To start our Summer vacation off, we flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico to spend a few days before we boarded the cruise ship. We chose San Juan for a couple of reasons. First, we have always wanted to visit Puerto Rico and second, by boarding the ship in San Juan, you get to visit more islands and there are less days at sea. A day at sea means the boat is sailing and everyone is on the ship at the same time, which means the pools and restaurants are crowded. I booked our flights through Expedia and we ended up driving to Atlanta to board the plane because it was $200 cheaper a person and a direct flight. We drove to Atlanta on Thursday night and stayed at a hotel just to get up early Friday morning to catch our flight at 8am, landing in San Juan a little before noon. Before our arrival in San Juan, I booked the airport shuttle online at www.goairportshuttle.com, to take us to our hotel in Old San Juan. It is about a 30 minute drive from the San Juan airport into Old San Juan.
Day 1
This was our view as we stepped out of the Go Shuttle van dropping us off in front of our hotel in Old San Juan. The colorful house and cobblestone streets are beautiful.After lots of research, we decided to stay to La Terraza de San Juan located on Calle de Sol. We chose this hotel, not only because of the amazing reviews, but also because it is walking distance from everything in Old San Juan. The building is 19th century Spanish styled and all of the rooms have been restored.Our room, located on the third floor, was split into two rooms. One room had a sofa that pulled out into a full-sized bed and the other room was the main bedroom that had a king bed. It was large enough for all 5 of us to stay comfortably with extra room to spare. There are three floors of rooms, and then a rooftop terrace that has a bar, a swimming pool where you can overlook the city while you swim, and a sitting area. The hotel also has a restaurant on the main floor, however we did not eat there.The first meal we had in Puerto Rico was lunch at El Jibarito located a few doors down from our hotel on Calle de Sol street. There was a short, ten minute wait and worth every minute. This was some of the best food we ate while in Old San Juan.Here is a picture of the front of the menu. The best mofongo that I ate in Puerto Rico was here, at El Jibarito. Mofongo is a Puerto Rican dish that consists of fried plantains mashed together and is usually filled with vegetables or meat.Here is a picture of the back of their menu. We had the lemonade and a piña colada, which were both delicious. Almost everything in Old San Juan is in Spanish and English and almost everyone we encounter spoke both languages, which made things a lot easier.Old San Juan is only 8 blocks by 10 blocks, but there is so much rich culture and history packed into such a small area. After lunch, we decided to explore some of Old San Juan and we happened upon this tree. We all just had to hug it! The picture attached to it says “Hug a tree and make a wish”This is called Totem Telurico and it a 40 foot tall totem pole that is located within Plaza del Quinto Centenario, which translates into Quincentennial Square. It was erected in 1992 and commemorates the Indian culture and is made from clay from across the Americas.This statue is located right outside Casa Blanca known as “The Citizen of the Americas” and represents Eugenio Maria de Hostos, who was a famous Puerto Rican lawyer, sociologist, educator, philosopher, and independence advocate.In 1508 Juan Ponce de Leon founded the original settlement of Puerto Rico called Caparra. In 1521 Casa Blanca was built and became the residence of Ponce de Leon’s family. Ponce de Leon himself, never actually resided in the house. The house was used as a residence by his descendants until the mid-18th century.In 1967, casa Blanca was transferred to the government and was declared a historical monument. It is free to tour and there is an employee present to answer questions during the self-guided tour.The house was originally built from wood, however it was destroyed in a fire. When the house was rebuilt, they used stone and masonry.After the mid-18th century, the house was used by the Spanish army and later by the American army commanders.This is the only original piece of furniture remaining. It dates back to the 16th century and was used like a lock box for personal items. The trim work is made from Elephant Ivory, which not illegal to use back then.The San Juan Gate serves as the front entrance into Old San Juan. For centuries, the Spanish entered through this gate and walked straight up the street to the San Juan Cathedral to thank God for their safe journey. The three-mile wall that enclosed the city had five gates and each gate had a different function. This gate was used as the formal or symbolic entrance. The other gates were used for materials, supplies, and everyday traffic. The gates were secured at night by guards and if you were outside when the gates closed, you had to wait outside until morning when the gates reopened.Construction began on the wall in 1630 and it took over 150 years for the three-mile wall to be completed.Walking past the gate we came upon all these metal spikes of artwork, so we stopped for a family photo.The famous Raíces Fountain was completed in 1992 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the New World and to symbolize the cultural heritage of Puerto Rico. This statue honors the mixed African, Spanish, and Taino/Amerindian heritage.We stumbled upon a building called the Puerto Rico Tourism Company and decided to go inside to see what it was. The building was originally used as the jail. Inside, you can still see huge gates that separate each room. In the main room, there are photographs of Old San Juan displayed on the wall that you can walk around and look at. If you go out the back doors, there is a little-skinny hallway to the right that leads to the outside jail cells, seen in the picture here. The jail was built in 1837 and the prisoners stayed in these jail cells located outside the back of the building. They were shut down for inhumane conditions in 1976.This is the statue of Felisa Rincón de Gautier, she was the first female mayor of San Juan. She was loved by the people of San Juan and she held the title of mayor for 22 years from 1946-1968. This statue is located in the gardens of Paseo la Princessa.After our afternoon of exploring, we decided to stop at a little family restaurant for coffee. This was the first one we came to and it was amazing. Carthage Express is located on Calle San Justo and has so much to offer, although we just stopped in for coffee. It was the first time I had ever had frozen coffee and it was delicious.Old San Juan is known for its cobblestone streets, however most of them have been replaced with modern pavers. The only original blue cobblestones can be found on Calle Cristo. The original cobblestones were used as ballasts in the bottom of the European ships in the 1700s.While walking on Calle Tetuan in Old San Juan, we ran across a crowd of people and Britney Spears blaring on some speakers. What we found was a guy using only spray cans to paint a picture. It actually was very entertaining and amazing to watch.After about ten minutes, his painting was complete and he displayed it on an easel for everyone to see. Here is the picture that he painted; we bought it for our son for his birthday.For dinner, we decided to eat at Cafe Puerto Rico. I will say, of all the places we ate this was the most disappointing. After an hour and a half wait, we were finally seated and the food was not that great. This is a picture of the chicken fingers and mofongo. The only thing that I liked about this place was the pinto beans. The service, the food, and the margaritas were all terrible. Supposedly, this is the best place to eat authentic Puerto Rican food, I can tell you there are much better places to eat and I would not recommend eating here.
