Paris seyahati planlayanlara tavsiyeler

Eylul ayinda esimle ufak bir Paris kacamagi yaptik. Arkadasim seyahatle ilgili bilgi almak istemisti, baktim ona yazdigim upuzun mail neredeyse bir blog postu olmus ben de sizlerle paylasayim istedim. Bir tasla iki kus ;)

Biz seyahati kendimiz ayarladik. Esasen hicbir yere turla gitmiyoruz kisitlayici oldugu icin. Esim tatil planlari konusunda sahane, bana sadece uygun oldugum tarihleri ve gidecegimiz yerde minimum nereleri gormek istedigimi soruyor gerisini kendi hallediyor sagolsun. Sansliyim yani (masallah) :)

Esimin telefonunda TripAdvisor in Paris app i vardi (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tripadvisor.android.apps.cityguide.paris&hl=en) ki cok kullanisli, tavsiye ederiz. Hem offline, hem de GPS i var cok isimize yaradi. Bende de Fodors'un Paris guidebook u vardi ama ne yalan soyleyeyim, esimin app i kadar ise yaramadi. Kitabin bir tek tam boy haritasi bir de Versailles kismi kullanisliydi ki onlari zaten baska yerden de bulursunuz.

Paris e gidecekseniz kesinlikle iki asik olarak gidin derim ben. Cok yuruyeceginiz ve muze gezeceginiz icin cocuklarla cok zor olur.

Orly ye inecekseniz OrlyBus (7.20 Euro/kisi) i kullanarak Denfert-Rochereau metro istasyonuna gidin. Burasi Paris merkez, meshur Catacombes in da hemen yanibasi. Diger secenek RER trenlerini kullanarak Montparnesse ye gitmek ama hem daha uzun suruyor hem de daha pahali.

Nation istasyonu civarinda bir otel bulursaniz rahat edersiniz, cunku onemli yerlere giden neredeyse butun metro hatlari orada kesisiyor, ulasim kolay olur.

Metro biletlerini 10ar 10ar alin, daha ucuza geliyor.

Versailles a gidecekseniz SNFC treniyle direkt Paris ten gidebilirsiniz, 45 dk kadar suruyor. Orada tren istasyonundan saraya 5 dk yurume mesafesi. Tum gunu oraya ayirin ve cok erken gidin, sabah 9-9:30 da orada olacak sekilde. Biz sabah 11 de orada olduk ve 2 saat ayakta bilet ve giris sirasi bekledik. Inanilmaz kalabalik. Bileti onceden alip bastirirsaniz daha iyi, en azindan bilet sirasi beklemezsiniz. Saray sahane, luks ve zevklilik seviyesi insanin basini donduruyor :) Audio guide la yaklasik 4 saat surer gezmek hiziniza gore. Bahceleri ve trianon lari da vaktiniz ve enerjiniz kalirsa tavsiye ederim.

Louvre icin Cuma guzel bir gun (gec kapanis), gec bile gitseniz muze gece 10:30 a kadar acik oldugu icin aceleye gerek yok. Bir plan alip gormek istediginiz herseyi isaretleyip define avi seklinde yaklasin derim ben :) Yoksa hepsini gormeye calismak gunler alir. Tabii Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Diana, Hermaphrodite en basta gorulmesi gerekenler, ama tum galeriler cooook guzel.

Louvre dan aksam ustune dogru cikip, oradan dumduz kucuk arch i gecerek, Jardin des Tuileries (cok guzel bir bahce) icinden dumduz yuruyerek obelisk (dikilitas) in oldugu yere varip, karsiya gecip dumduz devam ettiginizde Champs-Elysees desiniz. Cok seveceginiz yaklasik 15-20 dklik bir yuruyus sonunda Arch de Triomphe a varacaksiniz. Ama uzun uzun keyfini cikarin Champs-Elysees nin derim ben, mutlaka meshur Laduree ye ugrayip makaron alin, sira cok uzun oluyor ama kesinlikle deger. ;)

Her yere metroyla gidebilirsiniz aslinda, ama bence dinlene dinlene yuruyun. Cunku Paris oyle guzel bir sehir ki, her metro seyahati yukaridaki bir guzelligi kacirmak gibi.

