San Diego-Day 3: Visit to Old Town

After spending an entire day in the Zoo, we decided to head out to Old Town. It is the birthplace of California and was the first place where the Spanish explorers settled. The heavy Spanish influence can be seen in the people, art, houses and music.

Old Town park

The Old Town Historic park is a fantastic cultural hub with quaint museums, arts & craft stores, numerous eateries, ancient homes and musicians playing Spanish songs. 

Performers

We first went to a cafe called 'California Cottage' It was a cottage converted into a cafe. We sat outdoor with the gas fireplaces and brilliant lighting. As I sat sipping my Hot white chocolate (which was simply out of this world) an elderly gentleman with a Spanish guitar moved to our table and asked us if we'd like to hear a song. V immediately agreed and the gentleman said he would play a romantic song for us. He played a Spanish song-although we didn't understand the meaning of it, we thoroughly enjoyed the melody.

Musician

We then walked to the park and looked around the stores with their old-world charm selling pottery, tobacco, masks and others. There was live music, freshly baked mexican goodies, wine sellers, olive oil tasting and open air restaurants. I will never forget that scene in my life-colorful, lively and buzzing with activity.

Decorated shops

The streets are lined with a wide array of mexican restaurants. I had a tough time picking one. However, one of them 'Old town cafe' has a separate section for vegetarian food and also mentioned that vegetarian food is cooked in separate oil. I hadn't heard of such a thing in any other place and immediately decided to go in. This was also very quaint and cosy. We ordered and surprised to see the huge portions-one dish enough for two people.

 

There is a haunted house -Whaley's house which is supposed to be the most haunted place in the US. We briefly passed by the house and saw there was a huge queue outside waiting for the ghost tour. I was not interested in paying money and getting sleepless nights.

We were so glad that we picked this place to spend the evening.