Spain in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises
Even though the main events of the novel take place in Pamplona, characters also find themselves in other places in Spain.
The first «book» of Ernest Hemingway’s novel, The Sun Also Rises, portrays events in Paris, France. My first article, «Paris in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises», represents places from there.
In this article, I expect the reader to be familiar with Hemingway’s novel. So, I will not discuss the plot, main characters, and their motivations, especially since there is tons of literature on this subject, from which it is worth highlighting Everybody Behaves Badly: The True Story Behind Hemingway’s Masterpiece The Sun Also Rises by Lesley M. M. Blume.
In this amateur research, I tried to focus on finding real places in Spain that the book’s main characters have visited. I arranged places according to their first appearance in the text.
Table of contents:
- Hotel Montoya (Hotel Quintana, now under renovation)
- Plaza del Castillo
- Café Iruña
- Hostal Burguete
- Irati River Valley
- Roncesvalles
- Plaza de Toros de Pamplona
- Pamplona Cathedral
- Gran Hotel (now serves as a public library)
- Bar Milano (Bar Torino, now occupied by Windsor Tavern/Pub)
- Café Suizo (now occupied by Restaurante La Tagliatella)
- Chapel of San Fermín
- La Concha
- Café de la Marina (now occupied by a jewelry store Olazábal Joyero)
- Casino (now serves as the City Hall)
- Estación del Norte
- Hotel Montana (Pension Aguilar or Hostal Aguilar)
- Palace Hotel (now called The Westin Palace Madrid)
- Sobrino de Botín
- Gran Vía
The main protagonist, Jake Barnes, and his friend Bill Gorton left Paris on the Saturday morning of the 25th of June and headed to Bayonne by train from Gare d’Orsay. They met Robert Cohn in Bayonne and stayed in the city for one night. They were already looking forward to a vacation in Spain.
In the morning it was bright, <…> and we all had breakfast in a café. Bayonne is a nice town. It is like a very clean Spanish town and it is on a big river. [Book 2 — Chapter 10]
The following morning, they rented a car, crossed the Spanish border, and got to Pamplona.
Looking ahead, Jake would stop at the same hotel and in the same room on the way back from Fiesta. This time, the writer gave the name of the place.
«Drive me to the Hotel Panier Fleuri.»
At the hotel I paid the driver and gave him a tip. <…> I went into the hotel and they gave me a room. It was the same room I had slept in when Bill and Cohn and I were in Bayonne. [Book 3 — Chapter 19]
I could not find Hotel du Panier Fleuri in reliable sources, but according to the sign on the postcard from Bayonne, it could be on the Rue Port Neuf (Google Maps).
Well, now let’s move on to Spain.
1. Hotel Montoya (Hotel Quintana, now under renovation)
Plaza del Castillo, 18, Pamplona (Basque: Iruña), Navarra
From Bayonne, the company of Jake Barnes, Bill Gorton, and Robert Cohn came directly to Hotel Quintana, which appears in the novel as Hotel Montoya.
We passed the bull-ring, high and white and concrete-looking in the sun, and then came into the big square by a side street and stopped in front of the Hotel Montoya. [Book 2 — Chapter 10]
In the summer of 1925, Ernest Hemingway with his wife Hadley Richardson, Donald Ogden Stewart, Duff Twysden, Pat Guthrie, Garold Loeb, and Bill Smith stayed at Hotel Quintana — a bullfighter’s hotel run by Juanito Quintana [1]. He was a friend of Hemingway (it was his third Fiesta) and a prototype for the novel’s owner of the hotel, Montoya. Quintana was a Republican and lost his property in the 1940s under the Franco regime, and the hotel was turned into apartments. In recent years, the ground floor hosted the Cervecería Tropicana, but now the entire building is under renovation.
Hemingway chose this hotel during his numerous visits to Pamplona in 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1929, and 1931 [2]. The structure of the hotel is described in sufficient detail in the tenth chapter.
There are two dining-rooms in the Montoya. One is up-stairs on the second floor and looks out on the square. The other is down one floor below the level of the square and has a door that opens on the back street that the bulls pass along when they run through the streets early in the morning on their way to the ring. [2–10]
2. Plaza del Castillo
Plaza del Castillo, Pamplona, Navarra
Plaza del Castillo is the heart of Pamplona [3], especially in the days of the festival of San Fermín, which lasts from noon on July 6 to July 14 every year.