D'orsay da muhakkak ziyaret edilmesi gereken muzelerden, ona yarim gun yeter, oglen varsaniz aksam 6ya kadar bitirmis olursunuz.

Patheon a gittiginizde yakinda Sorbonne a da ugrayabilirsiniz, baya yakin.
Notre Dame katedrali (Victor Hugo nun Quasimodo sunun evi :) ) muhakkak ziyaret edilmesi gerekenlerden, mukemmel bir gotik katedral. Hatta websitesinden servis saatlerini ogrenirseniz, gercek servise de sahitlik etmis olursunuz.

Haftasonu Seine kenarinda yuruyup, sokak sahaflarini gezin, sahaneler.
Yine haftasonu sokak pazarlari aciliyor ve taze peynir, ratatouille, sebze-meyve ve guzel ambiyans icin ziyaret etmeye deger. Biz Edgar-Quinet dekine Cumartesi sabahi gitmistik, cok guzeldi. Hem de Montparnasse Galeries Lafayette de baya yakin bakmak isterseniz.

Bir gun gun batimi zamani, Port d'Alma dan Bateaux Mouches firmasiyla nehir turu yapin muhakkak, coook romantik.

Eiffel i hava kararirken saat basinda ziyaret etmenizi tavsiye ederim, her saat basi 5 dakika glitter-gosterisi var, daha guzel gorunuyor.

Bilet bulabilirseniz ve severseniz Moulin Rouge u da bir aksam planiniza dahil etmek guzel olabilir.

Kiyafet olarak, loafer tipi ayakkabilar (spor ayakkabi olmasin, kiziyorlar :) ), bayanlar icin fularlar ve deri veya sonbaharlik bir ceket yeter de artar.

Daha da bir suru tavsiye var ama devam edersem bu post bitmez. En iyisi siz sorun ben cevaplayayim :)

Umarim cok eglenirsiniz.

For English-speaking followers: I will post this in English very soon ;)

Let's Travel: Ruta Panoramica, Puerto Rico

Hi all;

This post is about a loooong long road trip we had. 

After enjoying the goodness of the Western part of the island (Aguada and Rincon), it was time to explore the South-Eastern end, the famous Luquillo-El Yunque area. Of course, we decided to use the scenic beauty - Ruta Panoramica to get there and stop by the most famous coffee house in all Puerto Rico, Hacienda San Pedro.

We woke up and had a nice breakfast before hitting the road. We had a long road trip ahead (you can see our route marked on the map below), but as the driver, I was energetic enough and hubby had all sorts of music arranged to entertain us. :)

First hour was great, sun was shining, birds were singing, road was somewhat wide and not so winding. We even had such entertaining moments as sharing the road with unusual vehicles - ahem - horses I mean :-P
Encountering horses is so usual for most parts of Puerto Rico we have seen, horses are not even afraid of cars. I wonder if PR has a set of traffic rules adapted to horses as vehicles and special toll rates for them. :)


Ruta Panoramica is magnificent with all its lush greens, fruit trees, bird sounds, and breathtaking views. You can see two pictures of it below.
By the way, the road you see is a two way road and there is no way you can see who is coming from the other side. If you plan to drive there make sure to go very slow (max 20 mph), turn on headlights at all times, and open the windows so that you can hear if another car is coming.

Going slow is necessary for another reason: Potholes! They are everywhere. Of course it is very difficult to maintain a good road shape in such areas, they are difficult to reach even for small cars, I cannot imagine how big paving trucks can get there.

Since we had to go very slow, the whole thing took a long time. We arrived Hacienda San Pedro around 4pm in the afternoon. It is a lovely coffee shop, and has even lovelier surroundings, the coffee plantations.

Above, you can see a picture of Hacienda San Pedro's entrance.   On the left, you see how the coffe shop looks like on the inside.       On the right side, there is a picture of their coffee plantations. They grow their coffee beans right next to the restaurant and your cup of espresso comes directly from plantation into your cup (after a short processing time). 

