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Above: Ornate iron and carved wooden balconies, gaslamp-style lights and
                                                                  colorful buildings add to the charm of Old San Juan’s narrow, hilly streets. Below:
           San Juan                                              La Bombonera.  Opposite: Colorful homes, like this one near a delightful plaza in
                                                                 Old San Juan, abound in Puerto Rico.


            Arriving late evening, we didn’t veer too far from the airport  Our first stop was breakfast. We found a sidestreet diner that
            to find rooms at the Sheraton Puerto Rico Hotel & Casino.  we would have mistaken for a five-and-dime if it wasn’t for
            Here we were greeted by a modern, high-ceilinged lobby and   the bakery goods in the window and the sign that said “La
            an intriguing wall-mounted mural display that at first glance   Bombonera  Restaurant.”  Didn’t  see  too  many  tourists, but
            seemed to be an aquarium filled with oddly colored swimming   the locals were slurping milky coffee and munching on mal-
            fish.                                                lorca con jamon y queso: powder-sugar coated, ham-and-cheese
                                                                 sandwiches on a sweet brioche-type bread from Spain. Al-
            To our left, neon lights at the entrance to the casino morphed   though the combo sounded odd, I figured the locals must be
            from blue to green to pink to orange                                   on to something. They were.
            in hypnotic rhythm. To our right, el-
            evators took us to our 10th-floor                                      After breakfast, I found out fairly
            rooms facing the city, bay and incom-                                  quickly that, unless you’re going down-
            ing cruise ships (the same view we got                                 hill toward the ocean, you probably
            later that evening lolling around the                                  don’t want to gorge on a heavy break-
            fourth-floor’s outdoor bar and disap-                                  fast before you decide to stroll  up the
            pearing-edge pool).                                                    steep, cobbled streets of Old San Juan.

            Nearby the Sheraton is not-to-be-                                      This historical colonial section of San
            missed Old San Juan, which was an                                      Juan is chock-filled charm from the
            easy  five-minute  ride  as  we  toodled                               tiled Spanish street signs (some with
            off in our rental car the next morning.                                artist renderings of saints) to the



            94    Wine Dine & Travel  Summer 2014
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