Sunday, August 10: We get an early start this morning because I have big ambitions. We’re taking the Lonely Planet‘s self-guided walking tour through Old San Juan. The tour starts at Pier 2, next to where the cruise ships are parked, and ends at Paseo del Morro. It is supposed to be 3 miles long and 3-4 hours in duration. Little do we know the tour will take us most of the day, including lunch and stops in various places, and our bodies will be aching from head to toe!
Our taxi drops us off near the pier, where we go in search of coffee and breakfast. Our hotel doesn’t have a complimentary breakfast, so every day this will be a dilemma. As soon as we turn inland from the pier, we see again the huge U.S. Post Office, which dominates the center of Old San Juan. It’s a reminder that we’re in a U.S. Territory. I can’t get over seeing U.S. Postal Service vehicles and post boxes when I’m visiting a Spanish-speaking country.
The U.S. Post Office in the center of Old San Juan, a formidable presence
We find a cute coffee shop, Cafe Cuatro Sombras, which means Four Shadows. Their breakfast menu is scant, but we can order sandwiches for breakfast. We order two black coffees (also an anomaly in Puerto Rico as most often coffee is served automatically with cream) and I get a toast with guava butter and Mike a breakfast panini with ham, provolone cheese and sweet mustard.
Inside Cuatro Sombras
The coffee shop has an interesting history. In 1846, Domingo Mariani arrived from Corsica and settled in the mountains of Yauco, where he established The Hacienda Santa Clara. Shade grown coffee was a common practice in those times. Although many varieties of trees were used to provide shade to the orchard at Santa Clara the most commonly used were the guaba, guamá, palo de pollo and the guaraguao; these were the four shadows (cuatro sombras) of Santa Clara.
Cuatro Sombras
By mid-century, Santa Clara had to close its doors like so many Puerto Rican coffee haciendas. Now a young descendant of Don Domingo brings us the coffee Cuatro Sombras from Yauco, Puerto Rico.
The coffee beans are 100% arabica. They are handpicked in their ripe state and processed the same day in the wet mill. They are then sun-dried and stored in a climate controlled bodega until they ready to be classified by size and density. Only the best quality beans are used for the Cuatro Sombras coffee.
Coffee machine in Cuatro Sombras
Cuatro Sombras is a single origin coffee from Yauco, Puerto Rico. In the cup it reveals a medium bodied coffee with a vibrant acidity with notes of semi-sweet chocolate, caramel and spices that contribute to a classic and clean cup.
Food truck near the plaza
Another food truck
We head back to the plaza where we dropped in on Ana Ruiz’s birthday last night and begin our walk along Paseo de la Princesa, a shaded 19th century esplanade that runs alongside the old city walls to the shore of Bahia de San Juan.
Paseo de la Princesa
We see some interesting statues and metal spiked sculptures along the way, and some huge Ficus trees, their tendrils and vines encroaching on every adjacent surface.
Sculpture along the esplanade
The romantic walkway is lined with antique street lamps, shade trees, benches, statues, and fruit vendors’ stalls and carts. Little geckos flit around on the trees and vines.
huge Ficus tree along Paseo de la Princesa
Paseo de la Princesa with Raices and Bahia de San Juan at the end
At the end of the beautiful avenue is the bronze sculpture and fountain, Raices, that depicts the island’s Taino, Spanish and African heritage. The figures rise amid a shower of cascading water.
Raices Fountain
We turn right at Racies Fountain and continue along the walkway beside the bay, seeing various fishing boats and cages, as well as the view across the bay to the Bacardi Rum Factory.
Bahia de San Juan after leaving Raices
Fishing boats in Bahia de San Juan
Walking from Paseo de la Princesa to Paseo del Morro: a strange spiked sculpture
pretty little flower along the walkway
View of El Morro from Paseo del Morro
view across Bahia de San Juan
Frayed tree near Puerta de San Juan
In the 17th and 18th centuries, Spanish ships anchored in this bay and unloaded colonists and supplies, all of which entered the city through the tall red portal known as Puerta de San Juan, dating from the 1630s. The walking tour instructs us to enter through this gate and walk through the city, but we decide to continue along the mile-long Paseo del Morro, which hugs the city walls to the far tip of El Morro Fort.
Puerta de San Juan
We see turreted guard towers called garitas carved into the thick city walls. They are distinctive conical structures that have become symbolic of Puerto Rico and its rich colonial history.
a turreted guard tower, called a garita, with its distinctive conical structure
Walls of El Morro
We see a lot of cats running around and sunning themselves on the rocks along the bay here. According to Puerto Rico Day Trips: Help Out the Cats in Old San Juan, most of the cats around the Paseo del Morro are feral cats, which means that they are not socialized to humans. They were either born outside and never had human care/contact, or they have become accustomed to living without human companionship.
