5) San Jose

The next morning (24.11.) we took the 1pm bus from Puerto Viejo to San Jose - Costa Rica's capital. San Jose is located in the central highlands of Costa Rica. Our bus reached a bus terminal north west from the center. A short taxi ride brought us to Costa Rica Guesthouse - a huge and pleasant house in colonial style and looks like it has been an office house before. The sun was setting when we left to visit the city center. We quickly reached the shopping streets in the center that offered the usual American and European brands. Especially American fast food chains. Almost bizarre were the exaggerated Christmas decorations - even at evening in the highlands temperatures were above 20°C. Interestingly, the police used high seats to overview the streets. We then reached the Teatro Nacional - the most famous building in San Jose. Indeed, it is the finest piece of architecture in the city. Though, it is not too difficult to shine above the rest in this case. We finished our day with dinner at Nuestra Tierra (pricey, but tasty) near our Guesthouse, when a Costa Rican gentleman sang some songs for us :)
The next day we explored San Jose during daylight. San Jose has plenty tiny parks around the city center and you find street art around every corner. We liked that :)
All in all the city center is not too big and has not too much to offer. Staying one day was sufficient to us. We continued to Monte Verde / Santa Elena with an afternoon bus from the same bus station we entered the city.

Franzi in front of Teatro Nacional

San Jose is located in the hills

Street art all around the city...

...gives a nice feeling :)