Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Casa del Libro
MUSEUM
(House of Books;
Click here
;
www.lacasadellibro.org
;
199 Callejón de la Capilla;
11am-4:30pmTue-Satorbyappointment, closed holidays)
Yet another of the old city's
tiny museums, the Casa del Libro has temporarily relocated to the SoFo district. Biblio-
philes will be in awe of its collection of more than 5000 manuscripts and texts that date
back 2000 years. The collection includes one of the most respected assemblages of incun-
abula (texts produced prior to 1501) in the Americas, including documents signed by King
Ferdinand II and his wife Isabela.
Museo de Casals
MUSEUM
( 787-723-9185; adult/child $1/0.50; 9:30am-4:30pm Tue-Sat)
On Plaza de San
José is the Museo de Casals. A native of Spain's proud but repressed province of Catalonia,
world-famous cellist Pablo Casals moved to his mother's homeland of Puerto Rico in 1956
to protest the dictatorial regime of Francisco Franco in Spain. He quickly established the
respected Festival Casals for classical music, which became a principal force in the subse-
quent flowering of the arts on the island (
Click here
).
Casa de Ramón Power y Giralt
NOTABLE BUILDING
( 787-722-5834;
www.fideicomiso.org
;
155 Tetuán; 9am-5pm Tue-Sat)
Once the
residence of a political reformer and Puerto Rico's first representative to the Spanish court,
this restored 18th-century house is now the headquarters of the Conservation Trust of
Puerto Rico. A good rainy-day activity, the house contains limited exhibits of Taíno arti-
facts along with a small gift shop, and highlights the precarious nature of much of the is-
land's ecology. Three environmental films can be shown upon request, in either English or
Spanish, and one is an animated short for children. Information is available about tours in
San Juan and at the trust's other island properties.
Museo del Niño
MUSEUM
(Children's Museum;
Click here
;
www.museodelninopr.org
; 150 Calle del Cristo;
adult/child $7/5; 9am-3:30pm Tue-Thu, 9am-5pm Fri, 12:30-5pm Sat & Sun; )
An orange-and-green building that sits on the edge of a small shady park houses this mu-
seum. Kids love the three floors of hands-on exhibits on health, natural history and science.
Favorites include a walk-through cave explaining bats and echolocation, a magnetic food
