journey from hell, to trip of a lifetime

After the tears stopped and we calmed down, we all agreed, we are never flying again after that horrific landing.
So the next year we decided for our annual holiday to Albufeira that we would drive from england, we told the kids it would be a road trip adventure & only 3400 miles in total.
We hit San Sebastian northern Spain at 9pm, we had been on the road for 18 hours, what had we done, what were we thinking, a bumpy landing and we decide to drive to portugal, in the middle of summer with two bored kids 2 and 9, are we mad.., adventure, what adventure the eldest liam said, we both agreed.
The next day was only 7 more hours, 7 more hours of "are we there yet", "how much further dad", I've never been so happy to see a sign that read, bem-vindo a Portugal on the algarve coast.
As we looked over the north atlantic ocean that night drinking our sangria, my wife and I said what have we done, it won't be that bad on the way home we told ourselves, we are stopping at Madrid, Pamplona, Bordeaux, Poitiers and Paris.
We had a great holiday on the algarve with the odd mention of "the drive home" and then the time came to leave.
The first stop was Madrid, a short 5 hour drive, I got to visit the world famous Santiago Bernabeu, home of the Real Madrid football, a dream come true for me, I even got to sit in the coaches seat-wow, we visited the Royal Palace, Plaza Mayor, Del Prado Museum all the great sites, Madrid was outstanding, nothing could top this city on this trip, could it !!
Now this part of the trip I was really looking forward to, but I didn't realise just how much until I actually saw "the bulls run".
I'd read so much, seen many films but to actually be there is something special, now I really wanted to be a man and "run with the bulls" but i was told in no uncertain terms, no chance by the wife, "I'm not getting stuck here looking at you in a hospital bed" she said.
I was was glad she had said that when the time came for the bulls to run, the first thing you here are the hoofs tapping on the cobbled streets, then the "ROAR", then they come charging down the street, 1 and a half ton of beast charging at these men or crazy men dressed in white, its amazing, I'm so glad I paid to view from a gallery looking down at the street, its hard to describe in words what the bull run is like... for me, it's "the 8th wonder of the world".
The rest of the trip was great, wines in Bordeaux and the famous Eiffel tower, but nothing tops "the bulls of Pamplona"