Back in early May 2014, Brent had another long holiday weekend so we decided to take our first trip (since living in France) down to Spain. Living in Biarritz, we are only about 20 minutes from the Spanish border, so it makes cruising to another country for a weekend adventure pretty easy (cool, huh?). Not to mention Brent is fluent in Spanish, so while we were still struggling to learn French, it was like a sigh of relief when we would cross the border into Spain, because it became so much easier to communicate and understand what was going on. It really felt like being on vacation, especially for me, who was finally off the hook for having to do all the talking.

We had a four-day weekend, so we planned a roadtrip to a few different places, starting with a night and two days in Pamplona. Pamplona is the Spanish Basque city that is so famous for the San Fermin Festival, better know to most as the running of the bulls. It’s only about an hour and a half drive from Biarritz, and the scenic road getting there is gorgeous : you drive through Spain’s Basque country which is full of lush, green hills and mountains (thanks to all the rain we get here). It was not at all what I expected driving into Spain, it’s gorgeous!! And because of all the mountains, you drive through tons of really long tunnels on the freeway. It’s only a few miles away but feels so different from driving the roads up here in France.

I was in love with Pamplona as soon as we got there – the architecture was like nothing I had seen before and everything was so colorful! The buildings and houses were like candy, I couldn’t get enough! We spent a lot of time exploring the old center of town : you can follow the path the bulls run through the center, so even though the festival wasn’t happening when we were there, we tried to imagine what it must be like to see so many people and bulls running through the tiny, colorful streets. I stumbled on lots of great little shops while I was there, too. It was the first time I really did any shopping since making the move, and I was extremely excited to discover that Zara, among other brands, is on average 10 euro cheaper (per item) than in France. Score!

We were lucky to be there on a Thursday night, which turns out is a great night for ‘happy hour’ – a tapa and a glass of Rioja for just TWO euros, which you could get at almost any bar in the old center of town. Spanish Tapas are worth making a trip down to Spain alone! We enjoyed tasting so many different types of tapas, drinking Rioja, and just cruised around town and people watched. It was so fun to see the city come alive with locals who just chill in the streets for hours, snacking on tapas, talking with friends, a glass of wine in their hands… we could definitely get used to this lifestyle (and pretty much have, by now).

Our last morning in Pamplona, before we headed off to our next Spanish adventure in the Rioja wine region, I hit up a few more shops, explored a few new streets, and we enjoyed a breakfast of famous Spanish churros and thick hot chocolate, a la taza, to dip the churros in. I love this chocolate so much because it isn’t too sweet, it’s bolder and earthier, and when combined with a bite of sugar-coated churro, it’s the perfect combination. Luckily we did lots of walking exploring the city, to burn off our nutritious breakfast.

I loved Pamplona and it was the perfect city to explore for our first weekend adventure in Spain!