The Traveling Martens

We headed to Tampa for the weekend to see the Gasparilla Festival, which is a Pirate-themed Mardi Gras.

We started Friday night at the Oyster Catcher's bar at the Grand Hyatt. This is a new bar and restaurant right on the edge of the bay. This is one of the few spots you can sit and have the water view take up almost the whole horizon, so it is perfect for catching the sunset. We then headed to Sideburns, which is the new and trendy restaurant which accompanies the famous Burns Steakhouse in Tampa. Sideburns is more of a South Beach atmosphere with a lively bar and great food. We shared dim sum, steak and fish with our friends Anne and Troy. After dinner we walked over to the actual Burns Steakhouse just to head to the desert rooms upstairs. Burns is incredibly ornate, like a 1920's whorehouse, with amazing columns, sculptures, gold leaf and mirrors. The desert rooms upstairs are a maze of small private booths, with a choice of music from an antique radio on the wall.

Gasparilla was Saturday. The idea behind it is that a pirate ship (yes, a real-life pirate ship, it has appeared in many movies) sails from the Tampa Yacht Club to downtown, where the pirates take the key to the city from the mayor. There is then a huge parade of floats along Bayshore road by the water.

We started Saturday morning with mimosas at the Yacht Club where all the "pirates" were preparing to board the ship. They had elaborate costumes and headed to the ship as the sound of the ship's cannon firing echoed across the water. After the ship left for downtown, we jumped on our bikes and headed for the parade route just down Bayshore. Dozens of floats lined the road, all with some kind of pirate theme. Bayshore is a beautiful street with large, old homes on the one side, the water of the bay on the other, and a great view of downtown Tampa. We headed from house party to house party along the parade route. Needless to say, a full day of drinking wears some people out like the random guy we found "asleep" on the sidewalk in the picture above. We had a great time and would love to see it again next year.

Tampa, Florida

Gasparilla Festival