We first had delicious, freshly cropped, freshly brewed coffee inside the shop. I even spotted a Turkish made industrial coffee grinder/roaster in there (You can see its picture on the right, the brand is "Has Garanti"). 

It was such a pleasant surprise, I haven't seen those for so long. It instantly took me to my childhood... 

When I was growing up in Ankara (the capital city of Turkey), every nuts&seeds store ("kuruyemisci" in Turkish) had one of these outside the store, they were the source of an amazing roasted coffee bean (and sometimes roasted chickpea ("leblebi" in Turkish)) smell. 

Hope you enjoyed this post.

Next one will be on El Yunque National Forest.

Take care :)

Let's Travel: Rincon, Puerto Rico

Hi again. 

My last post was on Aguada, Aguadilla, PR (the post is here). Our next stop is Rincon, PR.

They are not very far from each other, 10-15 minutes by car.

We had diving reservations for Desecheo Island that day. They told us to arrive Taino Divers office at 7:30am sharp. Hence, we had to wake up even before the sunrise :/

After loading our backpacks to the car, hubby went to check out and immediately returned with a big surprise. Hotel lobby was locked. The only living beings around were one horse having breakfast across the street and a kitten looking for somebody to play with. We didn't want to miss the boat so, took the phone number and left for the diving trip. 

It was really difficult to find the turn for Taino Divers. PR 413 is a tiny country road with no road signs or street names whatsoever. When we called the Taino, the guy insisted that we should turn left from where we were. It was puzzling because left side was all mountains and beach was supposedly on our right. It's good thing that we didn't go with the suggestion and just followed our instincts. Finally, we found the place.

Yet, a not-so-pleasant surprise was waiting for us. When we greeted them they popped the bad news: We couldn't go to Desecheo because of the strong wind. :( Instead, they arranged a shorter neighborhood reef trip.

We had to wait for maybe an hour after registration and gear arrangements until the boat arrived. The only advantage of early arrival is ease of finding a parking spot.  

Around 9am we all walked to the beach. We carried gears to the boats and hit the road.

On the left, there is a picture of the Rincon beach where our dive trip started and ended. The view was amazing (please don't mind the finger :-P ).

Dive trip was okay, but visibility was below average. 

The most memorable part of the experience was observing many Lion Fish (also known as Pterois) during daytime. For those of you who are not familiar, pterois is a nocturnal animal, in other words it cannot be observed during the day in its natural waters. 

I was puzzled at first. Then my hubby cleared the issue by passing the explanation of dive instructor. It is believed that these animals were introduced into Caribbean during early 1990's because of a hurricane and tank release. Since their predators do not exist in this sea, they became a crowded herd very easily. They are not welcomed guests though, rather invasive (if you're interested, more reading is here).

  

I must say, the trip was not very well organized/dive-computer planned. If you are planning to dive with them, I recommend you to plan your dive and dive your plan, do not expect them to provide a plan.

Divemaster was very busy, he changed our equipment and was keeping track of the snorkelers as well as beginner-level divers. He had an unfortunate accident, a jellyfish bite, so we were alone underwater most of the time.

   

Our dive trip ended around noon. We immediately went back to the hotel to check out and return the keys. The owner felt so bad because we were stressed in the morning, he seemed like a decent person.

If you stay there, keep in mind, they open the front desk after 9am. If you need to check out earlier, let him know in advance. 

Our next hotel was Lazy Parrot Inn.
This is a beautiful hotel which you cannot tell from its entrance. It has a very surprising structure. Located on PR 413, maybe a km before the right turn to Taino Divers (If you're driving from Aguada side).
Entrance looks like a small, two story motel. You climb up the stairs and will see a nice porch. There are parrot themed ornaments everywhere, decoration is in harmony with the name. Now, walk through the door and follow the signs: You will enter the restaurant, take a left and walk down the stairs. You will see a bar on your right side.

You're not there yet. Continue walking to the left side and take all the stairs down until you see the beautiful view ahead (like the picture on the left), a nice pool and pool-bar on the right, and the front desk/breakfast area on the left. Now you can see the some live parrots as well. :)



Their rooms were spacious and clean. Also, people were very friendly.

