Old San Juan Archives

August 26, 2016June 6, 2019

10 Things You Shouldn’t Miss on Puerto Rico

East of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands lies the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico. Approximately 3,500 sq. miles and about the size of the state of Connecticut, PR is a US territory and US citizens do not need a passport to travel to and from Puerto Rico. With one of the busiest cruise ship ports in the world, many tourists visit Puerto Rico before or after embarking on a cruise.

Although the list of things to see and do on this culturally colorful island is extensive, we’ve listed 10 Things You Shouldn’t Miss on Puerto Rico to get your travel planning started.

1. Old San Juan
Founded by Spanish colonists in 1521, the 7 square block area contains a wealth of history, culture, restaurants and shopping. Take time to walk down the streets taking in the colors, the historic buildings and delicious aromas surrounding you. Look to see if you can find the blue cobblestones in old town. The bricks were brought over on Spanish ships in the 1700’s and time and moisture have caused them to have a blue hue, but word has it that they are slowly being replaced due to cracking and unevenness.

Blue cobblestones

2. El Morro and San Cristobal
It’s hard to miss the forts of El Morro and San Cristobal while walking around Old San Juan. Construction on Castillo San Felipe del Morro (El Morro) was begun in 1539 as a way to protect the city from an attack by sea, but it not completed until 1787. Castillo San Cristóbal was built to protect the city from attacks by land. The views here are phenomenal and history is always so much more interesting when you’re able to experience it in person.
Read more about exploring El Morro here

Gun turret in El Morro

3. El Yunque
El Yunque National Forest is located approximately 25 miles southeast of San Juan. Receiving over 200 inches of rain a year, this jungle like area is filled with lush flora and fauna (some species only found here), beautiful waterfalls and trails that crisscross the area for easy exploration. Listen to the sounds of 13 species of coqui fill the air and keep your eyes open for the endangered Puerto Rican amazon (parrot) – the only remaining native parrot in Puerto Rico.
Read more about exploring El Yunque here

Small waterfall in El Yunque

4. Drink a Piña Colada
Named the national drink of Puerto Rico in 1978, you won’t have a problem finding a bar or restaurant that serves one. In fact, two places in San Juan claim to have originally created the creamy rum drink, Barrachina and Caribe Hilton Hotel’s Beachcomber Bar. If you want to do a bit of “research”, you could try one at each location to see which you prefer.

Piña Coladas at Barrachina’s

5. Eat
Puerto Rican cuisine was not something we were familiar with before we started visiting the islands and now we love it. Not typically spicy – but well spiced, it seems to be a unique and tasty blend of influences from different ethnic groups that settled on the island. Mofongo (mashed plantain filled with steak, chicken, shrimp, pork, etc.), Alcapurria (fritters made of green bananas and filled with seasoned meat), Mallorca (Puerto Rican sweet brean), Bacalaítos (fried codfish fritters), Lechón (roasted pig) and Arroz con gandules (the Puerto Rican style of rice and beans made with pigeon peas and sofrito) are just a few of the succulent delicacies or dishes you might find.

Mofongo

6. Roadside Food Stands
As if there’s not enough good food to choose from in Puerto Rican restaurants, there’s another place to sample great local cuisine with the added bonus of chatting with the cook/owner. On roadways all over Puerto Rico you’ll find roadside food stands selling everything from barbeque chicken to arepas to pinchos. Want to wash it down with smething cold? Try a Coco Frio (coconut water), Medalla Light (the local beer) or another Piña Colada. Our favorite? A row of food kiosks close to Luquillo Beach!

Luquillo Beach Food Kiosk

7. Rum
Called the rum capital of the world, Puerto Rico sells 70% of the rum sold in the US. Bacardi is the best known and has a distillery with tours on island, but if you have the chance, be sure to sample the local favorite Don Q and our favorite – Ron Del Barrilito Three Star, considered the “Cognac of the Caribbean”.

Puerto Rican Rums

8. Check Out the Non-Tourtisty Areas
Sure it’s great to be able to visit the popular tourist attractions in PR – they’re popular for a reason! But there are so many other things to experience on PR if you have the time and some transportation. If you’re staying on-island and can rent a car, check out some of these less touristy, but still cool destinations. Spend some time exploring Crash Boat Beach in Aguadilla – the site of a former military port that still has some of the military pier infrastructure, surf in Rincon, a sleepy town on the west coast that is a favorite of expats, kayak over to Gilligan’s Island (Cayo Aurora) from Guánica and do some snorkeling, visit Café Gran Batey Coffee Farm in Utuado for a tour, a tasting and some coffee beans to bring home, and explore the neoclassical architecture of Ponce, Puerto Rico’s second largest city, founded in 1692 by Ponce de Leon’s great grandson.

Crash Boat Beach

9. Explore Puerto Rico’s Beautiful Out Islands
There are approximately 143 islands, cays, islets and atolls surrounding the island of Puerto Rico and the only inhabited ones – Vieques and Culebra are great for day trips or longer and easy to get to via ferry.

Sun Bay, Vieques

10. Relax
After all the sightseeing, don’t forget to just take time to relax, breathe in the tropical air and enjoy the sunshine. After all, you’re in paradise!