…the square was hot, and the trees were green, and the flags hung on their staffs, and it was good to get out of the sun and under the shade of the arcade that runs all the way around the square. [2–10]
Hotel Montoya (which will be discussed later) is located in the southeast corner of the square. All the central cafés visited by the novel’s characters are also situated around it. My long article «Hemingway in Spain. A definitive guide to Ernest Hemingway’s Spain» presents more related places.
There were pigeons out in the square, and the houses were a yellow, sun-baked color, and I did not want to leave the café. [2–10]
Sitting in a cafe on the square, Jack, Bill, and Robert Cohn caught the moment of the beginning of the Fiesta, seeing exploding fireworks over the theater.
Before the waiter brought the sherry the rocket that announced the fiesta went up in the square. It burst and there was a gray ball of smoke high up above the Theatre Gayarre, across on the other side of the plaza. [2–15]
The Teatro Gayarre stood on the Plaza del Castillo at the time of the novel but was moved to its current place in 1931. Hemingway complained about this change in Death in the Afternoon: «Pamplona has changed a lot; they have built new apartment buildings across the flat expanse that went to the edges of the plateau, so that now the mountains can no longer be seen. They have knocked down old Gayarre Theatre and damaged the square to open a wide street leading the bull ring.»
From this square, Jake and Bill departed by bus to go fishing on the Irati River in Burguete a week before the Fiesta.
3. Café Iruña
Plaza del Castillo, 44, Pamplona, Navarra
This café is the main meeting point for all the characters in the novel. This is the first café that Jake went to after checking into the hotel on the first day in Pamplona.
We went out to walk around under the arcade to the Café Iruña for coffee. [2–10]
<…>
We sat in the Iruña for a while and had coffee and then took a little walk out to the bull-ring… [2–10]
<…>
I was sitting over at the Iruña reading the papers when I saw Robert Cohn coming across the square. [2–10]
<…>
We went down the stairs and out of the door and walked across the square toward the Café Iruña. [2–13]
<…>
After lunch we went over to the Iruña. It had filled up… [2–15]
<…>
At noon we were all at the café. It was crowded. [2–18]
<…>
Etc.
Café Iruña was established on 2 July 1888, and it was the first establishment lit by electric light in Pamplona [4]. In the back of the bar, there is a «Hemingway’s Corner» with a life-size statue of the writer by the sculptor José Javier Doncel.
Today, the full-course meal in Café Iruña restaurant costs € 26.
Besides Iruña, the writer often uses just «a café» where the characters hang. It could have been anything because there are many other establishments around the square.
We were sitting in the café. [2–13]
<…>
We walked across the square. It was dark and all around the square were the lights from the cafés under the arcades. [2–13]
<…>
We sat in the white wicker chairs on the terrasse of the café and watched the motor-buses come in and unload peasants from the country coming in to the market… [2–14]
<…>
During the morning I usually sat in the café and read the Madrid papers… [2–14]
<…>
I walked down the hill from the cathedral and up the street to the café on the square. It was a little before noon. [2–15]
<…>
Etc.
4. Hostal Burguete
Calle San Nicolás, 71, Burguete (Basque: Auritz), Navarra
On Monday, the 27th of June (the next day after coming to Pamplona), Jake and Bill took a bus to Burguete to go fishing on the Irati River. They rented a room in a cold and overpriced inn, but dinner and wine were included in the price.
We went up the street, past the whitewashed stone houses, families sitting in their doorways watching us, to the inn. <…> It was cold in the inn and the wind was starting to blow outside. The woman sent a girl up-stairs with us to show the room. There were two beds, a washstand, a clothes-chest, and a big, framed steel-engraving of Nuestra Señora de Roncesvalles. The wind was blowing against the shutters. The room was on the north side of the inn. <…> The shutters were up and it was so cold you could see your breath. [2–11]
The inn is still operating under the name Hostal Burguete (a single room is now € 39 per night). The room in which Hemingway most likely stayed in 1924–1925 is № 23 [5]. There is an autograph, «E. Hemingway 25–7–1923» carved on the piano [6], but it seems to be fake because he visited Burguete for the first time only after Fiesta 1924 [7].
