Take note New York! Modern America happening here. Well, more or less. Established in 1521, San Juan is the second-oldest European-founded completion in the Americas (after Santo Domingo) and the oldest under US authority. Shoehorned onto a tiny islet that guards the entrance to San Juan harbor, the atmospheric ‘Old City’ juxtaposes historical authenticity with pulsating modern energy. Surreal sounds and exotic sights resonate everywhere. A stabbing salsa stanza in sonorous San Sebastián, timid cats scurrying under winking lanterns in Plaza de San José; and the omnipresent roar of Atlantic breakers battling mercilessly with the sturdy 500-yearold fortifications of El Morro.
But beyond its 15ft-thick walls, San Juan is far more than a dizzying collection of well polished colonial artifacts. To obtain the complete take on the capricious capital, guests should first run the gamut of its distinct but ever-evolving neighborhoods. There’s seen-it-all Condado, where Cuba’s 24-hour gambling party got washed up in the early 1960s; tranquil Ocean Park, with its gated villas and tactically located B&Bs; and swanky Isla Verde, awash with luxurious resort hotels and kitschy casinos.
Choked by crowded traffic and hectic with nearly five million annual tourists, parts of San Juan can leave you wondering if you took a wrong turn at Miami airport and never left North America. But the confusion rarely lingers. Cultural borrowing has long been this city’s pragmatic hallmark. For every shiny office block you’ll stumble upon a colorful Spanish fiesta, a strange African religious ritual, a delicate native woodcarving and architecture that could quite conceivably been ripped out of Seville, Cartegena, Buenos Aires, or even Paris.
Starting at the westernmost tip of the city and working backward headed for the Aeropuerto Internacional de Luis Muñoz Marín (LMM), you have got Old San Juan, the
Puerto Rico tourist center and most visually attractive part of town. Next come Condado, flashy and full of big buildings and hotels along Av Ashford and then Miramar and Santurce, a little south of the beach and typically packed with working-class families. Ocean Park is a private community (with gates) lying along the water between Condado and Isla Verde; its main street is Av McLeary. The final stop in the city is Isla Verde (although technically it is in Carolinas, a suburb of San Juan). Av Isla Verde is a long stretch of hotels and casinos along a narrow but pretty white beach. Its drawback is the proximity of the airport. Large jets thunder overhead every 20 minutes or so for most of the day.
Old San Juan is a multicolored kaleidoscope of life, music, legend and history and would stand out like a flashing beacon in any country, let alone one as little as Puerto Rico. Somnolent secrets and beautiful surprises await all over the place. From the blue-toned cobblestoned streets of Calle San Sebastián to the cutting-edge gastronomic artistry of SoFo, you could waste weeks, even months, here and still only get the minimum taste.