In cooperation with the National Park Service, Save a Gato provides food, water and medical assistance for these cats. They also control the number of cats in the colony. They do this by the practice of TNR — Trap, Neuter and Release.
They humanly trap the cats, neuter them (and clip the ear for easy recognition), give them their necessary vaccinations (rabies, etc), deworm them, attend to any other medical needs, and then return them to the colony. This practice provides a win/win situation for everyone — the cat population is controlled and so is the rodent population.
This little fellow isn’t too happy when I invade his space to take his picture.
One of many cats roaming the grounds of Paseo del Morro
View of Bahia de San Juan from the mile-long Paseo del Morro
El Morro from Paseo del Morro
El Morro
Bahia de San Juan
A ship passes El Morro
Going, going, gone…
Across the bay ~ windfarm and factory
A pregnant cat along Paseo del Morro
Tugboats in the bay
tugboat in Bahia de San Juan
After walking the two miles back and forth along Paseo del Morro, we finally enter the old city through the Puerta de San Juan, where we stroll through the colorful streets.
Colorful buildings in Old San Juan
Colorful Old San Juan
Number 60
50 shades of green
balconies in Old San Juan
We come to a pretty little shaded park, Plazuela Las Monjas (Nun’s Square). On one side of the park is Gran Hotel El Convento, Puerto Rico’s grandest hotel.
El Convento
We poke into the hotel to check out the courtyard restaurant where we’ve heard we can have a lovely brunch, and we plan to do just that one day this week.
Inside El Convento
the courtyard of El Convento
Courtyard El Convento
On the east side of the park is Catedral de San Juan which dates from 1540. The remains of Juan Ponce de Leon rest inside a marble tomb here. Also, the body of religious martyr St. Pio is displayed under glass. Sadly, church services are in session this Sunday morning, so we can’t do the tourist thing and explore the church thoroughly.
Catedral de San Juan
Catedral de San Juan
Stained glass in Catedral de San Juan
In the park outside, we find some strange little statues and people lingering on benches under gnarly trees.
Statue in the shaded square near El Convento and Catedral de San Juan
We get a peek at the Children’s Museum through the leafy trees.
Children’s Museum
We follow the cobbled streets to the bay, where we pass more colorful houses.
Streets of San Juan looking out to the bay
Spanish architecture
At the Plazuela de la Rogativa, we admire the bronze sculpture of a religious procession, representing the Bishop of San Juan and three women bearing torches. According to legend, the candles held by the women who walked through this plaza one night in 1797 tricked British lieutenant Abercromby, who was getting ready to seize San Juan with 8,000 troops and a flotilla of more than 50 vessels, into believing that reinforcements were flooding the city from the rest of the island. Fearful of being outnumbered, Abercromby and his fleet withdrew. (Lonely Planet Puerto Rico)
Here we have grand vistas of the Paseo del Morro and the Bahia de San Juan below, where we just finished our two-mile walk.
bronze sculpture of a religious procession at Plazuela de la Rogativa
Looking over the walls of El Morro to Bahia de San Juan
Some frolickers in the bay
Plazuela de la Rogativa
El Morro and the bay from Plazuela de la Rogativa
We walk up to the guarded iron gates of La Fortaleza, a one-time fort that is more like a classical palace. Built in 1533, it’s the oldest executive mansion in continuous use in the western hemisphere (Lonely Planet Puerto Rico). As it’s Sunday, no tours are offered, but we plan to return here one day this week.
We see a beautiful African tulip tree on a side street. These trees are like exclamation points of color all over Puerto Rico.
African tulip tree
El Morro
Sign for refreshing water?
We then walk through the streets of San Juan until we come to the Plaza de Armas, the city’s central square laid out in the 16th century with the classic look of plazas from Madrid and Mexico.
Colorful Old San Juan
Colorful Old San Juan
We see a colorful kiosk in Plaza de Armas and we decide since it’s too early for lunch, we’ll stop here for a drink.
The plaza has served as a military parade ground, vegetable market and social gathering spot.
Plaza de Armas
Mike sits down for a chat with the life-sized statue honoring Curet Alonso, Puerto Rican composer of over 2,000 salsa songs. He (literally) sits at San Juan’s Plaza de Armas, in Alonso’s favorite bench spot.
Mike shares the bench with the life-sized statue honoring Curet Alonso
I have a lemonade with orange slices and Mike a grape juice. It’s very hot and humid today, so this is a refreshing break from all our walking.
Plaza de Armas
waiting for refreshment at Plaza de Armas
Refreshing lemonade with orange slices
The Poet’s Passage sits at one end of Plaza de Armas
We leave the Plaza de Armas after Mike stops at the SuperMax at the end of the square to buy some granola bars and bananas. We decide it’s too early for lunch yet, so we’ll go up the hill to explore Fuerte San Cristobal before stopping at the Parrot Cafe for lunch.