Great place to relax in a hammock in Rio Grande

To see more posts on Puerto Rico and other islands, check out our Island Blog Directory

Copyright©Rum Therapy
Pictures and other content may not be re-used without written consent from Rum Therapy, LLC. All information is correct to our knowledge at the time of writing, but be sure to verify current information before your visit.

January 10, 2015June 6, 2019

El Morro, Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

Is it worth tearing yourself away from the beautiful beaches and rum drinks in Puerto Rico to explore an old fort built in 1539 to protect San Juan from invading armies and pirates? We say – heck yes, but check out these pictures and decide for yourself.

copyright Rum therapy — Entrance to El Morro

The entrance to El Morro is majestic with its surrounding grounds of manicured green and a backdrop of blue ocean. The entrance fee is $5.00 and also includes access to the nearby Castillo San Cristobal. The fee includes a map so you can do a self guided tour, and there are plenty of knowledgeable rangers walking around that can answer any questions you might have.

We visited on a holiday, Veteran’s Day, and the grounds were dotted with families picnicking and flying colorful kites – or chiringas, which you can buy at a nearby stand.

Walking through this majestic fort is like taking a walk back through time. The fort itself is comprised of six levels and each with it’s own features and purpose. Be sure to walk into some of the gun turrets, or garitas, and imagine being a sentry hundreds of years ago!

The area around the working lighthouse on the top level offers some of the best views of the ocean and surrounding areas.

Many of the rooms are marked with plaques or signs explaining their purpose, such as this cannonball storage room.

The enormity of the structure, the thickness of the walls and the engineering of it all makes it quite evident why El Morro, and the soldiers that manned it, were able to stave off many attacks against San Juan, including one led by Sir Francis Drake in 1595.

Leaving El Morro, be sure to walk by the San Juan Cemetery to gaze at the elaborate tombstones overlooking the beautiful ocean. This graveyard is the resting place for several famous Puerto Ricans.

After walking up and down stairs and exploring in the warm sun, you might end the day doing what we did – we walked to Barrachina in Old San Juan, purported to be the birthplace of the Piña Colada, and enjoyed one (ok two) of the very refreshing libations.

Check out National Park Website for more information on El Morro and Castillo San Cristobal.

To see more posts on Puerto Rico and other islands, check out our Island Blog Directory

November 20, 2014June 6, 2019

Culinary Walking Tour of Old San Juan

San Juan, Puerto Rico is known not only for its rich history and historical buildings and forts, but also for a delectable array of food offerings and restaurants.

During our recent visit to Puerto Rico, we jumped at the chance to take a culinary walking tour of Old San Juan with Flavors of San Juan Food & Culture Tours. This tour was to be a 3 hour walking tour through Old San Juan which included tastings at different interesting restaurants as well as the chance to learn more about the architecture and history of Puerto Rico’s oldest city.

We were asked to meet our guide at the corner of San Justo and Rcinto Sur Streets and were told that we would know the right location when we spotted the sculpture of a cat/giraffe in front of Banco Popular.

It was there we met our tour guide Luli and where our group of ten embarked on a journey full of sensuous treats for our pallets and eyes.

Luli explained that “Barriguita llena, corazón contento” or “Full belly, happy heart” was a popular Puerto Rican saying and that she hoped we would experience this on our journey today. We began walking towards the first stop of the tour – Aromas Coffeehouse.

At Aromas we were treated to a warm and creamy cup of Puerto Rican coffee and Mallorca with guava jelly – a delicious local sweet bread.

Onward we slowly wound our way through the magnificent buildings and blue cobblestone of Old San Juan with our knowledgeable guide highlighting many points of interest.

Next stop – Café El Punto, featuring fresh, authentic Puerto Rican cuisine with bright and lively, locally made masks and atrwork adorning the walls.

Here we savored the tastiest ceviche, and an alcapurria – a light and flaky pastry filled with ground beef but can also be filled with vegetables, shrimp or jueyes (a local crab). We washed it down with a frosty piña colada.

Next stop – a beautiful little restaurant close to Cathedral of San Juan Bautista called Rosa de Triana.

Here we got to mash our own plantains and experience Puerto Rico’s signature dish – Mofongo.

We then filled our “plantain bowl” with a delicious mixture of chicken and spices and devoured our scrumptious Mofongo with a glass of sangria.

Full, but totally ready to sample the fare at our last stop, we leisurely made our way through Plaza de Armas,

and into Casa Cortés for….chocolate….

The Casa Cortés slogan is “Where two great passions meet: Art and Chocolate”. The ChocoBar is downstairs, and upstairs in the recently refurbished building, there are two floors of beautiful paintings and artwork from Caribbean and Latin American artists.

Several chocolate squares with cheese to dip in a warm cup of creamy hot chocolate and a churro later, we definitely had a full belly and a happy heart.

We said goodbye to some new friends we made on the tour and our lovely tour guide, Luli, and headed back out on the streets of Old San Juan – full of excellent food and history of this vibrant city.

The Old San Juan Food Tour is offered several times a day (except on Monday) and at the time of this writing, the cost for the tour is $69.99 per adult. There is some moderate walking involved. Included in the price: All food/drink tastings plus historical, cultural & architectural information and a savings guide for discounts at local businesses.

All information is correct to our knowledge at the time of writing, but be sure to verify current information before your visit.
Pictures and other content may not be re-used without written consent from Rum Therapy, LLC