5. Irati River Valley
«Los Banos» spot on Irati River near Arive (Basque: Aribe), Navarra
In the twelfth chapter, the following day after coming to Burguete, Jake and Bill hiked a pretty long distance to a fishing spot, as Bill mentioned: «That’s a hell of a hike».
«We have to follow this road along the ridge, cross these hills, go through the woods on the far hills, and come down to the Irati valley,» I pointed out to Bill.<…>
It was a long walk and the country was very fine, but we were tired when we came down the steep road that led out of the wooded hills into the valley of the Rio de la Fabrica. [2–12]
From the quote above, I did not find out which valley was mentioned. But later, the writer accurately described the fishing sport on the Río Irati’s dam.
«Yeah. I’m going to fish the dam here.»
<…>
I got my rod that was leaning against the tree, took the bait-can and landing-net, and walked out onto the dam. It was built to provide a head of water for driving logs. The gate was up, and I sat on one of the squared timbers and watched the smooth apron of water before the river tumbled into the falls. [2–12]
Despite the exact landmark of Jake’s fishing spot, Hemingway’s favorite fishing spot was «Los Banos» [5, 8] near a small village, Aribe.
In the following days at Burguete, Jack and Bill fished in different places, one of which could well be the «Los Banos» section. For more research about this fishing trip, read the article «Fishing on Irati River as Hemingway in The Sun Also Rises».
6. Roncesvalles
Roncesvalles (Basque: Orreaga), Navarra
Jake and Bill saw the monastery of Roncesvalles (actually, it is The Collegiate Church of Santa María de Roncesvalles) for the first time on their way to Burguete back in the tenth chapter.
As we came to the edge of the rise we saw the red roofs and white houses of Burguete ahead strung out on the plain, and away off on the shoulder of the first dark mountain was the gray metal-sheathed roof of the monastery of Roncesvalles. [2–10]
They do not have an opportunity to visit it until the last day of their stay in Burguete. They took with them a new fishing acquaintance, an Englishman, Harris.
Harris was there and the three of us walked up to Roncesvalles. We went through the monastery.
«It’s a remarkable place,» Harris said, when we came out. [2–13]
The Roncesvalles is a historic religious site with deep connections to the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route and remains an active religious site. Founded in the 12th century, it served as a key refuge for pilgrims crossing the Pyrenees on their way to Santiago de Compostela. The monastery complex features Gothic architecture, including a 13th-century chapel [9], next to which were characters from the novel.
We were standing in front of the old chapel of the monastery.
«Isn’t that a pub across the way?» Harris asked. «Or do my eyes deceive me?»
«It has the look of a pub,» Bill said.
«It looks to me like a pub,» I said. [2–13]
In the pub near the chapel, the company drank four bottles of wine! Nowadays, there is no pub, only canteens for tourists and pilgrims.
7. Plaza de Toros de Pamplona
Paseo Hemingway, Pamplona, Navarra
The first description of the Plaza de Toros is found in the fourteenth chapter.
The next two days in Pamplona were quiet, and there were no more rows. <…> The big gate of the bull-ring was open, and inside the amphitheatre was being swept. The ring was rolled and sprinkled, and carpenters replaced weakened or cracked planks in the barrera. Standing at the edge of the smooth rolled sand you could look up in the empty stands and see old women sweeping out the boxes. [2–14]
On the last day of Fiesta, Jake and Brett watched corrida from the seats closest to the ring, above Callejón’s passage. These are pretty prestigious places in the shadow part (sombra) of the bullring near the cuadrilla (a team of the matador and his banderilleros and picadors).
Brett sat at the ringside between Bill and me. Directly below us was the callejon, the passageway between the stands and the red fence of the barrera. [2–18]
Hemingway described bullring and bullfighting not as a writer but as an expert. After his first Fiesta in 1923, the following year, he took part in the running of the bulls [10], and a year later, he took part in amateur bullfights, which were held every morning during the festival.
Just next to the Plaza de Toros, on the side of the Callejón (the last section of the bull run route before arriving at the bullring [11]) in front of the side gates to Plaza de Toros, there is a monument to Ernest Hemingway (Google Maps) by Barcelona-born artist Luis Sanguino, opened in 1968 [12].
