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Day
11 (March 6, 2024) San Juan
Before
We will spend this day entirely to visiting our highlights in Old San Juan and enjoying the local food and piña coladas.
The spots marked at map are:
0- Navona Studios
1- Capitol of Puerto Rico
2- San Cristóbal Fortress
3- La Perla
4- El Morro
5- La Fortaleza
6- Cathedral of San Juan Bautista
7- Fortaleza Street
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After
We leave around 9 AM and go to the bar around the corner for breakfast. After that we follow Fortaleza Street almost to the end. On the way we pass by La Barrachina, the place where the birth of the piña colada is marked.
Our first visit is to the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista, whose entrance is in a small square.
 
Inside we find the tomb of Ponce de Leon and the typical Spanish colonial architecture with high decorated ceilings.
 
When we leave we take the short street that reaches the end of the island, with views of the sea and La Fortaleza.
 
We also came across the typical stone sentry boxes of the walls that surround old San Juan.
We pass through the Plazuela de la Rogativa and go on our way to our next visit: the Castle San Felipe del Morro, popularly known as "El Morro".
The fortress appears in the distance, behind a large grassy esplanade that we cross. At the entrance a guard starts a friendly conversation with us and ends up explaining to us how live is in Puerto Rico, among other things. We pay $10 per person as entrance fee.
We continue down the floors to complete the visit. I thought there would be some way out of the castle towards the seaside promenade that leads to the cemetery and, probably, to La Perla, but when we reach the lowest floor we find out that this is not the case.
We can only go back up all the floors until we get out through the door we came in through. The climb and the heat make us take a couple of canoas for a dollar that are offered by various street carts. It is basically a glass of ice that they shave in front of you and pour syrup of the flavor you have chosen into it.
It is 12:30 PM and, as it is still too early to go to lunch, we decide to go to Paseo del Morro, which we have not been able to access from the fortress and we have to go down to Fuente Raíces to join it.
y tenemos que bajar hasta la Fuente Raíces para unirnos a él.
Paseo del Morro is a nice and quiet walk with the sea on the right and the wall on the left. When we reach San Juan gate we choose to go on a little further but seeing that we still have a long way to go and it is past 2 PM we return to the gate to go back to the old town and look for a place to eat there.
We want to come back to yesterday's restaurant which liked so much: El Jibarito. Once there we find that, besides the people who fill the room before the dining room, there is a longer line outside, so waiting for our turn should take hours. We end up eating at "La Mallorquina." We pay $57 for a mofongo of churrasco with a side of arroz mamposteado for me and chicken funly for Eva. The place is nice but, although the food is good, it is the reason why El Jibarito is so highly recommended, since it is one step up there.
 
We leave the restaurant after 4:30 PM and, while Eva rests at the hotel, I head towards San Cristobal castle, since they close at 5 PM and it's our last chance to visit it.
There are only 10 minutes left until closing time, but they let me in and I start exploring the first level. When I get to the top of the castle, they're already closing.
I take advantage of the minutes they spend emptying the castle to enjoy the views from here. Including some of the La Perla neighborhood, which is where I plan to go when I leave here.
On my way there along the seaside promenade I start to have views of the La Perla, which is one level below, but I can't find a way down to it until I reach a ramp that leads to an arch.
Once inside I head to the left because I can see the sea in the background but some boys tell me that the Despacito mural I'm coming to see is in the opposite direction. I go through narrow spaces between houses to get to it although, as I had been warned, it is quite deteriorated.
 
With this we finish our visits in San Juan and I pick up Eva to go have some piña coladas. La Barrachina has a line of people on the street waiting to go in, I imagine for dinner, so we walk around a bit until we find a small place to have our drinks.
 
Night comes and, as we liked them so much, we order two more to take away which we will finish in our room, where we need to get our luggage ready for our return home tomorrow.
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