Puerto Rico Day 2~ Old San Juan

We spent the entire day exploring Old San Juan.

As one of the oldest cities in the US territory, it has structures that date back to the 1500's.

We spent quite a bit of time looking around San Cristobal, which was built in the early 1600's

San Cristobal spans 27 acres and we took in as much as we could of it.  From crew quarters ....

 ... to tunnels

and everything in between

This guy was just hanging out on a patch of grass on the outer area of the fort

Standing at one of the openings where cannons were once fired

lookout tower

views of the Atlantic

We made our way through the cobblestone streets of Old San Juan in search of some food. The colors and architectural detail of these streets were amazing!

I was particularly fascinated by the unique doors

and the blue tint of the street stones

We settled on El Meson and later learned it was a popular chain which we ate at again. We were introduced to Sorullos (corn sticks) and also learned how inept our Spanish skills were;)

 As we made our way toward the second Fort, we took some time to walk through Cathedral of San Juan Bautista.  One of the oldest buildings in San Juan ... so beautiful.

We walked just under a mile to El Morro, the more famous but smaller of the two forts. 

upper level of El Morro

A look back toward Old San Juan from El Morro

We weren't necessarily ready to leave, but we did need to head an hour east to Luquillo.  We stayed at another Airbnb. Emm was pretty excited to be on the beach.

Mark's research had uncovered that the Luquillo Kioskos are a much loved part of Puerto Rico. This long row of ramshackle buildings run right along the beach. If you can't look past the appearance, you'll miss out! 

We had no idea what to eat, but a friendly lady at one of the kiosks (can't remember the name) turned on the charm. The food was pretty traditional and good.

We made a stop at the local market to pick up a few things for breakfast.

It was fun finding all sorts of local products.

Emmrey was thrilled to find KLIM, since that is what she calls milk;)