Surfin in San Sab
Trip Start
Aug 29, 2004
1
6
14
Trip End
Oct 14, 2004
San Sebastian, Spain
Saturday, September 18, 2004
We're in Sunny San Sebastian!!!! The weather couldn't be better. We were supposed to have a big storm when we got here. The guy who runs the hostel we're at, (surfer dude David,) told us the weather was going to be horrible for the next couple of days. He didn't believe us when we told him because we were here it would be perfect. But it is.
Since we last spoke to everyone, we've gone through Lisbon, Portugal; Madrid, Spain; and here. (It's been so long!)
Lisbon, Portugal.
We stayed at a camping resort just out of the city. We were in a cabin with three other people. The bed was so short, that DJ had to sleep curled up in a little ball because there was a wall at the foot and head of the bed. (The bed was about 1 foot too short.) Over the course of the night, everyone in the cabin was woken up to the sound of DJ's head smashing against the wall. (Don't worry Dar, he's ok!) We were too lazy to even leave the campground, so we got some micro waved hamburgs and dry/hollow french fries with rancid mayo and ate there. While were there, a couple of girls from Australia came and sat with us. (Of course!!) By the end of the night, we had a huge gathering just to be in our company. lol. It also helped that the mini-market right beside us had tall-boys of Super Bock for €1.50. (Not a great deal, but it was cheaper than the bar.)
Madrid, Spain.
We stayed at the same hostel as last time. They have clean beds and bathrooms, and the people that run the hostel are fantastic. They don't really speak english, but if you communicate with hand signals, they seem to know exactly what you're saying! We went to this little Tapas Bar around the corner, just past the hookers. We love the theory behind these things. You buy a beer, and they bring you a plate of food. Everytime. Until you tell them to STOP BRINGING THE FREE FOOD!!!! (Believe it or not, it does happen.) We had mystery fish sandwiches, potatoes covered in something red, salmon on a bread wedge, potato omelettes, garlic mushrooms, and a dish we can't identify. It looked kind of like sea-worms. (Well, what we think sea-worms would look like if they existed.)
After the Tapas bar we went back to the hostel where they have a large lounge where you can hang out with the other backpackers and buy pitchers of Sangria for €3. Kind of pricey, but at 3am, there isn't a lot of options.
Somewhere between Madrid and San Sebastian:
We had a bonus stop. We think the city was called Burgues, or something like it. They had a huge cathedral. The ceilings were really tall. 150feet or something like that. It was really pretty. They had a piece of wood, in a case, behind some glass and bars and in it's own room. We don't know what it was, but we think it was probably important. (The inscriptions were all in Latin, we think, so we had no hope in hell of translating it.)
San Sebastian, Spain:
There are a couple of beaches here. The first one is a surfer beach. You can't really swim there, because the undertow is super strong. They actually have a picture at the entrance to the beach telling you where the undertow is. But because there are no markers in the ocean, we just decided to go to the other one.
The other beach is the swimming beach. In the morning the tide is super far out. You can almost walk to the dock that they have, it's crazy. As the tide comes in, and it comes in fast. It soaks all of the tourists that put their towels and chairs to close to the water and fell asleep. This is what we like to do around 5pm, watch all of the idiots get drenched and ticked off. It's really funny.
The whole of old town is kind of like Hess village, but with shops for everything, too. It's all a pedestrian area only.
In the mornings, for the delivery trucks to get through they have the coolest things! They have the dividers that stop cars from coming into the walkways. But some of the cars and truck have a sensor in their car, and when they drive up to the dividers, they sink into the sidewalk!!!! Honestly!!! If you don't know about these things, you get freaked out when it happens. We were amazed.
We've been typing for a long time, and Holly's wrist is staring to get sore, so we're going to go now.
We're meeting Day-o and Punk in Paris in 2 days, and we're super pumped! We'll talk to you all soon.
Adios!!
DJ and Holly
