :)

I am now looking forward to my last month here in Pamplona.. which will consist of LOTS of projects and studying for finals. And hopefully a trip to GREECE! :) But we're still working on that.

And then I get to go HOME!! I absolutely cannot wait to go home on June 6th. I am counting the days until I see my family and friends and Stephen again.

I love and miss you all!!! :) <3