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Question: Tell us something about your host city or country that only a local would know. How did you come to observe this? What’s one thing you wish you knew upon arrival? What’s an annoying habit that tourists in your area have? What is different now that you’re living there as opposed to being a tourist?
Written by: Leslie Dias
As I have settled down in Pamplona and gone from a confused tourist to an actual resident, I have definitely become much more comfortable with the city. Pamplona is a small city but has many different sections. There is the older part of the city that was designed with older European architecture. In the middle of the city there is a fortress called the Ciudadela where there are tons of biking and walking paths.
There are always people walking around the streets at any time of day and in any kind of weather. There is a large population of students living in apartments scattered around the city.
The most noticeable transition from being a tourist to a resident is that my roommates and I hardly go out to eat anymore. While this saves us money, it also limits us from experiencing the local cuisine.
As a city in northern Spain, Pamplona has a reputation of having some of the finest food in all of the country. In most parts of Spain, restaurants serve one-person-sized appetizers called tapas at the same time that Americans would be eating dinner. Locals drink glasses of wine and move from bar to bar in order to sample all the different kinds of tapas. In Pamplona and the northern Basque Country, locals refer to these appetizers as pintxos instead of tapas. Northern Spaniards consider calling the appetizers tapas instead of pintxos as an insult to the fine cooking of north Spain.
In general, Spaniards eat much differently than Americans. In the morning, they have a small breakfast and then wait until two o’clock to have a large lunch and to take a nap. (When I first came here, I was surprised that everyday shops were closed from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.!)
After a large lunch, people go back to work or school, and around 6 p.m. or 7 p.m., people go out for pintxos. People eat a small dinner at 10 p.m. and then start getting ready to go out around 11 p.m. Locals go out to the bars first, and then to clubs when they open at 2 or 3 a.m. Spanish people stay out until the early hours of the morning; definitely a change from Bentley’s nightlife!
{ 2 comments }
We miss you Les! Sounds like you’re having so much fun!
Sounds awesome! You’re the man!
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