Inscription says: «A Ernest Hemingway, Premio Nobel de Literatura, amigo de este pueblo y admirador de sus fiestas, que supo descubrir y propagar. La Ciudad de Pamplona, San Fermín, 1968».
8. Pamplona Cathedral
C. Dormitalería, 1, Pamplona, Navarra
The first appearance of Pamplona Cathedral appears in the fifteenth chapter when Hemingway describes the Sanfermines.
Now on the day of the starting of the fiesta of San Fermin they had been in the wine-shops of the narrow streets of the town since early morning. Going down the streets in the morning on the way to mass in the cathedral, I heard them singing through the open doors of the shops. <…>
I walked down the hill from the cathedral and up the street to the café on the square. It was a little before noon. [2–15]
For the second time, it shows up on Jake and Brett’s night walk.
Below us were the dark pits of the fortifications. Behind were the trees and the shadow of the cathedral, and the town silhouetted against the moon. [2–16]
Pamplona Cathedral is one of the city’s main sights. It was built in the 15th century in a Gothic style and got the Neoclassical façade in 1783.
9. Gran Hotel (now serves as a public library)
Plaza de San Francisco, Pamplona, Navarra
As «everybody knows» in the sixteenth chapter, the American ambassador stood in this hotel. He sent the invitation to matadors Pedro Romero and Marcial Lalanda to come over for coffee after dinner.
In conversion with Montoya, who is concerned about the influence of foreigners on the young and talented bullfighter Pedro Romero, the Grand Hotel is meant not as a building but as a symbol of people of a certain class and values.
«Look,» said Montoya. «People take a boy like that. <…> They start this Grand Hotel business, and in one year they’re through.» [2–16]
The Grand Hotel was located in the Art Nouveau-style building known as «La Agrícola», built in 1912 [13]. It was one of the best hotels in Pamplona until its closure in 1934. In a letter Hemingway wrote to his friend Scott Fitzgerald on January 5, 1930, he put this hotel at the top of his recommendations: «Pamplona, now cold, maybe raining, rain comes from the sea — or melting snow — nothing to do. Hotels (1) Grand Deluxe deserted (2) Quintana (the Montoya of Sun Also pretty simple for your tastes perhaps) (3) La Perla — ½ way between the two.» [14].
10. Bar Milano (Bar Torino, now occupied by Windsor Tavern/Pub)
Plaza del Castillo, 3, Pamplona, Navarra
Bill and Mike checked this bar in the sixteenth chapter because Brett wanted a drink.
It was the Bar Milano, a small, tough bar where you could get food and where they danced in the back room. We all sat down at a table and ordered a bottle of Fundador. The bar was not full. There was nothing going on. [2–16]
In addition to the main characters, there were many foreigners (so Jake’s entire company) from among the British near the bar.
Outside the Bar Milano I found Bill and Mike and Edna. Edna was the girl’s name. [2–17]
Apparently, Hemingway simply replaced the names of Italian cities in the bar’s name (Torino to Milano) to enhance literary allusions [2].
After closing in 1971, the Torino gave way to the Windsor Pub in 1973, which still operates. Unfortunately, it is as unfriendly as it was described in the novel. I do not know if they still serve Fundador’s brandy by bottles, but a glass of beer costs € 3,30.
11. Café Suizo (now occupied by Restaurante La Tagliatella)
Plaza del Castillo, 37, Pamplona, Navarra
One more café on Plaza del Castillo [15], where the novel’s characters have a drink.
We were walking across the square to the Suizo.
<…>
At the Café Suizo we had just sat down and ordered Fundador when Robert Cohn came up. [2–17]
This café was quite remarkable. It was located in Casa del Toril, one of the oldest buildings on the square, and operated by the Swiss family Matossi from 1845 until 1952 [16].
12. Chapel of San Fermín
Calle Mayor, 74, Pamplona, Navarra
In the eighteenth chapter, Jake and Brett visited a chapel before the bullfight on the last day of Fiesta.
«Is that San Fermin’s?»
Brett looked at the yellow wall of the chapel.
<…>
We went in through the heavy leather door that moved very lightly. It was dark inside. [2–18]
That is kind of a tricky place because the chapel is located inside the church of San Lorenzo [17].
