20 Lovely Things to Do in Old San Juan + Reason you WONT Love it! San Juan 24 hours Walking Tour

hola girl Travelers today we will be doing a walking tour exploring the old town of San Juan Puerto Rico so come along so today I'm going to share with you a walking tour of Old San Juan built by the Spanish in 1521 and surrounded by sea Old San Juan is a historical town with Lively murals historical fortresses pastel Colonial architecture and cobbled streets a festive nightlife and um delicious Puerto Rican food there's so many things about Old San Juan to love today I'll be traveling with a cool mate that I picked up at my hostel Nicole we both want to see and experience what Old San Juan has to offer and to navigational heads are always better than one when we leave our hostel we immediately come upon some of the artistic and fun murals that Puerto Rican culture is known for next we wander through the Capital Area El capitolio or the capital is a meeting place for the Legislative Assembly you can't miss it it looks very presidential what we didn't realize then was that right next to us was the pathway of presidents nine life-sized Bronze Statues of the first nine U.S presidents to visit Puerto Rico from Teddy Roosevelt to Barack Obama San Juan Holocaust Memorial is a solemn spot to visit but one that's a little curious I didn't know what place it had in Puerto Rican history the first woman to found the magazine run by a woman la mujer first female member of the Academia Puerto ricania de la lengua Espanola and it's interesting that they've celebrated women here in this Memorial absolutely that's actually really impressive yeah that says a lot about the culture you know I'm very thankful for will I know Google and DBS hallelujah amen is that the nail Academy I guess oh it is Academy pastel Colonial architecture with balconies lined by cobblestone streets and a shady plazas the energy of this city is both relaxed and vibrant the best way to explore this romantic city is to just drop your city math and get lost wandering down the streets landmarks and boutique shops and this is the lovely Plaza at The Crucible cologne because you could see all the architecture it's all very colorful and not uniform yeah there's there's not even two buildings that have the same color which makes it really pretty here so we're here and this is San San Juan Old San Juan San Crucible was right here tomorrow is going to be there okay this is kind of a fairly small walkable town city town you know we're already in like the neighborhood of fortelissa and it's like all the streets are Cobblestone and all the buildings are so colorful every street you go down this church it's right on the street which is really lovely he's scratching himself okay so now Nicole has gone off to El yonke because that was her day trip of the day and I will continue on with the walking tour and explore more of Old San Juan so it's nice when you meet friends in a hostel and it's really easy it's really easy sometimes to meet them just because if you're traveling alone it makes it easier to go up to people individually or people who you see are like so low at themselves and ask them if they want to hang out or if they want to walk the city together okay oh my goodness look at this look at this View Beach this is a way to wake up it's really nice because there's virtually very few people out San Juan is just slowly starting to wake up it is nine o'clock I've already walked my ten thousand steps and it is humid out today when you're visiting Old San Juan definitely put on your sunscreen and I can feel the slight burn already I wish I brought a hat a cap which I normally pack and a towel Castillo San Felipe Del Morro or El Moro is one of the largest forts built by the Spaniards during the 16th century it's a world UNESCO heritage site it was built to protect the city against Invaders from the sea thus it's got a great view from its guard towers and it consists of six levels of dungeons barracks and storage rooms before leaving the grounds of el Moro it's a tradition to fly a kite on its spacious lawn oh my gosh she's like this okay so now we're going out so it is said that the soldiers would stand up um and do these watches to see if there were any French Dutch or English boats coming in potential Invaders because this port or this this tip of San Juan was like the first the first kind of Port that would have fresh water that's cool oh sorry damn it I want to go there next La Perla to explore the murals it's an impressive building right there thank you there is so much to see here and do here and wow it's a very walkable City here in Old San Juan um they have like little scooters that you can rent as well as bicycles so there are different ways to get around you can obviously like hire an Uber too um but like for the more pedestrian things you really can get around on foot it's it's just lovely to like stroll the streets and and just like check out the architecture and like just walk along the coast side as well um cocoa passion fruit pineapple can I get the passion fruit and pineapple please yes oh look at that We're In the Heat of Old San Juan why not get some ice cream or sherbet I have passion fruit and pineapple I was wondering if passion fruit in in San Juan is similar to Hawaii and it is the home of pina colada let's try the pineapple totally refreshing actually the pineapple the Pina Colada pineapple is really nice because it's got a tinge of cream in it the passion fruit is nice because it's got a little snap and a little Tang to it but he isn't bad it's the humidity that's the thing where I feel like I wish I had brought a towel so when you're here um exploring San Juan and I'm here in May definitely bring the sunblock also the Hat bring some water with you in your um in your Hydro Flask or your flask [Music] and dress cool and this is my second five dollar cup because it is so darn hot today tempted to run out to like the souvenir shops and pick up like a hat at least or some sunglasses just because wow squinting so much and I'm really starting to feel the heat like cutting into my skin foreign [Music] so I was gonna check out La Perla but as you can see you just have to make do with this La Perla can be seen as a controversial neighborhood there's a lot of beautiful murals in this colorful Enclave so I was going to La Perla but I think I will turn around the directed goal is to at least get to San Cristobal walking and then taking Uber from there freshen up a little bit get grab my hat go back out we're bright out there's just no shade when you're walking along the coast trying to walk Inland a little bit more um get some shade from the buildings because steel Sun crystal ball is another UNESCO world heritage site on the same admission ticket with El Moro covering 27 Acres the views overlooking Old San Juan