Day 2
For breakfast, we decided to try a local restaurant. Cafeteria Mallorca(pronounce Ma-yor-ca) is located on Calle San Francisco. This was one of my favorite places that we ate at. I felt that the food, the people, and the vibe of the restaurant all truly represented authentic Puerto Rico. I highly recommend eating here for breakfast.Cafeteria Mallorca is known for the mallorca. A mallorca is a traditional bread that is toasted and pressed into a sandwich and then served with powdered sugar on top. You can put whatever you want inside your mallorca, cheese, meat, or nothing at all. We ordered a plain mallorca and a cheese mallorca. The best explanation that I have for it is that it tastes like a grilled cheese sandwich with powdered sugar on top.Puerto Rico was originally owned by Spain and the architecture of their buildings reflect that of Spanish cites. The vibrant colors of all the buildings, the cobblestone streets, and the doors of all the houses are what Old San Juan is known for.This door painted up like the Puerto Rican flag is one of the most photographed doors in Old San Juan.The famous Cathedral of San Juan Bautista is the oldest church located on U.S. Soil and the second oldest Cathedral in the Americas. The original church was constructed of wood in 1521 but it was destroyed by a hurricane. The current building was built in 1540, however with many hurricanes and wars over the years it has been restored many times with the last time being in 1917. This is the cathedral that travelers came to after they walked through the Old Gate to thank God for their safe travels.The cathedral has very unique architecture, which includes, a spiral staircase and four vaulted Gothic ceilings. It is located on Calle Del Cristo and still holds mass on Saturdays and Sundays and visitors can tour the church daily between 8am-4:30pm.Since 1862, St. Pius has rested inside the San Juan Cathedral. He was an ancient Roman martyr and was placed in the glass box after mummification.Also inside the San Juan Cathedral is the tomb of Ponce de Leon. His remains were placed inside this marble tomb in 1908.This is the street view from La Fortaleza, which is the official residence of the Governor of Puerto Rico.The Chapel of Christ the Savior is located at Pigeon Park, as you can see it is where locals come to feed all the pigeons. The chapel was built in 1753 and legend has it that it was built on top of the city walls because a miracle happened at this site. The legend is that a rider was participating in a horse race and tumbled over the edge of the cliff. The Secretary for the city, Don Mateo Pratts, prayed for his life to be spared and when the rider was found alive the secretary built this chapel in return for Christ’s blessing.The Poet’s Passage is a little gem that we found walking around in Old San Juan. It is a little cafe that is located on Calle Cruz and a stop that I highly recommend.This was the best coffee that I drank in San Juan and the coffee beans that they use are grown on the island. They also serve quiche, cake, and pastries. On Tuesdays they have open mic poetry nights.Castillo San Cristóbal was built by Spain to protect Puerto Rico against attacks on the city. The construction on this fort began in 1634, most of the construction was completed after 25 years, however there was constant modification of the fort for 150 years.He wanted his picture made with the volunteer dressed as an 18th century Spanish Military soldier.There are many tunnels within Castillo San Cristobal that allowed the Spanish troops to move unseen between the levels of the fort. The tunnels were also used for defense, as you walk along you will notice small cutouts in the tunnels, these could be set with black powder to explode if the walls were breached with enemies. Luckily, that line of defense was never used.While walking through the tunnels, there are rooms off to the sides. One of the rooms is the galleon where they used to keep their prisoners. It is said, that one of the prisoners may have drawn these ships on the wall.We took one of the guided tours to learn more about the fort, this was our tour guide and he was amazing. They had just attacked the fort together! The tour guide was demonstrated the optical illusion of this fort, the enemy will think that the walls are not built that high, but in actuality there is a moat between the grass and the fort and the walls are actually taller than they appear. The architect for the fort designed it this way because the attacking soldiers moral would decrease once they seen that there was a moat to cross and higher walls than expected and when moral was down, that was the perfect time to attack.These little plants that grow in Puerto Rico are called touch-me-not plants. When you touch them they close up. It was a cool thing that one of the locals showed us during our guided tour.Castillo San Cristobal is a huge fort, it expands over 27 acres. There are three forts that were built to protect Old San Juan. The famous El Morro was built to protect ships from coming into the bay. This one was built to protect Old San Juan from ships coming from Europe. San Juan was the first island that most Europeans came to due to the currents and the way the ships sailed. After being on a boat for months sailing from Europe, they were hungry