Here is another view from our floor.







There is a small health drink shop called Banana Dang next door.

Nothing pretentious like Jamba juice, you can think of it as a very healthy Starbucks.

It's a fantastic place. I wish we had one in New Jersey.
We tried their Nutty Dang with soy protein boost and it was YUMM! If you ever pass by you should definitely stop by for a drink, or two. ;)


Hope you enjoyed this post.
Next post will be about our day-long road trip from Rincon to Luquilla, on Ruta Panoramica.

Let's Travel: Aguada, Puerto Rico

Hello again, 

I will finish a long day of road trip with this post. :) 

On the very same day, after Rio Camuy Cave Park (the post is here), Arecibo Observatory (post: here), and Heladeria Lares (post: here) we arrived at Aguada, the place where we spent the night. 

Aguada is a small seaside city with friendly people and many stray animals (mostly dogs, but also horses, cows, goats, etc.). Actually, at some point, it was really difficult to drive because of the dogs hanging out on the driveway. Well, animals are as relaxed as locals in Puerto Rico. :)

Our long road-trip route is marked on the map below: 

We arrived at our hotel (Columbus Hotel) around sunset time. The view was breathtaking.
It was a bit difficult to find the hotel as the name was not clearly marked and Google maps/GPS are not very reliable in this area. However, the restaurant ("Atlantis Restaurant") of this hotel is clearly marked, so you can use it as a landmark.

Hotel owner is a very decent person, he was quite helpful. I guess we were the only guests at the time, the hotel was very quiet. Rooms start right where the sea ends, luckily we had this amazing view from our balcony:

Plus, we get to sleep with the relaxing sound of waves.

When it was time  for dinner, we tried to rely on Yelp and Google maps to find good local restaurants around but most of the addresses were not accurate.
Thanks to my hubby's excellent navigation skills, we managed to dine at very good restaurants.
If you want to try good local food, your best bet will be Guayabo's Tropical Sunset Restaurant or El Galeon Restaurant.
We highly recommend both. Service, food, ambiance were all perfect.
Below is the view from El Galeon. After a while a horse walked by (alone) and said hello to diners. :) He was just having a casual evening stroll.

If you go to El Galeon, do not leave without trying their delicious Lobster Mofongo.

Hope you enjoyed this post. Next post will be on Rincon and diving. ;)

Short lashes? Don't worry, the solution is here :)

I wrote this post in Turkish a year ago (here is the original post). I decided to re-write it in English when I noticed on stats that it is still the most popular post. It is just translation.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Until 3 weeks ago, I was spending a lot on designer mascaras and placing trans-Atlantic false lash orders from Amazon/Ebay (I was living outside US then) in order to make my short and straight lashes look a little bit longer.

During my online lash extension medication search, I came across to some products: There were prescription medication like Latisse as well as extra expensive online cosmetic products such as Revitalash, Idollash, etc. I reviewed the consumer comments and learned that:
* Revitalash doesn't work at all.
* Idollash is really good but it has lots of counterfeit, and it is really difficult to find the authentic product.
* Latisse works but it is both too expensive and getting it prescribed every single time is very annoying and pricey. Also, one container lasts only for a very limited time.
I already couldn't find them at the time.

Then I started looking for the common active ingredient, in all the products that work, which was "Latanoprost". It originally is used to cure Glaucoma (high eye pressure) but, by chance, they discovered that it lengthens and strengthens weak lashes, even grows lash on a bald region.

I immediately asked my doctor friend if it would really work and if it is safe. She said "Buy it immediately if you can find it!".

The most common version is "Xalatan". It costs around $30 for a 2.5 ml bottle. 

A bottle should be good for 2-3 months.

First I used a clear mascara brush to apply 1-2 drops of  Xalatan on both my eyelashes. Then purchased a Body Shop clear mascara, emptied half of the bottle and poured the medicine in it, since this was more practical. My lashes are 50% more stronger and longer in after 2 weeks of use.

