“Pamplona is a swell town, on a plateau in the middle of the Mountains of Navarre. Greatest country you ever saw”. Ernest Hemingway, 1924
“I will never be able to do more than Pamplona has done for me”. Ernest Hemingway, 1953
Ernest Hemingway first came to Pamplona at the age of 24 in 1923. He came as a Toronto Star newspaper reporter in search for material for his news reports. His passionate nature, open attitude and clear predisposition to get fully involved in the atmosphere meant that he had no problem in connecting with people, making his complete integration into the fiestas a very smooth process. This was how the writer’s love affair for Pamplona and the San Fermín festivities began. Three years after his first visit to Pamplona, he published his first successful novel, “Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises”, translated into Spanish with the title “Fiesta”. It can be said that if the San Fermín fiestas were already big, Hemingway made them universal.
Hemingway was undoubtedly one of the most illustrious guests who has passed through Pamplona, a great fan of good food, so the city paid a gastronomic tribute to his figure by recovering his favorite hamburger. Less than a decade ago, the recipe for this hamburger, called 'Papa's Favourite Hamburger', was found in his home in Havana, detailing the ingredients and preparation of the novelist's favorite dish.
