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After the craziness of Pamplona we continued on with Ben and Gem through the Basque region of Spain to the beautiful beachside town of San Sebastian (or Donostia in Basque). As coastal kids we were all happy to be by the water again - those inland towns start to feel a little claustrophobic after a while.
San Sebastian is one of the cleanest towns I've come across in Europe - everything is neat and tidy with manicured lawns and beautiful flowers...a bit of a resort town, and very chilled. The weather was also perfect when we arrived, right up to the minute we stepped outside to go to the beach. The wind picked up and dark clouds rolled in from nowhere until eventually rain sent everyone running from the beautiful soft sand of Playa de la Concha and into the pubs and tapas bars of the old town.
Despite the crappy weather we had no shortage of things to see and do, as it turns out we timed our trip perfectly for a traditional 3 day Basque festival called Karmengo Jaiak. We assumed it was a "festival of the crab" but a little googling tells me it is the feast of the port's patron saint.
It was quite an experience as we had NO idea what was going on, and around every corner we found something weird and/or wonderful to gape or giggle at.
Curiouser and Curiouser, cried Liss!
A group of men dressed in straw coats with large tin bells strapped to their bums, traipsed through the town like little baboons. They gyrated in sync and marched to the beat of their bell bottoms.
Ears to the ground we then followed the sound of some mega bass lines until we came to a little square. A van was parked there, blasting out dance music. A crowd of ravers raised their beer-laden hands high toward the open boot, where a shadowed figure stood bopping his Viking helmeted head. We came around the back for a better look, and I turned to the others, confused and awed. The Viking was a 10 year old boy. Whoooooa man! Is he the DJ?! No Liss, look behind him you loser. Ohhh right. A fully grown DJ was at the decks further back in the van, and after a while they started driving at a snails pace through the whole town, mosh pit trailing behind - this party kicked on for hours.
Gem and I wandered up to a church at the base of the cliff in the old town and wound through a gathering crowd to watch a troupe of traditional basque dancers performing to a newly married couple (new item added to the bucket list: crash a euro wedding).
Looking back over our shoulders, four giant dolls hobbled across the lane-way through the crowds. We followed them and while Gem was distracted posing for a photo, two men walked by and walloped her on the head with giant balloons. Gem stood there and I watched her face transform from shock to outrage, and couldn't help laughing as she yelped, "Ouch! OUCH! They hit me! They HIT me!" But it was soon clear that it was nothing personal, as we watched them swat indiscriminately at men, women, children and little old ladies who, for the record, didn't flinch ;-) Again I consult google to discover that this is the parade of the gigantes and cabezudos (giants and big heads), who are dressed in traditional Basque clothing. And those giant balloons, that looked a little like blown up condoms? Hogs bladders, filled with air. Noice.
Gem and I were still wrecked from our night out in Pamplona, so on our first night we both toddled off to bed while Mark and Ben hit the town in search of cider, and checked out the entertainment on a big stage set up by the sea.
On day two we took a walk along the cliff to reach Donostia's third beach, Playa de la Zurriola, stopping at the port on the way to watch the competition to grab the Basque flag at the end of a greased ship's mast held horizontally over the water - looked like fun, but near impossible!
The sun came out again so we spent the afternoon chillaxing on the beach and eating our last Spanish churros. If we'd had the budget, we would have loved to try one of the many tapas bars - the food here looked amazing, and Gem had sussed out that San Sebastian has more Michelin stars per capita than Paris, as well as a tapas bar that served a huge variety of mussels. "More than you could possibly imagine" sighed Gemma, wide-eyed and dreamy.
But, in pov-ass backpacker style we instead used our bulk buy powers (an advantage of travelling as a group!) to have a big cook up at the hostel while a street party raged outside. These Spaniards sure know how to party, and after over 2 weeks in this beautiful country we could no longer keep up. We spent our last evening huddled around another girl's laptop watching Tucker and Dale vs Evil, laughed our heads off and then hit the Zzzz's.
Gracias por todo Espana, we've had a blast...Hasta Luego :-)
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