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Editors Pick

The Bacardi Factory

From Puerto Rico - A different America - Sep 2008 in San Juan, United States on Aug 31 '08

E & A has visited no places in San Juan
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Beginning the Bacardi Factory Tour
Beginning the Bacardi Factory Tour
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The morning was beautiful, the sea looked lovely and it was just the perfect weather. The upgrade to a ocean view room was turning out to be a really lucky break. After a lazy morning, we walked to a corner subway for breakfast. It was pretty crowded but then that's what you expect in a tourist destination. The eggs were freshly cooked and tasted good.

The Bacardi factory was always on the agenda but when we realized it was going to close the next 2 weeks, we pre-phoned it in our agenda, today was the last day to see it. While a lot of directions sounded confusing (mainly because its so different from US), our GPS and some directions got us to the factory.

Sipping on Orange Juice to beat the heat
Sipping on Orange Juice to beat the heat
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It was a warm day and we were happy to find a shaded place to sit in while we waited for the tour. To help pass the 45 minutes we were each handed 2 free drink coupons for some really good Bacardi mixes. We freaked out for a while debating the raspberry with OJ, the Mojito and a few others.

The tour itself was a good walk through that focused more of the history than the making process. Parts of it were quite interactive and hence fun. We made good use of the facility to send a video email to any friend. As with all such tours, its ended at a gift shop. The liquor was cheap, but we didn't buy much.

Street Concert in San Juan at night
Street Concert in San Juan at night
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On the way back we stopped at this Ocean-side restaurant that we happened to spot, for lunch. The place was stunningly beautiful, a nice shack with full ocean view, calm and quiet all around. We were warned of the long wait but we settled in with some drinks, and enjoyed watching the clouds come in and create a beautiful sight on the ocean.

The food itself was very late and quite forgettable. But the view still made the lunch memorable.

We drove back to the the hotel to take a break before heading to a more modern shopping district for dinner. As crowded and happening as the place was, parking was still cheap. We didn't look for street parking, but just drove into one of the covered parking lots. As always it was quite reasonably priced.

Beautiful Lunch Place
Beautiful Lunch Place
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We walked around for a while, trying to select the right place. There were lot of expensive looking Argentinian and French options. The street was quite busy and a lot of these restaurants looked quite full with tourists. We settled for this cheap looking Puerto Rican cafe. It was the best meal we had on the island, yet. The fish was fresh and very well cooked, the seafood rice were flavorful. The best part were the side of beans and rice which tasted just like an Indian dish and were perfect. It was good to get the true Puerto Rican Flavor.

We walked further on the street to find this open concert going on in a large park.


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