To the Ship, they say!

This morning dawned bright and clear, and after a quick breakfast, we packed up our stuff and stored it with the hotel when we checked out. We wanted to do a quick walk from the El Convento and get some pictures along the city wall that was the closest to the hotel.

All the cobblestones that are this odd shade of purple were originally used as ballast in the bottoms of ships. They were then used to pave the roads and over the past 400+ years, the glazing has turned this shade of purple. They are slowly being replaced with modern cobbles when the roads are being updated (so they aren't so lumpy) but I'll miss the old ones, they are something else.

The beginning of our walk. The red gate you see in the photo is the main gate of San Juan, and if you were an important personage back in Spanish colonial days, you would have walked right along that walkway up to the gate. I believe there were 5 gates total, this is the only one that is left.

View from the walkway back up the city walls.

We did a big loop around the city, and ended up back at our hotel.

We then said goodbye to the hotel, and caught a cab over to the ship. It's about a 15 minute drive over to the Pan American pier, where we dropped our luggage and got in line to board the ship. No pictures, it was hot and annoying. Once we got on board, our room was ready so we went upstairs and dumped our backpacks off, and then went to look for Pam and Michael. Our room is what is called an AQ1, or Aqua Class 1 room. They are all on deck 11 on this ship, and were added during the last retrofit in 2012. They are right above the Oceanview cafe, which is the buffet eating area. We even have a little waiting area right outside our cabin.

We found Pam and Michael, and decided to eat at Normandie restaurant for dinner. They were offering a 50% off rate for the first night for AQ class cabins. The food was excellent, we really enjoyed it. Here's some photos. My heirloom tomato salad.

Followed by our chateaubriand, carved tableside by the head waiter.

 

Then a cheese course quickly before muster drill.

After muster was over, we headed back for our desserts.

Cocoa cake for me, souffles for everyone else. We spent a bit of time walking around, but it had been a long day so we decided to head for bed.....after a drink at the Martini Bar!!!! Tomorrow was going to be snorkeling at Buck Island for the day, so needed to get our beauty rest!

 

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