September Highlights

The parade of new places continued in September. I'm aware that things might have turned the corner into just pure bragging at this point, but I don't think there's any room for apologies here. As long as I'm unemployed I'm going to take advantage of the free time.

• The month started off with a trip to Navarra, a region along the border with France. I saw the city of Pamplona, it's famous walls and of course the bull ring and old city where the bulls are run in July. I was invited to eat at a txoko, a members-and-guests-only eating club. I visited an amazing old castle in Olite. I went to the summer fiesta in the tiny village of Lumbier, where there was a miniature running of the bulls (they all went free afterwards, I asked) and then folk dancing in the streets.

Castle in Olite

• The Vuelta a Espana (the Spanish version of the Tour de France) finished in Madrid with huge crowds.
• Friends visited me in Madrid! I got to play tour guide and see the sites, order the dishes I've learned are the best, visit museums, see the cool neighborhoods, stop for churros con chocolate, etc, etc.
• I spent the last weekend of September in the village of Itero del Castillo, population 50, beside the Camino de Santiago de Compostella. On Saturday we roasted 90 pounds of red peppers, skinned them, and preserved them in jars. On Sunday we walked a bit of the Camino including a bridge from Roman times, chatted with some hikers/pilgrims, and picked endrina, a fruit halfway between a blueberry and a grape.