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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

