The theme of our trip to gorgeous San Juan was "Happy Birthday John".  In truth, I've been to San Juan and Puerto Rico a few times in my life but John had never been.  I knew some restaurants and places to see so it was easy for me to plan when I had literally zero free seconds left in my life.  Plus, I had stayed at a few hotels there so I could easily decide where to stay based on what I assumed John would want to do.

John loves the beach and I knew it would be much warmer than NYC, he'd want to relax on a chaise lounge in the sun.  These are the things you know about people after dating them for four years.  I chose the Caribe Hilton for our stay.  That's the view from our room!  But assumed was the right word; I assumed that we'd want to sit on the beach in the sun for the entire time.  But, since it rained 2 of the 4 days we were down there, it wasn't too good of an assumption.

The hotel is a little far from Old San Juan but easily accessible via taxi ($12-$15 taxi ride each way).  The hotel has a 24-hour taxi stand which is great.  Once in San Juan, there is a trolley that you can take (for free) all around the city.  When we took it, we found a mix of tourists and locals which we always enjoy.  I thought it would be hard to find a taxi but there are taxi stands and once when we were stranded in the pouring rain, a taxi stopped for us.  That was the best!

The city is as charming as I remember it.  It was decked out for the holidays with the wise men, stages around the city, it is definitely a very festive time to visit!  And I hear, 3 Kings Day is actually bigger than Christmas - it's like a huge street festival!  Two days we spent almost entirely in Old San Juan.  The first day we took a taxi to the ferry, the ferry to Catalano, and then a sketchy taxi service to get to the Bacardi Factory (this was at the suggestion of our concierge who saved us about $40 by doing it this way...and getting to see some interesting sights along the way!).  There were very few tourists on the ferry which was fun and the ferry was only $1 each way for both of us!  Talk about a good deal.

I loved the Bacardi factory when I went my first time in Puerto Rico but I must have been drunk because I did not remember a good 50% of the tour itself.  The company history was fascinating and colorful and they didn't shy away from it.  Even cooler, the company is still family-owned, currently being run by the 5th generation of Bacardis!  If history doesn't do it for you, the two free drinks at the end probably will! 

We ate dinner at Sofia's Italian Kitchen in Old San Juan, a restaurant I've eaten at before.  It was as good as I remembered, which is saying something.  It's also one of those places right on the main strip that makes you feel as though you are in a completely different world.  I mean look at the colors of these buildings! 

The next day, we had lunch at Punto de Vista, a serious hole-in-the-wall.  It's very popular with Puerto Ricans and thus, tourists but the food was incredible and cheap.  I had delicious fish tacos while John had steak tacos with a raspberry reduction.  Very yummy.  We hopped the free shuttle which took us to Castillo San Felipe del Morro.  Despite the fact that it is called a "castle" it is really a citadel built in the 16th century.  Seriously old!  Not only is it a national historic site designated by the US Park Service, it is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  At the time, I was pretty sure this was the first one we'd ever been to (World Heritage Site) but once we got home I realized we've been to A LOT of them so my excitement at the time was overdramatic (who could believe that?!).

We had dinner that night at Restaurante Raices, a very well-known restaurant for mofongo, the famous Puerto Rican dish.  In fact, when Man vs. Food came to town, this is one of the places that Adam ate at.  And John LOVES Man vs. Food.  It didn't disappoint.  the mofongo was so good that John wanted me to make it basically the minute we got back to New York!  We're on a hunt for green plantains and when I do make it, you can be sure we'll be it right here!  Our taxi driver later told us the restaurant was a little touristy but the truth is, while we were there, more diners were speaking in Spanish than English (of course that could just show everyone is more multicultural than we are...who knows!). 


 There is an amazing amount of wildlife at the hotel - hens, a rooster, a wild turkey, the peacocks (about a half dozen), swans, ducks, turtles, and these guys.  Massive iguanas.  I have a great picture of John trying to take a picture of him and the iguana trying to run away!  So, we flew back to NYC without a problem, except if you call the 21 degrees F a problem (we did).  Even when it rained it was upwards of 80 degrees F in Puerto Rico and we did not want to come back to the dreary weather.  Overall, it's a great place for a nice long weekend - warm weather, no passport, but the feeling that you are indeed in a different country.  Happy Birthday John!  My old man :)