SAN DIEGO: QUITE A TOWN!

With its fabulous Balboa Park, Old Town, and Heritage Park, San Diego is quite a town!

The world-famous San Diego Zoo, located in the northern section of Balboa Park is home to more than 4,000 rare and endangered animals representing more than 800 species and subspecies.  The San Diego Zoo is a world famous conservation organization where visitors view exotic animals in habitat environments. Zoo guests may view rare giant pandas, cuddly looking koalas, reptiles of various shapes and sizes and many more interesting species. 

GIANT PANDA AT SAN DIEGO ZOO

In addition to the San Diego Zoo, Balboa Park also offers art studios, carousel rides, a mini railroad, lush gardens, and is home to 15 major museums.  Within the park is the internationally acclaimed, Tony Award® -winning Old Globe Theatre, one of the most esteemed regional theaters in the country.  Founded in 1935, the Globe produces 15 plays and musicals annually--from the renowned Summer Shakespeare Festival to world-premiere productions that have gone on to Broadway.

LILY PON IN BILBAO PARK

Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, located in the Old Town neighborhood of San Diego, California, is a state protected historical park in San Diego. It commemorates the early days of the town of San Diego and includes many historic buildings from the period 1820 to 1870.

TORTILLA MAKER IN OLD TOWN

Five original adobes are part of the complex, which includes shops, restaurants and museums. Other historic buildings include a schoolhouse, a blacksmith shop, San Diego's first newspaper office, a cigar and pipe store, houses and gardens, and a stable with a carriage collection. There are also stores, with local artisans demonstrating their craft. There is no charge to enter the state park or any of its museums.

Heritage Park, dedicated to the preservation of San Diego’s Victorian architecture, is home to the original Temple Beth Israel, the second oldest
synagogue structure still existing in the American West.  The first services were held in it on September 25, 1889.  

 19TH CENTURY TEMPLE BETH ISRAEL IN HERITAGE PARK

The structure served as temporary quarters for many religious sects before they established churches of their own.  Therefore, it reflects church styles of the late 1800s.  The county now operates this building, which was moved to Heritage Park in 1978, as a community center.

 
You can literally eat your way through San Diego.  There’s nowhere better than Island Prime & C Level to experience quintessential San Diego.  Resting on stilts atop San Diego Bay, the restaurants overlook the city skyline and Coronado.  Prado Restaurant, set in the rich landscape and finely manicured gardens of San Diego’s famous Balboa Park, is located at the park’s historic House of Hospitality.  Blue Point Coastal Cuisine, crafting the freshest seafood dishes in the Gaslamp Quarter since 1995, mixes supper club sophistication with award-winning style.

For authentic Mexican food in an authentic setting, Old Town’s Casa Guadalajara serves up a humongous Macho Grande combination platter that gives the chef’s sampling of carne asada, taco, enchilada, tamale, chile relleno served with guacamole, rice, beans, and salsa fresca.  Casa Guadalajara’s giant Margarita has been voted the “Top Margarita in San Diego”.

GIANT MARGARITA AT CASA GUADALAJARA

Yes, San Diego is quite a town!
 

JANET STElNBERG is the winner of 38 national Travel Writer Awards and an lnternational Travel Consultant with The Travel Authority in Mariemont, Ohio.