Old San Juan

We spent the last of our six nights in Puerto Rico in Old San Juan. Being in Old San Juan when cruise ships are not allowed turned out to be great for us.

We arrived in San Juan after driving from Cueva Ventana and arrived just in time for the miniboats in Old San Juan Harbor. This was a nice introduction to San Juan (although we had flown into San Juan Airport earlier that week, it was at night and we did not get to see much as we headed toward Fajardo).

Our hotel for the night was the CasaBlanca Hotel (described in this post) and its location on Calle Fortaleza in Old San Juan is excellent and provided easy access to the heart of Old San Juan.

This is a photograph of nearby Plaza Colón taken that night.

The next photograph shows Plaza Colón in the morning.

On the other end of Calle Fortaleza from Plaza Colón features La Fortaleza ("The Fortress"). We had wanted to see the famous umbrellas on Calle Fortaleza in front of the governor’s mansion and it turned out to be kites while we were there.

The person who checked us in at CasaBlanca Hotel kindly reminded us to be sure to have dinner before 8 pm when the restaurants would close. He recommended a nearby restaurant we had already read positive reviews about (Barrachina), but it had a long line and it seemed doubtful we'd be seated before curfew. We chose The Chapel Restaurant & Bar for dinner partly due to its outdoor seating near La Fortaleza. We were happy we were seated before 7 pm because they stopped accepting new customers shortly after 7 pm (to allow dinner to be ordered and served in time for the 8 pm curfew).

We really enjoyed dinner there with tasty food and great outdoor Old San Juan atmosphere. It got really quiet as we finished our meal and it was approaching 8 pm.

Things were even quieter in the early morning the next day.

The only other people by the kites in front of La Fortaleza were those guarding the governor's mansion.

The woman at the Hotel CasaBlanca's front desk in the morning recommended Caficultura for breakfast.

We were not able to sit inside the restaraunt due to COVID-19 social distancing, but we ordered and ate at the outdoor tables and chairs immediately in front. We really enjoyed the tasty breakfast while sitting next to Plaza Colón.

We spent the remainder of the morning (until we needed to leave for the airport) looking at components of the San Juan National Historic Site (described in this post).

We were sad to have to leave San Juan and Puerto Rico.