Favourite 2013 travel photos. Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. June 2013.
Cathedral of San Juan Bautista
Puerto Rico
San Juan’s fortifications
Early one morning of our stay, I headed out toward Castillo San Felipe del Morro for some fresh air and to see the fortification without the hordes of other tourists. This fort was built in the late 1500s to guard San Juan Bay. It was a perfect morning for exploring this area – not a cloud in the sky and the heat of the day ahead hadn’t yet arrived. One of the first striking features is the lighthouse, a recent addition to the fort in the early 1900s
Walking away from the fort, you next encounter the Santa Maria Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery. This cemetery, dating back to the early 1860s is perched high above the Atlantic Ocean. There are about a thousand graves located here:
Cobblestones of Old San Juan
Favourite 2013 travel photos. Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. June 2013.
An unexpected craft beer bar
Among the things I look for when visiting any city is a craft beer bar. When I pulled up Google for Old San Juan, I really wasn’t expecting to find much. Puerto Rico is rum country and their national beer is a pretty standard Caribbean thirst quencher with little to distinguish it. Imagine my surprise and delight to learn about La Taberna Lupulo, a craft beer bar located about three blocks from my hotel in Old San Juan.
On a lazy Saturday afternoon with the temperatures hitting about 35°C it was time for a pint or two. Pulling up a stool at the bar, my first selection was a witbier – Lost Coast Great White from California. Delicious and refreshing on such a hot day:
A day trip to El Yunque
When we picked Puerto Rico as our honeymoon destination, it was with the idea of having a lazy kind of trip. The plan: five days away, a small area in Old San Juan to explore, some good food and drink, and some general relaxation at our hotel with its rooftop pool, interesting bars and secluded spaces to sit and read. The one exception to this was a day trip we planned to El Yunque, a tropical rainforest.
Normally we’d have done this ourselves by renting a car, but as it was a lazy trip, we booked a tour to pick us up and drop us off at the hotel and take care of guiding us around. A relatively peaceful 50 minute drive outside San Juan had us in lush, tropical surroundings. After a brief stop at El Yunque’s main entrance and interpretive site, we started up the mountain. A very narrow road wound itself further and further up:
Our first stop was at Coca Falls, right beside the main road up the mountain. The falls have about a 60 foot drop (you can see some perspective with the people standing part way up on the left):
In the shade
Favourite 2013 travel photos. Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. June 2013.
Streets of Old San Juan
Immediately on entering Old San Juan it feels like you’ve been transported somewhere else. Many of your senses won’t tell you that you’re in the Caribbean or that you’re actually and (though I know it to be a fact) almost unbelievably in the United States. The narrow cobblestone streets and the colonial Spanish architecture of the seven square blocks in this area of San Juan is an oasis juxtaposed against the rest of a hectic, large city.
All of my senses were completely overwhelmed by the streetscapes in Old San Juan. From the vibrantly coloured buildings to the changing hues of the cobblestones as they became wet during a morning thundershower, then dried in the afternoon sun. There were palm trees, lazy stray cats and dogs and Latin rhythms coming from behind walls only inches off the sidewalks down narrow alleys. Strangers huddled tightly together under awnings to stay dry during the frequent quick downpours. The scents that wafted out of restaurants, full of garlic and onion, hung in the humid, almost oppressive late June air.
This part of the city was achingly beautiful in a way I haven’t seen before in my travels. Here are a few snaps from the streets of Old San Juan that for me, capture at least the pure physical beauty of this historic area.
Calle Tetuan
Calle Del Cristo
Calle de Valle
Calle Sol
Calle San Justo
Cobblestones of Old San Juan
Calle Luna
Calle de Valle
In front of El Convento
Toward Calle Luna
Stray dog wandering the cobblestones
Balconies
Chef for a day
A big part of the draw to visit Puerto Rico was its cuisine. The first time I heard about mofongo I made a mental note that I would jump at an opportunity to visit the island. Fast forward a few years and the combination of looking for a honeymoon destination and some very cheap airfares had us headed to San Juan.
For our first full day in San Juan we had booked a cooking class in Isla Verde to learn some of the secrets of Puerto Rican cuisine. That in and of itself was something to look forward to. Then we showed up to the open air kitchen where our class was to take place. This was a kitchen with a serious view of the beach and the Atlantic Ocean:
Pretty nice eh? The view the other way wasn’t too shabby either:
First impressions of Old San Juan
There is a patina to Old San Juan that is unmistakeable. I haven’t been anywhere that was reminiscent of the seven square blocks that was our home away from home. Some combination of the heat, the tropical rains that would appear for brief interludes and the age of this part of San Juan create a beauty that is very unique. The architecture, food and people left a mark on both of us and it was a perfect backdrop for a honeymoon.
Over five days we took a visit to El Yunque rainforest, did a Puerto Rican cooking class overlooking the Atlantic Ocean (where I started a love affair with fried plantains), endlessly wandered cobblestone streets, ate great food lovingly prepared and had more than our share of mojitos. We also spent time sitting in the interior open-air courtyard of our hotel reading, listening to the rain, drinking Spanish wine and reminiscing.
It was a great first trip as a married couple. More pictures and stories to share in the coming weeks…
Bluenose Traveler 