So we missed the organic farmers market by 24 hours but caught the San Juan Museum whose antiquities and ephemera include a display on intentional cranial deformation. Mixing high culture and medical oddities always makes us hungry, so we indulged in a so-so lunch at local hangout El Jibarito. Stuffed and a little sick, we wandered the high cliff of Calle Norzagaray overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and San Cristobal Fort, trying to catch a breeze.
We’re refreshed by early evening and begin an awesome pub crawl at Anam spa and cocktail lounge at the very top of Cristo Street overlooking San Juan Bay. Talk about a nice touch – your first drink is free with purchase of a 20 minute foot massage.
We continued down Christo to La Danza Restaurant, lured by the mysterious portrait, left, hanging over the bar. We ripped through a plate of mofongo stuffed with conch, perfect drinking fare with a big splash of hot sauce.
Continuing down Christo is Maria’s bar where there really is a Maria. She has to be 100 but remains a raving beauty. Okay, the wine is awful, but her collection of celebrity photos includes luminaries as diverse as Ted Kennedy and Steven Segal. I imagine they are all in love with Maria.
We enjoy a few more drinks and cheese tapas on the terrace of the historic El Convento Hotel’s El Picoteo bar overlooking the action near San Sebastián. El Convento is worth a look-see even if you’re not staying – this grande dame is a knockout.
Our distinguished and enlightening pub crawl ends, as always, on the roof deck of Da House watching glittering cruise ships slide away into the night sky. •
My friend Kari says we should’ve called our last post The Thin Man Day because we spent the whole time drinking and being intrepid.
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