You must be very careful:
* Don't let it touch your eye like all other cosmetic products. Just, be more careful with this because it is a medicine after all and it hurts a lot even with a little touch.
* Never apply it on your lower lashes, since they will get extremely long. I saw some Google images and they freaked me out. :/

For the continuous success, you need to use it regularly. Because it just modifies the existing lash. The lifetime of a lash is around 6-8 weeks, when it falls the effect will be gone too if you don't continue using it.

In case you cannot find Xalatan in Turkey, there is an alternative: Glokoprost. The price is around 20-25 TL (according to web search). Concentration is same, so must be the effects.

Xalatan is widely available in USA, however with prescription. Price is around $35 per bottle. Generic Latanoprost treatment is a bit cheaper, around $30.

If you use it, let me know of your experience. :)

Let's Travel: Heladeria Lares, Lares, Puerto Rico

Hi again.
Here is the next post of the "Let's Travel" series with a tiny delay.

After leaving Arecibo Observatory the same day (post is here), we were ready for our next stop: Heladeria Lares. Most probably you heard of this place before if you watch the Travel Channel's Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern (here is the video). This place is internationally famous for their unusual flavors, like garlic, chicken and rice, corn, etc.

Road was nice. It took around 45 minutes to get there.
You will drive 9 miles back to Rio Camuy and drive 7 more miles to reach this place. Watch for the exit signs. Lares is a small town and the place is not well marked.
We needed to circle around for a while and ask cops where this place is. They don't know English but they are very friendly and did their best to help us. Luckily, my hubby knew the proper pronunciation of the Spanish words.

There is no parking spot near the ice cream parlor. Streets are narrow and crowded especially near the parlor since it's popular among locals as well as tourists. So, you may need to park your car in one of the side streets like we did and navigate on foot. In this way you will also get a real feeling of the town.

We reached the parlor luckily before 4pm.
4pm was critical because we heard that they close at that time. In fact, you can never be sure of working hours in Puerto Rico, life is so relaxed there.
When we arrived, the line outside was not long but it got more crowded while we were inside. We took this picture after getting out of the store.

It was really exciting to sample some of their "too weird-to-me" ice creams. Honestly, I had  prejudices about garlic ice cream. It was not scary though when I finally tasted it, but I don't think I will be able to finish a full cup because of the strong garlic taste (and smell). But hubby loved it.

It is not a small store inside, but it was packed with people. All tables were occupied and there was not much place to stand and eat inside.

There is a nice public park right across the street where you can sit back and relax under the trees while having your ice cream.

The staff is friendly, they give as many samples as you request. Of course you will have to wait a little bit because of the crowd. They understand English, hence we didn't have a communication problem.


We sampled potato, garlic, corn, and strawberry cheesecake. They were all nice. We decided to get corn (yellow, in the picture) and strawberry cheesecake (pink, in the picture) at the end.
They put cinnamon inside and on top of the corn ice cream, I never thought of them together but it sure is a nice combination. You can see grits of corn inside the ice cream and feel its freshness.
Strawberry cheesecake was so fresh and had a perfect creamy consistency. We loved both.

You can see six different flavors on the right side. This is only a fragment of their selections, there were 40-50 different flavors offered I guess.
Here is what they are:
Dulce de Ajonjoli --> Sesame seed candy
Batata --> Potato
Tamarindo --> Tamarind
Zanahoria --> Carrot
Pana --> Breadfruit
Calabaza --> Squash (or pumpkin)


After Heladeria Lares, we walked on Lares streets a bit more and shopped in one of the local pharmacy shops (more like a small scale Rite Aid).

Next stop on the itinerary was Aguada, where we would spend the night. On the way, we saw this scenic spot on Route 111 which was too beautiful to pass by. So, we stopped to take pictures. Lush forest and the lake is just so beautiful.

Hope you enjoyed this post.
Next post will be on Aguada and Aguadilla, PR.

Let's Travel: Arecibo Observatory, Arecibo, Puerto Rico

Hello All,
As promised, "Let's Travel" series continues with the famous Arecibo Observatory. Haven't heard? Maybe you will remember it from the James Bond movie "Golden Eye".

