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What is your favorite type of neighborhood? For me, it often depends on my mood. Some days I want a home by the sea. Other days, I would prefer a quiet tree lined street. I often want to be near an urban center. (I like the amenities and useful mass transportation.) Old San Juan offers all of this with a huge dose of history thrown in.

As impressed as I was by the governor’s mansion, the little “caleta” running up the hill from the gate through the fortress wall at the governor’s mansion was lined with quaint modest homes that really fired my imagination.  Just blocks from tourist throngs and urban noise was a quiet little oasis of brightly painted homes.  We enjoyed these traditional Puerto Rican homes so much that we bought a ceramic wall hanging that looked like one of our favorites.

Old San Juan is a peninsula on the north shore of Puerto Rico.  On its west end, protecting the harbor, is Forteza El Morro.  On the east end, facing the Atlantic, is Forteza San Cristobal.  Extending from El Morro along both sides of the city is a huge stone wall.  On the harbor side of the peninsula is Paseo de la Princesa, a promenade that skirts the city wall.  The eastern point of the walkway is quite broad.  There was an exhibit of  huge aerial photographs along the sidewalk on this end.

Embraced by the walls were picturesque churches, museums, hotels, shops, and many little parks.  Many of the streets are a blue cobblestone.  The people were quite friendly.  I hope it won’t be long before I can go back.  We never even had a chance to visit any of Puerto Rico’s many beaches.

Click on the picture, or here, to see a slideshow of our tour of Old San Juan.  Some of the pictures were already posted from Hotel Milano where we stayed, but these are high resolution and a larger selection.  (Tip: The ‘View Slideshow’ option is more attractive than the ‘View Slideshow (Fullscreen)’ option.)

The guys in the video below were playing dominoes in a park near the beginning of the Paseo de la Princesa.  They were very friendly and very animated!  Joy and I were so enthralled that we met someone on the ship who taught us to play and then we bought a set of dominoes in Barbados.  Anybody up for a game?  Meet me in the park.