anyway. we made it to san juan around 3pm on sunday afternoon. we stayed at el convento, a completely restored convent in the heart of old san juan. it's registered as a historic luxury hotel, and it's easy to see why.
the entryway and lobby of the hotel had black and white marble tiles and intricate woodwork along the ceilings. the keys to our hotel room were heavy and unmarked. i liked that.
the room was on the 4th floor (of 5) and was small but comfortable, with a gorgeous antique carved wood headboard. french doors opened to a view of the bay. spanish tile covered the floors and room service left us chocolates and bottled water every day.
there was also a plunge pool and hot tub on the roof. and a huge assortment of complimentary juices waters and coffee along with fresh fruit on an open patio. and every evening they had a "manager's reception" with wine and cheese. fancy pants.
the interior of the hotel was a large terrace with giant fruit trees (that fruit bats swarmed at night - creepy!) and a covered patio. the bar kept us happy with mojitos and sangria for me and whiskey for him.
the cobblestone streets are charming, all the houses have iron-work balconies and there are stray cats everywhere. i didn't really like the cat part.
old san juan is completely surrounded by a huge wall they spanish built to keep enemy invaders at bay. you can walk down and around the entire wall and look out across the bay. the wall is impressive on it's own, but it's even cooler to think about what it looked like 500 years ago when cannons were flying back and forth and the men were fighting to the death for king and country.
through the hotel we were given access to their sister property, la concha, on the beach in condado. to get there were took a 10 minute cab ride away from the city and arrived at a strip of real estate similar to south beach. the hotel had 3 infinity pools, beach access, and a casino! there wasn't much of a beach, actually, more like some sand that occasionally got hit with the tide, but no one seemed to mind.
after two days of beach lounging we were ready to move our legs. we spent our last full day exploring the old forts and the cathedral across from our hotel.
our last adventure before leaving was kayaking through the bio bay in fajardo. it was so cool! we were picked up by the tour guides at plaza colon, where we then drove an hour and fifteen minutes away (past the el yunque rainforest - definitely want to go there next time!). we arrived right at nightfall. after a quick paddling lesson, the guides navigated us through a mile and a half of red mangroves - in complete darkness! - until we made it into the bay. it's hard to describe what the bioluminescence looked like, the closest i've come is a quick flash like a lightning bug, multiplied by millions. when you splashed water up into the kayak it looked like thousands of glittery, illuminated diamonds. incredible!
we had such an amazing time and were already planning the next trip before we even left!