and needed supplies. Puerto Rico translated means rich port, it had plenty of gold and supplies, therefore it needed protecting. This was the purpose of these forts.Hollywood has come to Castillo San Cristobal. The fourth Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed here, as well as, the Wizards of Waverly Place Disney movie.From Castillo San Cristobal you can see El Morro. In between the forts is known as La Perla. La Perla isn’t the safest area to go to in Old San Juan and not one I would suggest exploring due to the high crime in this area. La Perla was estabilish in the 19th century because the law required former slaves and homeless servants to live outside the city walls.The three flags that fly at each fort is the Puerto Rican flag, the American flag, and the Spanish Military flag. The Spanish Military flag was the first flag flown at the forts and was used up through the 18th century. This flag was to identify warships, forts, and regiments of troops loyal to the king of Spain.This is the view of the city of Old San Juan from the top of Castillo San Cristobal.A picture of the archways in Castillo San Cristobal.On our second night in Old San Juan, we decided to eat at Raices located at Street Recinto. Raices is located two streets from the cruise terminal and it is touristy but the food is really good.They have delicious homemade fruit punch. It is expensive and refills are not free, but worth getting one to try.Raices and Cafe Puerto Rico have the same menu style food , plantains and mofongo. Pictured here is the chicken mofongo. Also, in Puerto Rico we came across this tasty sauce they eat with plantains called mayo-ketchup. We didn’t know the name of it, and the second place we ate we asked what it was. The waiter said its Mayo, ketchup, and a little garlic powder all mixed together. I don’t know why this hasn’t made it to America yet, but it needs to!Los 3 Cuernos is a bar that is located on San Francisco street and is decorated with masks for Carnival. A fun little stop to grab a quick drink.Los 3 Cuernos it is known for it’s “Chichaitos.” A chichaito is a shot of white rum and anise liquor which are then flavored. It is a dollar a shot.We got the vanilla, caramel, and lemon flavors of the chichaitos and it burned all the way down.To end the night, we had a beautiful view of the colorful buildings walking back to our hotel.
Day 3
On our last morning in Old San Juan, we decided to eat breakfast at Caficultura. This little cafe is located on Calle San Francisco and is known for their coffee.We each had an espresso and mom had a white chocolate hot cocoa. All the drinks were really good and the food was delicious as well. It is a little pricey, but more food than you can eat on your plate.The Capital of Puerto Rico is located just outside the walls of Old San Juan and is where the House of Representatives and the Senate are located. The building was constructed between 1925-1929, however the dome was not added until 1961.This is the esplanade, or the green area, in front of Castillo San Felipe del Morro (El Morro) and it is where locals come to fly kites, especially on Sundays.Santa Maria Magdalena de Pazzis, also known as San Juan Cemetery is located just outside the city wall right next to El Morro. The Cemetery dates back to 1863 and overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. To get an under ground hotel overlooking the ocean for eternity, you have to be a resident of Puerto Rico.Castillo San Felipe del Morro, (El Morro) is the fort that overlooks San Juan Bay. Construction began on El Morro in 1539 and it was not completed until 1787. Over 450 cannons were used at the forts in San Juan and most of them had a maximum shooting range of 3 miles. During our visit to El Morro, we got to see a cannon fired and a rifle demonstration.Our family picture sitting on one of El Morro’s walls, which are between 18-25 feet thick and are 140 feet above sea level.There were iguanas everyone at El Morro, so we stopped for a kind of close up picture with one.The light house at El Morro is known as Faro de Morro Port San Juan Light and was the first light house built in Puerto Rico. The original light house was built in 1846, however due to structural problems it has been replaced many times. The fourth and current lighthouse seen here was built in 1908.This is looking out at the entrance of San Juan Bay from a lookout at El Morro.I love this picture of the kids standing in one of the windows at El Morro looking out at the bay.There are six levels of the fortification to explore. This tunnel leads to the first level, which is where the original walls are located from 1539.A beautiful view of the rooms connected together at El Morro.The three flag flying at the famous Castillo San Felipe del Morro.Piragua is Puerto Rican shaved ice that is shaped like a pyramid with flavored syrup added to it. There are vendors set up along the street selling Piragua.After exploring El Morro on a hot July day, this was the perfect treat to cool us down. We had orange, strawberry, cream, and pineapple.A beautiful view of Puerto Rico at night from our cruise ship.It is said one of the prettiest views of El Morro is at night from the cruise ship leaving port.
A few days in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico before we boarded the ship.
