Day 2: A Walking Tour of Old San Juan

Saturday, Jan 31, 2015

It's after 9 when we get up. So much for the early start, but that's OK when you're on vacation. The view from the balcony in the daytime is spectacular.

Plaza Colón

Castillo San Cristóbal on the left and the gilded roof of the old casino on the right.

We really lucked out finding this place!

Sandy figured out that it's easier to sort by places that serve breakfast on Foursquare, so that's how we end up just a short walk down the street at Cafeteria Mallorca. It's a mom & pop kind of place packed with tourists and locals alike. A lone trumpeter sits by the door and adds to the ambiance.

The mallorca is a Puerto Rican breakfast pastry that from Sandy's research sounded like a stuffed funnel cake. Eww! But I've been wanting to sample local flavors and a sunny side up egg is just that no matter where you go ... 

Our bacon and Swiss cheese mallorcas arrive buried under a layer of powdered sugar. That's about where the funnel cake parallel ends for me.

Yep, just like everything else that probably isn't good for you, it tastes great! More like a sweet French croissant, if you ask me.

While Sandy orders us deserts to go, I explore the small plaza in front of the restaurant where the Carlos Albizu University is located.

As well as this darling set of stairs at the top of La Barandilla

Then it's on to Plaza de Armas where pigeon lovers can buy bags of seed for their feathered friends. There is also a small fountain called The Four Seasons (each of the four statues represents a season), but I was too distracted to get a decent picture.

The birds! The birds!

We wander down Calle de Cruz until we reach the old city wall, but first a view of Hostos Plaza looking down Calle Recinto Sur

There's a little craft market set up along the foot of the old city wall, but I'm more intrigued by the sculptures in the Jardin de la Princesa, where a set of bronze statues by Jose Buscaglia depict the heritage of the Americas.

My favorite: Herencia Social.

At the end of the palm tree-lined Paseo de la Princesa, we encounter the stunning Raices Fountain. Here is a little background information from PuertoRico.com:

"The Raíces Fountain, which was completed in May 1992, was designed by architect Miguel Carlo to commemorate and celebrate the New World’s 500th anniversary. This collection of bronze statues honoring Puerto Rico’s mixed African, Spanish and Taino/Amerindian heritage, is represented as a ship being steered out into the open sea with leaping dolphins leading the way to a bright 21st century future. The picturesque San Juan Bay serves as a backdrop to the statue, adding an interesting dimension to the ship at sea concept."

Of course, if you task a horse lover to take a picture of it, it'll come out looking nothing like the statue described above, but I promise this is in fact the Raices Fountain.

We follow the city wall North as it curves along the water's edge. We are now fully exposed to the sun and it is HOT! Also, I just realized I never put on sunscreen. Gah! Better late than never?

We walk past the red San Juan Gate one of the old entryways into the city. The inscription reads Benedictus Qui Venit in Nomine Domini (blessed are those who come in the name of the lord).

We walk by the water for some time and spot lots of stray kitties taking a siesta in the bushes. Couldn't get a good shot since they were hiding, but I promise there will be kitty pictures in this post!

There's even a pelican perched on one of the turrets, but you'll have to wait for much later in the trip to hear about my exciting encounter with Debbie the pelican.

After a while we turn back around since you can't walk all the way to the fort from here. Hey, at least we realized before we got all the way to the fort ...

We walk by Plazuela de la Rogativa with its funky statue representing the religious procession that scared off British forces. I really liked this statue, but my camera did not, so alas, you will have to check it out yourself sometime.

Alright, I promised there would be cats ...

Even a kitten snoozing on the pavement!

Judging by the number of cats it could be said that San Juan has a cat problem, but we stumbled across dishes filled with kibble and water many times. These kitties are loved!  

Ladies, random thought for the day: short shorts are much appreciated in San Juan. Never felt unsafe, but did attract some attention even though they weren´t all that short.

A large quinceañeroa celebration is taking place on the lawn in front of El Morro and I join the proud parents for a photo-op of the girls.

Close-up of one of the dresses ... so detailed and elegant.

At last we have arrived at Castillo San Felipe Del Morro.

(I'm a panoroma -- please click me for a larger picture) 

Like Castillo San Cristóbal, this is a national historic site and you get free entry with your America The Beautiful Pass. They do a great job education people and as always we try to start off with the introductory movie, but they are playing the Spanish version and no comprendemos.

We add on another who-knows-how-many stairs and steep ramps exploring the various levels.

There's an iguana in the grass just on the other side of the wall!!

What an unexpected treat! After reading about the iguana's at Sapphire Beach on St. Thomas I was hopeful we'd see one there, but it never occurred to me I might find one in Old San Juan.

I'm looking through one of the portholes when a large Italian barge enters the channel.

