The Café Iruña and Hemingway

The Café Iruña in the Plaza del Castillo was established in 2 July 1888. It was the first establishment lit by electric light in Pamplona. According to the chronicles of the time, "it opened to the public on the eve of San Fermín, and even the arcades outside were packed with people".

The Café Iruña has gone down in the history of universal literature as the meeting point for the main characters of 'The Sun Also Rises / Fiesta', the novel that made Hemingway stand out as one of the great writers of all time and that put Pamplona in the map of world literature. 

“We had coffee at the Iruña, sitting in comfortable wicker chairs looking out from the cool of the arcade at the big square”, explains Hemingway in ‘The Sun Also Rises/Fiesta’, whose protagonists come every day to this historic establishment.

Throughout the novel, the protagonists meet continuously at the Café Iruña, which has become their base camp. " Across the square the white wicker tables and chairs of the Iruña extended out beyond the Arcade to the edge of the street”.

Inside the Café Iruña is the so-called “Rincón de Hemingway” – Hemingway’s corner. Leaning on its bar is a life-size sculpture of Hemingway welcoming the visitor.