San Juan, Puerto Rico
Leslie Watson
We
started out with a tour of Fort San Cristobal. We have done El Morro on a
previous trip. San Cristobal is very similar of course. It took about an
hour to go through. It was extremely interesting. The history was well
documented and it was fun to imagine what it was like way back then. Then
we wandered around Old San Juan and shopped. We found a good deal on a
pair of Dockers for me and a shirt for Brian. We investigated the El
Convento Hotel. It is located across from the San Juan Cathedral and was a
convent built over 250 years ago. They let us see a room and we decided to
make a reservation for December 16th when we arrive back in San Juan. We
didn't do much else in San Juan. The Cathedral is definitely worth going
into to see such an old church with so much history. Old San Juan has many
courtyard-like areas with welcoming benches and shade. There were mass
amounts of colored pigeons swarming in the many courtyards. People were
standing among them, feeding them and having 3 or 4 of them on each arm!
We observed that there were quite a few homeless people in these areas. We
had several great appetizers for lunch at Barrachino's. The shrimp was
EXCELLENT! By 1:30 p.m., we were ready to head back. (Note - recommend
getting early start walking around the forts and Old San Juan - less
people and a lot less heat!) When we got back, we took a 3 hour nap, since
we are apparently getting old!