We got up late and Barb go ready while Ed went to the
gym. We did get a complimentary
breakfast at a Courtyard, so we walked about ½ block of a local restaurant and
had a good breakfast for little money.
Then we took the local bus for 35 cents each to the main
area of Old San Juan. An Uber was going
to be $6 and a taxi $9. Then bus got us
there in 10 minutes!
We then spent the morning walking around Old San Juan
shopping at stores we had been to before and seeing how the town survived the
hurricane. Basically, the small local
stores who did not have enough money saved up before the storm have closed, remodeled
and it their places were brand new shops and a lot were high end shops –
totally different from what was there before.
Lots of building still empty but the town looked pretty good with a lot
of new paint.
Barb bought some shoes, a skirt and several items so it was
a fun day. We also ate at the famous restaurant
that has Mallorca’s, which is a sweet bread with cheese, ham and toasted then
topped with powdered sugar!!! Just fun
to eat and not very expensive.
Late in the afternoon we took the bus back to the hotel and
dropped off our packages. Then we walked
to the hotel with the biggest casino on the island, the Sheraton at the
convention center. Wow – what a neat hotel
with an amazing infinity pool on the 4th floor. As this is now a Marriott property, this is
where we will stay if we ever come back to San Juan. Ed played in the casino and started with a
bank of $60 and we walked out 15 minutes later with $125. A good start on gambling for the cruise!!
As it was getting late, we took an Uber car back to the
hotel get ready for the evening.
We took an Uber car to La Placita, the #1 entertainment area
in San Juan which is at the site of a market and is only open on Thursday,
Friday and Saturday nights.
We have
visited the market there a number of years ago, but had never been there at
night when they close the market, open the bars and restaurants and bring out
the music and everyone dances. It was
really, really a lot of fun.
We met Jeff and Vera there and ate dinner at a local
restaurant surrounding the entertainment area.
We got to La Placida at 7:30pm and made reservations at 3
different places with all 3 having a waiting time of about an hour. At about 8:30pm we finally found Jeff and
Vera. They had tried to call us, but we
were not getting a signal, so we didn’t know they were there – but it all
worked out.
The place was jammed with people. We have never been to a place this busy with
this many people outside in the streets surrounding the market all with a drink
in their hand!!
Every one of the 17 – 20 restaurants had a waiting list
also. Jeff said the place made Bourbon
Street look like the Vatican!!
We ate at a wonderful neat restaurant that specialized in
fish. We shared a number of appetizers
and the main course was a 2-pound Red Snapper that we shared. We ate from 8:30pm to 11:30pm and when we
left the restaurant, the place was even busier!!
To get a Uber car, we had to walk about 1/3 of a mile to a
place without people and cars. The Uber
car arrived quickly, and we were back at the hotel right at midnight – a wonderful
day and a great evening.
We have taken 3 Uber cars today for a total cost of $17.50
and two bus rides for a total of $1.40 and had three wonderful meals at true Puerto
Rico restaurants.
Night for tonight and tomorrow we board the ship.
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| Barb likes to look into open windows |
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| Lunch - Ed's Mallorca |
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| Buying another Christmas oarnament |
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| Barb's purchases for today |