In the chapter above, this chapel/church acted as the starting point of the funeral procession of a man gored the day before during the morning bull run [15].
…and the day after there was a service in the chapel of San Fermin, and the coffin was carried to the railway-station by members of the dancing and drinking society of Tafalla. [2–18]
13. La Concha
Paseo de La Concha, San Sebastián (Basque: Donostia), Gipuzkoa
In the nineteenth chapter, after Fiesta, Jack went to San Sebastian to rest a little. It is a small town within an hour’s drive from Pamplona, known for its perfect sandy beach, La Concha.
I found my swimming-suit, wrapped it with a comb in a towel, and went down-stairs and walked up the street to the Concha. The tide was about half-way out. The beach was smooth and firm, and the sand yellow. <…> There were quite a few people in the water and on the beach. Out beyond where the headlands of the Concha almost met to form the harbor there was a white line of breakers and the open sea. [3–19]
Foreigners were welcome here during the summer season, and the town was extremely popular among tourists from the capital cities of Madrid and Paris. Like many expats, Hemingway came there with friends many times.
14. Café de la Marina (now occupied by a jewelry store Olazábal Joyero)
Garibai Kalea, 2, Donostia-San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa
In the same chapter, while still in Bayonne, Jake was thinking about what he could do in San Sebastian.
In the evening there would be band concerts under the trees across from the Café Marinas. I could sit in the Marinas and listen. [3–19]
Having arrived at the place, Jake carried out his plans: after a walk along the beach, he came to the café for a drink.
I walked around the harbor under the trees to the casino, and then up one of the cool streets to the Café Marinas. There was an orchestra playing inside the café and I sat out on the terrace and enjoyed the fresh coolness in the hot day, and had a glass of lemon-juice and shaved ice and then a long whiskey and soda. [3–19]
The café has changed its name several times. It was called Café Kutz for a while and then Gran Café de la Marina until its closure in 1946 [18].
15. Casino (now serves as the City Hall)
Ijentea Kalea, 1, Donostia-San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa
Casino is mentioned a few times during Jake’s stay in San Sebastian.
I walked around the harbor under the trees to the casino,…
<…>
I looked around at the bay, the old town, the casino, the line of trees along the promenade,… [3–19]
This was an actual casino built in 1887 [19] and was visited by historical figures such as Maurice Ravel, Leon Trotsky, and Mata Hari [20]. In October 1924, gambling was banned during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, and the casino closed its doors. Now, the building serves as the City Hall and is a visual landmark of the city.
16. Estación del Norte
On vacation in San Sebastian, Jake Barnes was overtaken by a telegram from Lady Brett Ashley.
COULD YOU COME HOTEL MONTANA MADRID
AM RATHER IN TROUBLE BRETT. [3–19]
He took a Sud Express train to Madrid, which arrived at Estación del Norte. The train station was closed in 1993 and relaunched as a Madrid metro station, Príncipe Pío.
The Norte station in Madrid is the end of the line. All trains finish there. They don’t go on anywhere. [3–19]
By the way, on the way from San Sebastian to Madrid, Jake passed by El Escorial monastery (about 45 kilometers northwest of Madrid):
…watched the rock and pine country between Avila and Escorial. I saw the Escorial out of the window, gray and long and cold in the sun, and did not give a damn about it. [3–19]
In the 1950s, Hemingway would stay in the town where the monastery is located for recreational treatment.
17. Hotel Montana (Pension Aguilar or Hostal Aguilar)
Carrera de San Jerónimo, 32 (37, according to the biographer Carlos Baker), Madrid
As for Hotel Montana, I have not found any decent evidence of what a hotel could be. The only clue is the description of Jake’s taxi route from the train station to the hotel.
The taxi coasted down a smooth street to the Puerta del Sol, and then through the traffic and out into the Carrera San Jeronimo. [3–19]
Presumably, it could be Pension Aguilar — a hotel «on the Via San Jerónimo where the bullfighters live» [21]. The company of Ernest Hemingway, Robert McAlmon, and Bill Bird stayed there for the first time in 1923, and according to the biographer Carlos Baker, Hemingway kept stopping at this place with family or alone till 1926 [22].
