First day in Costa Rica - San Jose

Arriving in San Jose almost 5 hours late I was glad to see that it took us almost no time at all to exit the airport and since we travelled only with our carry-on bags we did not have to wait in the long baggage claim line. I was even happier to see that the private transfer I arranged with the hotel was waiting for us.



After a short ride dashing through the San Jose traffic, which reminded us of the European traffic with more aggressive but very good drivers that were not afraid to use the honk, we arrived at our hotel, El Presidente (the president).




While there were more affordable hotels available the location and amenities of this hotel made it my choice. Located on Central Avenue Boulevard, a  pedestrian-only street about a bloc away from Plaza de Cultura, offers modern elegant rooms with bilingual staff.





Our room was a beautiful Spa Room located on the 8th floor, a corner penthouse room, right across the hall from the rooftop outdoor jacuzzi and a view of the Central Avenue Boulevard.

A huge king size bed with exquisite, impeccable white sheets and a cloud like mattress was looking extremely inviting after a long flight.






The glass enclosed 2 person jacuzzi was a great feature that any couple would greatly enjoy, not to mention that since our room was a penthouse our jacuzzi also featured a great skylight....What can be more relaxing and romantic then a jacuzzi and the night sky?

With our valuables in the complementary safe we decided to take advantage of the time we had to explore the surroundings.


Because we arrived late my plan to visit a few of the museums did not happen, a bit disappointed we decided to head to Plaza de Cultura and in the process look for a restaurant.

Pleaza de Coultura turned out to be a wonderful hanging place for locals and tourists, aspiring artists and musicians. Across from a huge 2 floor very modern McDonald's a small church group was performing some religious songs in an effort to collect money for their church. The wonderful voice of an older gentlemen singing a song based on the "lost son" story caught our attention and like many others we stopped and enjoyed the "concert".

After the concert we continued our stroll on Central Avenue passing restaurants, fast food places, stores (anything from nick-knacks and souvenirs to Armani), and numerous street vendors selling crafts, CDs, fashion accessories and more. While the Boulevard was filled by pedestrians and it looked from a distance that you may not be able to make it to the next corner it was very very civilized with absolutely no body contact.

I have to mention that I has very impressed with the street vendors, while they were doing their best to advertise their merchandise, unlike in other tourist destinations, they were not pushy at all making a point to acknowledge everyone that stopped to look but not bothering anyone that was passing them by.

The Police presents on the Boulevard was very reassuring since most officers speak at least a bit of English...

We returned to our hotel and decided to enjoy our dinner in it's restaurant. "The News". With a choice of English or Spanish menu deciding on our meal was stress free... and since we were in an exploring mood we also decided to try the local beer, Imperial, which turned to be the smoothest beer I tried so far. We had a great waiter and the food was fresh and cooked perfectly.

Because we were exhausted from our flight adventure and we were scheduled to depart San Jose at 6 am the next day we did not explore the night life, even if we heard a lot of wonderful things about it...maybe next time...we retired to our room and the comfort of the luxurious linens awaiting us for a much needed sleep...and yes the relaxing jacuzzi and the night sky.



Until next time happy travels.