Pamplona - Jamón ibérico

In 74 BC, the Roman city was founded by Pompejus on the site of a local settlement. The city served to secure the Pyrenees crossing from Roncesvalles.

Pamplona was destroyed several times in the course of its history:

466 by the Visigoths, 542 by the Franks, 778 by Charlemagne, 924 by Abd ar-Rahman III and in 1521 during the Franco-Spanish War by troops of Francis I.

Its location on the Way of St. James from France gave the capital of the Kingdom of Navarre a boom in the 11th century. With the division of Navarre, the city ultimately came to Spain.

After the conquest of the country and its incorporation into Castile in 1512-1515, Pamplona became one of the outposts of the Spanish crown on the French border. Its mission for 300 years was to secure the border against a possible invasion from France. Fortifications and walls were a vital system of defense, but at the same time prevented the city from expanding.

There is something iconic about ham in Spain that goes far beyond a food product. And somehow the Spanish are right, because I have never eaten better (and more expensive) ham.