The Golden City and the Marvelous Coast

Well my friends...things are, as they say, on the up and up. Matt and I happily left Madrid a few days ago and took a rather uncomfortable night train to Lisbon. Arriving at 9 am we lugged our bags over some pretty steap hills to our hostel..where a hung over and snippy woman let us drop our stuff and told us not to come back until 2 in the afternoon. Tired, hungry and smelly, we strolled the empty streets of Lisbon looking to kill time.
After a breif nap on a bench we made our way downtown, and what a downtown it was. The streets are paved in smooth golden cobblestones intermixed with deep black ones to create wonderful mosaics with different patterns all over the city. I was unaware how significant painted tiles were here until I started noticing buildings completely covered in them - a variety of patterns and bright colors that would warm even the weariest of travelers' hearts.
The next few days were completely wonderful, and wonderfully cheap as well. Matt and I managed to cook most of our meals in the Pension's tiny kitchen and explored the many hilly neighborhoods Lisbon had to offer, catching some great views of the city the higher we climbed. We also managed to see Europe's biggest Aquarium which housed the oceans biggest vertebrate fish, the Sun Fish, a truly strange creature that can be several meters long and way just as many tons...it is very pokey, needless to say. On our final day we took a bus along the seaside to Belem, a neighborhood with THE BEST (self proclaimed and affirmed by others) Pasteis de Nata...tasty tiny warm flakey crusted custard treats covered with powdered sugar and cinnamon...truly deadly.
The next day, we departed on another overnight train for San Sebastian. Finally, a coachette..how marvelous to sleep in a bed on the train...though it arrived at 6:30 in the morning. It was a fantastic trip across the Portuguese countryside in our little compart that we shared with a french family, whose 3 year old Anna was the source of much entertainment and laughter. There is something majestic and intoxicating about seeing a beautiful foreign land pass by your window as you listen to music...for us, it was Seu Jorge singing David Bowie tunes. As the sut set like a juicy peach dripping over the terrain, I knew that I would someday return to this place.
We woke up early in San Sebastian, which turned out to be a blessing. At 7 am there wasn´t much we could do except walk around and hope that maybe, we could find a place to stay. Our first impression of the city wasn´t the greatest...there was trash all over the street and people wandering about, still drunk from the night before. Thankfully, that opinion was quickly turned round.
After trying several pensions...there are about 6 on every block in the Parte Vieja, we found one with a room for us, for 60 Euro per night...well above our budget, but we knew this was going to be an expensive place to stay in Summer. So we took the room, and took to finding some breakfast. By this time, the dirty streets were suddenly clean and the drunks had all gone to bed. We had the city to ourselves and snacked on apples and peanut butter by the beautiful La Concha beach. After finding a good supermarket we bought some baguettes, cheese, and deli meat to dine on for lunch and returned to the Pension to get ready for a day in the sand.
We went to the third beach in town, supposedly less crowded but popular with surfers...Noah, you would have loved it. Warm water, 4 - 6 foot waves, and long rides. The sand was softer than any I could remember digging my toes into, and the water was great. Matt and I spent 3 hours body surfing, bobbing in the waves, and laying on the golden beach. When people say that sometimes you need to take a vacation from your vacation...they mean, get to the beach.
After an early evening nap we were ready to get out and enjoy the festivities of Semana Santa...a week long festival and international fireworks competition. The expensive room was well worth the free entertainment we enjoyed here. First we watching some of a sand castle building contest, then went and heard some really great, slightly trippy music. It was played by a band..no, a symphony, called Tirri Tarra that included a choir. They played kind of rocking, sort of classic, and sometimes new wave (the bad parts) but all and all was really incredible to watch.
Then, we sampled some delicious tapas and headed out toward the beach for the fireworks display. While most of the entrants into the competition are from various regions in Spain (each getting their own night to display) we were there on the biggest night of the festival (Saturday) which meant we got to see China´s fireworks. I´m telling you guys, I´ve never seen anything like it - the craziest, most complex, completely colorful fireworks you could ever imagine. I hate to say it, but they put Sonoma´s to shame...but hey, I suppose I shouldn´t have expected anything less from the country that created them!
This morning we slept in and got ourselves up just in time to see the Giant´s parade...a gathering of about 30 or so giant costume things maneuvered by people perched within them. Each giant danced its way through the streets to musical accompaniment of accordians and various flutes. Trotting alongside them were smaller giants - little kids dressed up sporting enormous paper mache heads - who would bop onlookers in the head with their balloons...pretty funny to watch a giant devil bopping a two year old over and over again, just to be met with laughter. It´s been a bit rainy today but we´re hoping the sun will break through so we can hit the beach again and take some photos of this unusually beautiful city whose french and spanish influences are reflected in the ornate architecture and flamboyantly decorated bridges, monuments. It is no wonder that everyone tells you to come here. Truly, you should.