Right after our visit to Camuy River Cave Park (the post is here) we headed to the Observatorio de Arecibo in Arecibo city.
It is a short drive between these two attractions, 10 miles (or 30 mins) to be precise.
This place is the home of the World's largest and most sensitive radio-telescope.
It is not only an attraction, but also an active scientific facility where radio-scientist from all around the World can schedule to use it for their research.

Once you pass the security gate, you will drive up to a parking lot. After parking your car, you will climb up a little bit to reach the observatory.
Starting from this point, you will start seeing warnings about turning off your wireless device, cell phone, etc. I think it's wiser to leave them somewhere safe in your car/hotel and just keep the camera and wallet with you.
The walk from parking lot to the observatory entrance is really nice with the planetary information plates along the road like this one on the left (this was for our beloved planet Earth).

There is a snacks shop midway where you can stop by on the way back and get a cup of coffee. We wouldn't recommend their pina colada, it was bland but their coffee was nice.

When we arrived at the ticket booth we were pleasantly surprised by the nice ticket-lady. We asked for two adult tickets and she gave us discounted student ones. Well, special thanks to her. :)
Regular admission fees: 10 USD (adults) and 6 USD (children/students/seniors).

After the ticket booth, there comes the Angel Ramos Foundation Visitor Center. There are exhibitions, informative tools, videos, interactive mini-experiments, and bilingual (Spanish - English) observatory information presentations provided in this center.
These are especially good for school children. There were a lot of children at the time of our visit and it was nice to notice that they were amused by this newly gained knowledge.
When we visited, there was a temporary NASA exhibit with items used in real space missions.

Our suggestion is to first ask when will the next observatory presentation (in your language) take place then try to cover as much of their information tools as possible. They are fun!

The observatory presentation in English was in two parts: The first part included a short movie on the history of the William E. Gordon Telescope and the observatory while the second part was a presentation given by one of the guides in there. Both parts were fine.
After the presentation guides took us to the platform where we can view the telescope and the huge reflector. Guides told us to ask them any question we might have in mind, but when we looked at the telescope and turned back with questions they were all gone, disappeared, vanished. :/

The picture above is showing the telescope secondary reflector (hanging white ball), line feed (long rod next to it), service bridge, one of the three poles holding the telescope up there, and the giant primary reflector on the ground.
Actually, the primary reflector is not really touching the ground. It is made out of thousands of flexible metal pieces elevated from ground.
Below the reflector is full of vegetation, even some of them managed to grow above the reflector plates. Picture on the right is a close up of the reflector.

After you enjoyed the view and appreciated the smart design of the telescope, you can visit the souvenir shop for some treats/gifts. They sell similar stuff to any Marbles (the brain store) or online (like ThinkGeek.com). They don't have many "observatory specific" souvenirs and I found them a bit over-priced. But still you can get some space food as we did and feel like those cool astronauts on a space mission. :-P

This observatory is one of the important places to visit in Puerto Rico. Especially if you are a scientist or have children, you should definitely visit there.
Here is one nice photograph of the whole observatory grounds from the official NAIC website (for more you can visit their photo galleries: http://www2.naic.edu/public/about/photos/photogal.htm)

Hope you enjoyed reading this post.
The next one will be on the famous Halederia Lares.

Let's Travel: Camuy River Cave Park, Rio Camuy, Puerto Rico

After spending 2 days in San Juan, it was time to move on to the next level and start our road trip across Puerto Rico. Thanks to the greatest trip planner in the World (also known as my hubby :) ) everything was perfectly planned so we didn't waste any time.

On January 3rd early morning we went to Charlie's Car Rental in Isla Verde to pick up our ride. By the way, this company is the most popular one in Puerto Rico.
After picking up our car, we hit the road for the first stop of the day: Parque de las Cavernas del Río Camuy


We used the PR-22 highway since it's the faster way. There are 2-3 toll plazas between San Juan and Camuy. While renting the car, we recommend you to get E-Z Pass enabled. Most of the toll fees are around 1-3 USD. 

We arrived the Cave Park around 10AM, purchased our tickets and started waiting for the guided tour.
After 10-15 minutes of wait tour guides started loading us into two orange trains to get to the Clara cave. 