Now, a Hostal Aguilar operates in the same building. Depending on the room, one night may cost from € 90 to over € 240.
18. Palace Hotel (now called The Westin Palace Madrid)
Plaza de las Cortes, 7, Madrid
After Jake picked up Brett from the Hotel Montana (Hostal Aguilar), they left their baggage at the Palace Hotel (The Westin Palace Madrid) and sat at the hotel’s bar over three or four martinis.
We rode in a taxi down to the Palace Hotel, left the bags, arranged for berths on the Sud Express for the night, and went into the bar of the hotel for a cocktail. [3–19]
This luxury hotel is one of Hemingway’s preferred places to stay in Madrid [23], reportedly because it is just across the street from the Prado Museum, which he loved visiting. He often started his evenings with a pair of martinis at the hotel’s bar, as described in The Sun Also Rises.
19. Sobrino de Botín
Calle de Cuchilleros, 17, Madrid
In the last chapter, Jake and Brett went to the restaurant, «a place called Botin». They settled on the second floor and ordered five bottles of wine, rioja alta, during dinner.
We lunched upstairs at Botin’s. It is one of the best restaurants in the world. We had roast young suckling pig and drank rioja alta. [3–19]
Actually, Sobrino de Botín is the oldest restaurant in the world; it was opened in 1725. Hemingway was its frequent visitor and even was a good friend of Emilio González, grandfather of the current owner Carlos González. He claims that Hemingway used to love roast suckling pigs [21]. It is not surprising that the same dish was at Jake and Brett’s dinner.
Roast suckling pig is still on the menu for € 32.
20. Gran Vía
After dinner, Jake and Brett went somewhere by taxi and drove along Gran Vía, Madrid’s main street.
A taxi came up the street, the waiter hanging out at the side. I tipped him and told the driver where to drive… <…> It was very hot and bright, and the houses looked sharply white. We turned out onto the Gran Via. [3–19]
A short taxi ride from Botín to somewhere in Gran Vía may cost you at least € 8.
References
- The old man and the city: Hemingway’s love affair with Pamplona, 2011;
- La guia de Hemingway en Pamplona;
- Castillo Square, Ayuntamiento de Pamplona;
- The Café Iruña, Ayuntamiento de Pamplona;
- In the Footsteps of Hemingway by Bob Beamish, New South Wales Rod Fishers’ Society Journal (2014–2015);
- Burguete & Ernest Hemingway by Michael Ostrowski, 2019;
- Hemingway: The Paris Years by Michael Reynolds, 1999, see Chapter Eleven;
- Fishing in the Pyrenees — on route to Pamplona’s San Fermin Festival by Joshua, 2016;
- Cultural Heritage Architecture and Art in Roncesvalles;
- Hemingway and Sanfermin by Julio Ubiña, 2016;
- Awesome run in the Callejón, 2015;
- Monumento a Ernest Hemingway, 2012;
- Edificio de La Agrícola de Pamplona (Navarra);
- Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters, 1917–1961 edited by Carlos Baker, 1959;
- The Sun also rises — Pamplona, before and now, 2017;
- El Café Suizo de Pamplona: así influyó Napoleón en el origen del establecimiento by Javire Medrano, 2022;
- San Lorenzo Church and Chapel of San Fermín, Ayuntamiento de Pamplona;
- El Gran Café de la Marina en Donostia San Sebastián, 2017;
- The 1923 Spanish gambling ban by Antoine P Borg, 2024;
- Donostia / San Sebastián during the Belle Époque, two centuries of tourism, 2024;
- «Bullfighting is Not a Sport — It is a Tragedy» by Ernest Hemingway, The Toronto Star Weekly, October 20, 1923;
- Hemingway’s Madrid, 50 years after his death or ¿Qué queda del Madrid de Hemingway? (in Spanish) by María Hervás, 2011;
- Blood, Sand, Sherry: Hemingway’s Madrid by David Farley, 2011.
Related articles:
- Complete Glossary for The Sun Also Rises;
- A List of Every Drink in Hemingway’s «The Sun Also Rises» by Philip Hartigan, 2016;
- 10 Places «The Sun Also Rises» Fans Should Visit by Lesley M. M. Blume, 2016.
Take a look at my other articles:
