OLD SAN JUAN. San Juan's city hall design was inspired by the city hall in Madrid, Spain. The building was constructed in stages beginning in 1604 and finishing in 1789. A small information center is located near the entrance and there is an art gallery on the first floor. Like many other buildings of the picturesque old city, it has its own tiled courtyard and overhanging balcony.

UTUADO. A two-hour drive west of San Juan is worth it to see this fascinating park with 13 acres originally used by the Taino Indians for worship and recreation. A small museum contains artifacts and explains the significance of the 800-year-old site, which includes carved stone monoliths, petroglyphs and a field where a game, similar to soccer, was played. A botanical garden grows and displays the vegetables and plants that were used to sustain the ancient population.

OLD SAN JUAN. If you are in San Juan on a Tuesday, plan to visit this lovely chapel with an exquisite silver and gold altar. Built in 1753, the chapel commemorates a young man who was killed in a horse race down this very street. Some versions of the story say he survived and the chapel was built in honor of this miracle. Other versions of the story say the rider died and the chapel blocks the street so a similar accident could never occur again.

OLD SAN JUAN. Juan Ponce de Leon's family built this house in 1521, two years after his death. Descendents resided here for the next 250 years until the Spanish government seized the home and used it for military housing, making it the oldest continuously occupied residence in the Western Hemisphere. These days it is a museum focusing on Puerto Rican life in the 16th to 18th centuries. Paintings, antiques and artifacts reside within and beautiful gardens bloom in riots of tropical color without.

OLD SAN JUAN. This beautiful cathedral was begun in 1540 to serve as the Catholic center of the city. Its original wooden walls and thatched roof were blown apart by a hurricane in 1529. After a subsequent looting and another hurricane, it was well into the 19th century before the building gained the graceful gothic vaults and the central spiral staircase you see today. In 1908 the remains of the island's first governor, Juan Ponce de Leon, were moved here. Mass is still celebrated daily.