They don't allow visitors to roam around by themselves between the Welcome Center and the cave entrance since it's neither safe nor convenient. They also provide audio tours before visitors get onto the train.

I like how organized they were. The audio tour was well planned and divided into checkpoints and these checkpoints were clearly marked throughout the cave.

Cave floor is, naturally, a bit slippery; Other than that it's very child/elderly friendly walking tour and the tour guides are very attentive.

The following is the first view we saw before entering the cave and we immediately loved the place. 

This cave is a composition of thick stalagmites and long stalactites. Former are the ones coming from ground and the latter are growing upside down from the ceiling.

Here is the labrynth inside the Cueva Clara. This cave has a natural light inside because of the openings on both ends. The audio tour said native American Indians used such caves (with natural light) for their rituals.

Throughout the cave, we listened to the beautiful background music performed by Coqui frogs. Coquis are tiny frogs endemic to Puerto Rico and there are 16 different species of them. It's amazing how each species has a different sound. The most common one calls out it's own name "Co-qui --- Co-qui" :) And this is the most frequent street noise you will hear when you visit PR (aka Isla del Encanta). 

A navigation tip (learned from the audio guide) for the cave enthusiast: While navigating in a cave listen carefully for crickets. If you follow the cricket sound, you will reach the entrance/exit. Because crickets live right near the cave openings, but not inside.  

Below are beautiful views of the entrance from inside. 

This is la Bruja, the cave witch. Bruja means witch in Spanish. This is one of the challenges given in the audio tour (it said "look around carefully and find La Bruja") and this is really easy to spot. :)

Couple of feet from this point is a corner where we make turn and start walking on the parallel path towards the starting point. We noticed the temperature significantly raised when we got closer to the corner. Then the audio guide explained that Clara is the home of thousands of bats who were sleeping right near the corner and they increase the temperature with their body heat. Luckily, the visit was at their beauty nap time so that we didn't have to stay and chat. :-P

Here is another view of Clara. 

All in all, it's a must visit attraction if you're visiting San Juan/Arecibo/Lares area.
While you're around, don't forget to buy some fresh fruits from roadside fruit sellers. We thought we would find plenty of them during the road trip and postponed, but couldn't find anywhere else. :(

Hope you enjoyed this post.
Next post will be on Arecibo Observatory, home of  the World’s largest single dish radio telescope.  

Let's Travel: San Juan, Puerto Rico (2)

As promised in the first part, I will continue the series with Viejo San Juan.

We decided to spend the whole January 2nd in Old San Juan, since there are so many things to see down there. We took the B21 bus in front of Ashford Park (Bus fares are $0.75 per person (pp)).
It took like 30 minutes to reach the Capitol building and Castillo San Cristobal area.

We were so lucky to witness the day-long parade of locals. They were so happy and local bands were performing on the streets, the occasion was the inauguration of Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla. In fact, when we arrived there he was giving his speech. :) (More info can be found here)

Our first stop was Castillo San Cristobal, which is one of the two important castles in San Juan (San Juan National Historic Site). Spain built them in 16th (and then 18th because of an earthquake) century to protect the land and the wealth against the land based attacks.
Entrance fee for this castle is $3pp but if you want to visit both castles then it is $5pp.
This castle has a guardhouse, a main plaza, and troops quarters. The view is amazing up there, you will definitely enjoy. And if you're lucky, you will meet the Mr Iguana here like we did :)

I have our own photos, but this panoramic view given in Wikipedia is too beautiful not to share. :)

The most interesting part for me was the extensive underground tunnels and sentry boxes (or "garitas" in Spanish) as shown here. They were placing sentinels in these garitas to watch for enemy attacks and warn the army when it's time.




One of the underground tunnels lead us to a dungeon. It was used as a jail cell and one of the prisoners, a captain, draw these ships on the wall with whatever he could find then, simply because he missed his beloved sea and ships so much. I don't know why it makes me sad every time I remember this. :(

1-2 hours will be enough to see this castle. The next part of La Fortaleza is Castillo San Felipe del Morro.
There is a complimentary shuttle between two castles, but we wanted to walk since the road is nice and scenic. It takes about 15-20 minutes if you go directly from Cristobal to San Felipe del Morro. If you prefer to walk, you will get to see these beautiful Old San Juan houses.