are incredible they're very handsome soldiers it's really helpful it seems like they know already that people are going to need water I hope right I'm actually um sitting in this little window which is kind of like a wind tunnel the air is just coming down this way and it's really nice because I'm like ridiculously hot today like only 11 o'clock definitely have to hydrate starting out early in my walking exploration simply because I knew that we did it today uh so I started it roughly around seven seven thirty ish um and the sun was already out I feel like at 10 o'clock it felt like 12 or 1 o'clock when I start wearing my my shirt over my head that means I'm looking for a way to hide in shave and there's just no shade in some of these streets or along and maybe it's just my tolerance level like the sun is very bright here for some reason and I have to squint a lot I was squinting so much that I'm closing my eyes you can go even higher I don't think I want to do that right now so finally made it to one of the top uh areas of San Cristobal uh where you have like a pretty nice view out here of San Juan or Old San Juan see down there I was there in the little Plaza area I remember seeing the the Clock Tower and I think all of this area is some historical memorials that is all you get out of me for this site here unfortunately just because it is hot I am actually a really interested in my house they were like souvenir shops because right now I'm so desperate to get like some kind of hat so I can continue exploring um but there's no souvenir shops or like um convenience stores around for me to do that see this just like carries on humidity like protecting them getting the best my camera backpack begins to feel sweaty and heavy but I try to keep it into perspective because Puerto Rico's Coastal Highway is incredible walking along the highway you see the ocean on the side and it is amazing all ocean support this is the capital in San Juan it's a government building where all the government things take place okay thank you I'm going to try one of these scooters to get back because I am just so beat right now scared because I've heard like stories of people crashing but at the same time I've been wanting to ride the scooter just because I want to make my my travels a little easier we'll see if I live to tell the tale there we go oh my gosh scary scary I'm doing it I think there are other people coming this way please don't I survived okay well at least now I know what riding a scooter is like it's like when you travel all of a sudden you become more adventurous to trying new things because you know you won't you might not be able to try them at home you can get around um via scooter electric scooter bike rental um Uber or a taxi I highly recommend you try all different forms um I just haven't tried the bike rental yet but I thought they have a bike rental I think 30 dollars for half a day and they come and drop the bikes off for you Olson Juan has must try iconic foods that you'll want to lick your plate for here's a few of the foods that I tried okay so this is Mofongo it's really famous here in Puerto Rico and it's kind of like a mashed once a fried green plantains with garlic seasonings and this one I ordered with yucca but you can you can order it with shrimp or pork I got this from Puerto Rico they say that this is the dish and smell the deep fry yes it looks like a deep fried potato but this is actually green plantains with yucca inside eggplant cauliflower I'm not sure if it goes inside my bag leaked a little or this kind of flopped around so it doesn't look as pretty as it probably was [Music] I can't even describe it but it's just it's like a deep fried goodness that also melts in your mouth a bit very much like mashed potato but to call it mashed potato or mashuka or something like that would just be a sin is it yeah can I ask you about this uh Mofongo like do I put the the vegetables inside the Mofongo usually it's pork or neem what we call it but yeah you can put the Sala in it it's gonna give you do the same Vibe as they mean why is Mofongo really popular here in Florida it's famous because he's sleeping bright and then mashup and it's really sweet and you can feel it with any meat that you find even if you don't like me I think with anything any vegetables that we have let's put some of this veggies in here oh but you can still smell the deep fried let's try it [Music] thank you wow that is really bad it was really really good empanadas itself is a type of food word it is pastry and they put stuffing in it fold it up and then deep fry it like the Latin calzone I guess the only difference is when they stop in it and since it's smaller in panadist instead of just which is shrimp inside mmm good so it's very crispy it doesn't taste greasy or anything like that the shrub is very fresh how do you like it for a long day what kind of beef do you have I'm not really sure I think it's just um ground beef and the pastry is really nice and crispy it's very well done I love it okay so this is pina colada because when in Puerto Rico why not right it's very coconuty I know I can't tell if you put ice cream in it but it seems like they did fried plantains right here [Music] that is so good so crispy lime it kind of tastes like deep fried potatoes I like this because it's not greasy either deep fried powder potato oh I just like that it's very crispy I really love a good crunch and it's Mofongo wait plantain sweet plantain and Utah and you can do it with just the plantain you can do it which is the Yuca or just a sweet plant pan all right let's see I love the flavor I'm glad that I got all of them together because I think they complement each other I think if it was all just sweet plantain it would have been between sleep but with the earthiness of the Yuca and the ground pain and sweetness of the sweet wine saying all three together I think balance it out honestly after the urban idea this is thank you not as not as good as the one that I had for takeout but you can taste the garlic you can taste the plantain and it kind of almost feels like sweet with a little Savory okay to enjoy a place it's by eating hello Puerto Rico I absolutely agree so

Channel: GRRRLTRAVELER | Christine Kaaloa

Views: 19,379

Keywords: grrrltraveler travel guides, best things to do in old san juan, best things to do in san juan puerto rico, grrrltraveler food guide, san juan puerto rico, san juan trip guide, puerto rico trip guide, historical san juan, what to do in san juan, san juan walking tour, san juan food tour, food tour san juan, old san juan puerto rico, things to do in old san juan, what to do in old san juan, grrrltraveler puerto rico, grrrltraveler old san juan, things to do puerto rico

Id: JJ-RZ-wkdxo

Length: 19min 28sec (1168 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 17 2023