San Juan Viejo and Paella (July 15, 2014)

Today we headed back to Old San Juan for part two and three of Andra's walking tour. 

Walking the steep streets of San Juan Viejo

There are many statues throughout the city

Another steep hill, but this time a walking street only

This time we saw more highlights of the city and ended up at the other Castle. Very cool spot. San Juan Viejo is such a beautiful mix of old and new.   The following pictures were all taken inside the second castle (fort).  

Entering the underground prison

Views from the castle

This picture really shows the mix of old and new found in San Juan Viejo

There are a lot of stores if shopping and souvenirs are your thing, and lots of restaurants and cafes. There’s a beautiful little park in the middle of Old San Juna with a coffee stand, where you can just sit and relax, or you can walk for miles, just taking in the sights. 

Having drinks in the park.  I did great ordering in Spanish, until I panicked and switched to English. 

Fountain in the city

The prison cells at the old palace

A beautiful end to our walking tour

If you get hot, just pop into one of the little bars and have a drink. Everyone is so friendly and warm! 

 It was much hotter today so we headed back to the hotel to cool off, then on to the beach for beers and sand. Again amazed at how soft and fine the sand is. We went to dinner for paella at Antonio's. Very fancy place as waiters were in black ties. We had an amazing Caprese salad and then enough Paella for 10 people. We order for two but they brought for three. Darn, as wasted lots of it. 

Yummy Paella!

It was a really good dinner, but just too much food. We headed back to hotel for packing.  We're really going to miss Puerto Rico.  What an amazing island!  Lots to do and lots to see!

Condado and San Juan Viejo, Puerto Rico (July 12th, 2014)

We spent the day at the beach across the street from Holiday Inn Express, in Condado; very nice sand. Steve walked in the sand all day without shoes. This was a first for him, since being run over by a car when he was 19.  Felt great!!!!!, and the beaches are so clean! We got a six-pack of Modella beer ($6) at Walgreens (they are all over the island) and enjoyed it on the beach. By lunch time, we needed to get out of the sun so we took a trip to the new Walmart. It was about 2 miles from our hotel. We had great grilled sandwiches for lunch at their deli; very fresh and nice ($5) each. Yes, a good meal at Walmart...go figure!

After spending the afternoon back at the beach we went back to the hotel, cleaned up and went to Old Town San Juan for dinner. Our friend, Kathy, who's husband grew up in Puerto Rico, and the web both recommended El Jibarito's for good local cuisine. We arrived at 8:00 and had about one hour wait. The wait was pleasant, as the weather outside was perfect!  It was really good, authentic food for ~$10 per person.  After dinner, we took a long slow walk back through Old Town which was very busy with both tourists and locals.

Inside El Jibarito

San Juan Viejo, El Yunque, Humacao, PR (July 10th, 2014)

We were up at 6:30. Andra and I took a quick walk as our daughter got ready. We were out of the hotel by 8:00 on our way to San Juan Viejo, or Old San Juan. Parking is nearly impossible to find in Old San Juan, but we found a parking garage right by the cemetery and Castillo San Felipe Del Morro. Since we were there early in the morning it looked deserted, but by the time we got back in the afternoon, it was completely full. We toured the first fort (Castillo San Felipe Del Morro) and did part one of a walking tour Andra had found on the web. Puerto Rico is rich in history, the forts showing how important it was to have defense against the Spaniards.

Near the parking garage.  Cemetery and Fort in the background.

View from the fort.

After lunch we took the car and headed to El Yunque National Rainforest. There was no cost to drive through the forest and do the various things. The only cost would have been to go to the visitors center ($4 each person). We didn't do it and were very glad we didn't. It was much more fun to just go explore; very pretty. Saw several waterfalls and took a hike along the river and drove along slowly stopping at most pull outs. It started to rain, so we left about 4:30.

Bamboo in the dense rainforest.

Cascade La Coca in El Yunque

Steve and Andra peeking out of the observatory in El Yunque.

Our daughter wanted to see the Caribbean side of the island, so we headed south from Fajardo, Puerto Rico. It took about an hour to make it to Humacao on the south east coast of the island. It was hard to find a public beach as most seemed to be private. Eventually, we happened upon a good spot. The water was very warm and much calmer than the Atlantic side. After playing in the water for a bit, we headed back to town. We stopped at a roadside place for dinner. The restaurant was an indoor/outdoor type restaurant, with most of the seating covered, but not all of it. Steve had Conch salad as he has always wanted to try it. We all like the mild but firm meat. Andra had grilled mahimahi, which unfortunately was swimming in butter, and our daughter had fried shrimp. Meals were ~$20 a plate and were served on paper plates! Again all the side dishes were pretty heavy with lots of butter and/or fried. 

The calm Caribbean waters on Humacao

We went back across the island using an inland highway that would take us directly to Condado, where we were staying. Slow driving as there was a wreck on the highway. As we sat in traffic, we put down the windows and heard lots of birds and other creatures in the jungle around us; it really sounded alive. We drove a total of 225 miles today.