But we stopped by Old San Juan streets first, took some photos, visited some shops and had lunch at Cafe del Totem.

Streets were so crowded. Most of the people dressed in red and white tones and they were singing along with a Puerto Rican all children band. We didn't understand the lyrics but we got that they were some national/folk songs as everybody knew them and they had this proud look.  :)

Cafe del Totem is a nice on street restaurant-bar. They were the only restaurant with gluten free-vegan items in their menu, so we decided to have lunch in there.
Their non-alcoholic Pina Colada was nice. Also if you go there, you can try their tostones and cheese tacos. Their langusta (lobster) creole was not very good thou, so I wouldn't recommend.

El Morro was the next stop, but what a beautiful one... There is a huge green field by the castle where people lay down, play, fly kites and enjoy the view. Even the big Spanish cemetery next door couldn't spoil the beauty of this area.

This castle had 5 levels and more area to discover. There are ramps or geometric-shaped (we saw triangular and circular) staircases to go between levels. Both staircases were hard to use for me, I can't imagine how soldiers managed to run up and down there without falling/breaking their bones. :)

All in all, La Fortaleza is a must see if you're visiting San Juan.

Now, one thing to keep in mind when in Puerto Rico is that there is no schedule in here. Buses come whenever they feel like, you can sit down in a restaurant without being served for maybe an hour. It is a tropical island and everybody is so relaxed. It maybe the US land, but has nothing to do with the mainland. The good side: Once you're done with your meal nobody will shove you off or bring the bill immediately. If you want to relax a bit and chat before leaving, then you'll have the chance to do it no matter how crowded the waiting line is.

If you want to return your hotel (from Old San Juan) by bus, which I do not recommend, the last bus runs at 9:30pm. Taxi is a more sensible option. Even for that you will have to wait for a while. From Old San Juan to Condado costs about $10 by cab.

Hope you enjoyed reading these two parts about San Juan, Puerto Rico and you found the tips helpful.
Please do share your memories from San Juan and tips in the comment field below.

Next post of the Let's Travel series will be on Parque de las Cavernas del Rio Camuy.
Cheers :)

Let's Travel: San Juan, Puerto Rico (1)

It has been so long since my last post.
I decided to give some travel tips based on our recent trip to Puerto Rico.
We covered almost all of the island in one week, but I will post it in parts for the sake of simplicity.

We traveled on December 31, 2012 from JFK Airport, NY. When we arrived SJU Airport in San Juan, PR it was around 10:30pm. So we started the new years's eve in NYC and ended in another land. :)

Our first destination was Condado/Ocean Park district in San Juan, which is also known as the hip and trendy district. You can find our hotel information here: http://www.atwindchimesinn.com/
Our first impression was how Spanish colonial looking the hotel architecture is. Decorated well, maintained well, a bit pricey especially for holiday season but is worth it.





Ocean Park beach is too windy to swim especially in this season. Overall it's a nice place for surfers.
There are a lot of dogs (with their owners) on the beach, that's why atmosphere is not very serene because of all the barks and runs. :(

Walking around was very pleasant thou. I like the fresh feeling of sun, breeze, and coconut&mango trees everywhere.
One nice thing to do after a walk is to stop by their famous frozen yogurt chain Yogen Früz, we like that they're completely gluten free.
By the way, if you're eating gluten free way/have Celiac disease bring a lot of trail mixes with you to San Juan. Because it is almost impossible to find a place with gluten free menu.
Puerto Rican specials: Corn sticks and Mofongo will be your friend. :)


If you need a late night nosh go to a nearby To-Go convenience store which is open 7/24. They have complimentary wifi, coffee shop, Subway store and lots of variety on "bebidas" (drinks).






You must spare a day to visit Viejo (Old) San Juan, which will the the subject of the next post. :)
Hope you enjoy the first part.