BULL! I mean bull(s). I mean Encierro! I mean the Running of the Bulls!

Talk about a bunch of bull!  Literally.  We arrived in Pamplona, Spain on June 20.  We were there just 16 days before the famous running of the bulls, which in Spanish is called Encierro (meaning penned up), or more properly called the Festival of San Fermin.  The city was so alive and bustling with activity to prepare for this monsterous (in more ways than one) event.  This sleepy city of approximately 200,000  has over 1 million people in town for the Encierro.  I think some of them might have been in town already, for there were times of the day that people were pretty much everywhere.  I was seeing RED---not because I was angry, but because the clothing stores had red and white clothing displays from children's sizes to adults in multiple places within the stores, in the windows, on the mannequins.  The little red scarves that people wear around their necks and the red sashes (belts) were available almost everywhere.

There are many cities that do the "running of the bulls" thing, but none, perhaps, as famous as Pamplona.  Spanish lore says the whole practice started as early as the 14th century when men and boys tried to speed the process of getting cattle moved to market by getting them excited or scared.  After a while, this process developed an element of competition as young men would get out in front of the bulls and try to get the bulls into their pens without being overtaken themselves.  When the popularity of this practice increased, it became an event or tradition that is still practiced today.

Here's a little of what was going on and what we saw---the route being prepared:



Wherever they could put up barricades in advance without impeding traffic and such, they were doing it.

These nifty covered holes were specifically made to hold the posts of the barricades, and they are all over!  Nothing temporary about those babies---they're goin' in there to stay.

There were signs that marked the route of the run.

Crews were putting up the fencing (barricades) that formed the "chute" leading to the bull ring.





THE BULL RING!

There was even some custom art:



This piece of sculpture was on the grounds at the bull ring. 



This was painted on one of the panels at the bull ring.  There may have been more; we didn't walk around the whole thing.

There was some more fun types of art as well:

These dudes could be seen on balconies along the route of the run.

Look closely!  We're in there somewhere!

There were T-shirts, t-shirts, and more t-shirts available as well as all kinds of souvenirs:



We even found a different one for DJ to wear when he works out.

We arrived on a Monday and left Pamplona on Friday morning, so we had plenty of time to learn that Pamplona and the whole former Kingdom of Navarre had a lot more to it than just the bulls!