There's also this funky little lighthouse. Too bad they don't let you climb all the way to the top.

I love the view from the top of the fort looking out over Old San Juan.

After we leave the fort we find a spot in the shade to enjoy our desserts from Cafe Mallorca, but I'm not too fond of my meringue. Sandy likes her apple "thing", but doesn't really like the crust so I offer to take it off her hands. 

The view over the cemetery is amazing! You can see the orange dome in the middle left of the picture above. Wow, I'd heard it was amazing, but now I really want to see it up close.

We decide to just follow the walls of the fort (with no luck) then head up the street to Plaza del Quinto Centenario with a fountain overrun by four years old in bathing suits and ... Sandy?

Yep, we both got a little overheated so we wet our hair and it felt so good! That is, for the roughly 5 minutes it took for our hair to dry ...

There's a famous totem at the plaza, but I was more taken by the sheep statues flanking it. Sheep appear to play a prominent role in the depiction of Puerto Rico's past, but I haven't been able to figure out the connection yet.

When we finally find an opening in the wall that seems to lead down to the cemetery, I hesitate: it looks to head straight into La Perla, a rough neighborhood that might not be safe for tourists. As luck would have it we run into a couple just heading back and they tell us that while we are heading in the right direction the cemetery has already closed for the day.

Note: there is a safer way to reach the cemetery. I will tell you how to get there tomorrow

We weave through the colorful city streets until we reach the San Juan Cathedral.

Calle Imperial:

Calle de San Jose

Not only is Catedral de San Juan Bautista the oldest church on US soil, it is also the seat of the archdiocese of Puerto Rico and home to the marble tomb of Spanish explorer and first governor of Puerto Rico; Ponce de León.

Following Calle del Santo Cristo we arrive at tiny Capilla del Santo Cristo de la Salud, Cristo Chapel for short, perched near the edge of the city wall.

At one time horse races were held in the streets of San Juan and legend has it that during one of those races a young contestant found himself unable to control his spirited horse. Galloping towards the cliff at breakneck speed the youngster prayed to God for salvation and the horse halted at the edge, sparing his rider's life.  

The chapel was built at that exact spot to commemorate the miraculous save. It's just a wee thing and personally I enjoyed the story more than the chapel itself.

If you turn right at the chapel you will find yourself at Pigeon's Park. I don't know if that's the official name, but you can tell by the holes in the wall that this is a favorite pigeon hangout. Here too you will find vendors selling bags of crushed corn and other goodies.

Last pigeon picture of the day, I promise.

From there it's just a short walk down Calle Fortaleza until we reach the governor's mansion, La Fortaleza.

Strangely distorted picture, but the only one I took

Heading back on Calle Fortaleza.

This is where we cheat and hop on one of the trolleys.

"Trolleys?" you ask.

Ah, yes I neglected to mention that San Juan has several free trolleys that will take you around town. The one we were on was pretty crowded and standing made it hard for me to see where we were going, plus I made another gentleman friend so all in all, that was enough of the trolleys for me. Hey, someone has to get out there and take pictures, right!

In all fairness, some friends of mine really enjoyed riding the trolleys and if I understand correctly one of them is an open air tram, which sounds pretty nice.

At last, we have made it to Castillo San Cristóbal. We walk all over the grounds, sometimes backtracking unnecessarily and doing *gasp* extra stairs!

One of the many "secret" passageways through the fort.

The view again is quite spectacular no matter which way you look.

Harbor view

Towards the east

(I'm a panorama - please click me for a better picture)

 And towards El Morro in the west 

You can tell the sun is starting to set casting everything in a golden glow

Oops, I almost forgot one of my favorite quirky shots ... a heavily "personalized" blotch of green tucked away in one of the inner chambers of the fortress.

What would Rorschach have to say about that one?

We're pretty pooped now, but I can't resist walking a bit further in the wrong direction to take a picture of Puerto Rico's capitol building. It's almost six so we don't try to go inside, but the outside is worth a picture too.

Deciding on dinner is no easy task and after sitting down at La Madre (and leaving because it's too noisy), finding a 30 minute wait at Café Puerto Rico and an even longer wait at Pirilo Pizza Rustica (a pizza joint of all places) we wind up at the Greengo's Caribbean Cantina, a Mexican bar & restaurant decked out in Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead) motif.

Fans of Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" will get a kick out of this place.

It can be a bit noisy and we asked to be seated in the back where it was much quieter. My chicken quesadilla wasn't much to look at, but easily passed the taste test.

That's it for tonight! We'll do a little more exploring of San Juan tomorrow morning ... 

♥

Breakfast: Cafeteria Mallorca
Lunch: pastries from Cafeteria Mallorca
Dinner: Greengo's Caribbean Cantina
Hotel: Posada San Francisco