Day 121, Year 9: Old San Juan
Date: Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Weather: Mostly Sunny at Sea Level with Dark Clouds Hanging Over the Mountains
Location: Da House Hotel and Gallery, 312 San Francisco Street, Old San Juan
Our morning was spent packing and at 12 noon we said goodbye to Justin and Jo’s Casa Chalet and all piled into a van that would take us to the ferry. As we pulled out of the harbor I almost shed a tear. Mark and I have really enjoyed the week with our whole family together and the warm weather and beautiful setting have made the stay just perfect. We arrived in Fajardo just after 2 pm. Mark, Justin, Jo, and kids walked a block or so from the ferry terminal to World Car Rental and rented a car to drive to San Juan while Heather, Jed, and boys, along with myself, got into a taxi van and headed to the Da House Hotel and Gallery in Old San Juan. We all arrived at about the same time and explored this neat little hotel. It is in the heart of Old San Juan and their description on the internet sums it up perfectly. “Da House is the urban-latino pronunciation of ‘The House’, with the emphasis on ‘the’, ‘the one’, ‘the space where it is happening’. . . We offer clean, comfortable, eclectic accommodations in a friendly, vibrant setting that is reminiscent of the character of hostals in great European cities like Amsterdam, Paris or Barcelona.” We are on the third floor and there is no elevator, so all that luggage did have to be carried up the stairs. But other than that inconvenience, the price of $80 per room seems like the deal of the year. The normal cost is $118 but Jo has connections through a friend and gets the lower price. There is a balcony on the fourth floor for outside enjoyment and a huge lounge with wifi on the second floor. The ceilings are high, the floors are tiled, and the tall, thin windows are shuttered. The downside is that each room just has one large bed. So tonight Sam is sleeping with us and Ollie is sleeping on two large padded chairs pulled together to make a bed. We’ll make it just fine.
Old San Juan is so delightful. As we drove in we passed the impressive El Capitolio de Puerto Rico and Castillo de San Cristobal, a fort on the seaside of the capital. We then entered the walled city of Old San Juan which sits on a hill. The views are phenomenal, the architecture old but immaculately kept, and after checking into the hotel we headed to the San Juan Gate and walked outside the wall along the water. For three centuries, beginning in the 1500’s, the San Juan Gate is where you would have entered the city if you were a dignitary. The current Governor’s compound is just to your left as you enter the gate. One of the first things you notice as you walk along the wall are the garritas or sentinel posts. These are round turrets located at every corner on the top of the wall. I really wasn’t prepared for visiting here as I have done no research and no virtually none of the history other than Columbus discovered this island for the Spanish in 1493 and that somehow it became a territory of the United States after the Spanish-American War at the turn of the twentieth century. Hopefully I will know more before we leave here tomorrow.
Justin, Jo, and kids will be up early to head back into San Juan to the Immigration headquarters. Jo has an appointment to get her Green Card documentation done. When their van burned this past summer in England, her card was melted. So tomorrow’s appointment should get the card reinstated for her. The rest of us will explore Old San Juan until we have to head to the airport. It looks like we will be returning home during a warm spell after the recent storms. Warmer weather means rain, but at least it is not ice and snow! I don’t think I could bear that right off the bat after experiencing the wonderfully warm weather here.
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| 140218 Day 121 Culebra, PR–Old San Juan |
