11.15.10 Sightseeing in Old San Juan

We planned to meet in the lobby of our hotel at 10:00am to spend the first part of our day sightseeing and shopping in Old San Juan.  We started at Fort San Felipe del Morro. El Morro is Puerto Rico's best known fortress. "Spanish troops fortified this 'morro', which means 'promontory', to keep seaborne enemies out of San Juan."  We decided to tour the fort starting at level 6, where the views were spectacular.

After exploring the fort, we walked to explore the shops and sites of Old San Juan.

We walked through an old church and Brian bought two guayaberas, which are shirts for men. It is said that the name and style originated from a shirt with patch pockets in the front, made by a woman for her husband in order to enable him to carry guavas. What can I say, he loved them. We decided to stop for lunch at the #1 rated hotel in San Juan, according to trip advisor - Hotel El Convento. Hotel El Convento was originally a Carmelite convent built over three centuries ago, but is now a boutique-style hotel located in the heart of Old San Juan. We ate at the hotel's restaurant, Patio del Nispero and the lunch was outstanding! Brian, Erin and I ate sandwich wraps and Alex devoured a Cuban sandwich.

Alex and Erin headed back to the hotel and Brian and I continued to shop. Any further findings were unsuccessful, so we hailed a cab and went back to the hotel. Once we got back we threw on our suits and headed out to the pool. We met up with Alex and Erin and we all decided that it would be a fine time to test out the swim up bar, Atlantico.

Beers, margaritas, a dip in the hot tub and little time chilling out on the beach side of the hotel consumed the remainder of our afternoon.

We headed back into the hotel and made reservations at Marmalade. This was the restaurant that was voted #2 on trip advisor and the one that Erin absolutely had her heart set on. Brian, Alex and I were not sold 100%, but we agreed to it anyway.  Oh, and I forgot to mention that Brian did pick something up while we were shopping in Old San Juan for our brother-in law, Kit Patterson. He modeled Kit's  present when we returned to our room to shower up for the night.

We met in the lobby at 7:30pm and took a cab to Fortaleza Street in Old San Juan. We stopped into AguaViva where we were greeted by friendly waitstaff. We realized that we needed to finish up the shots we had left to take from the previous night of football bets, so each of us downed a shot of Ron del Barrilito. This rum is supposed to be some of the best drinking rum. Hmmmmmmm ... I don't know if I agree with that.

After the shot of rum, the bartender treated us to a shot that tasted like watermelon and then we all decided that it was time to leave. We walked down to Marmalade and we were sat immediately. We were greeted by the Chef and Owner, Peter Schintler. Peter gave us a incredible description of the featured items on the menu and convinced all of us to order the four course meal and wine pairing. Yes, we were going big! We actually did not realize that he was the chef until he walked away and Erin provided us with the inside scoop. We were all very excited! A few of us started with a pear, wrapped in prosciutto, filled with gorgonzola and honey mustard - unbelievable! We all had the white bean soup that would absolutely knock your socks off - I mean we all wanted to swim in it because it was so dang good. http://www.marmaladepr.com/index.htm.