Just a warning, this post is long!
Don’t forget to check out San Diego Day One and San Diego Day Two.
Day three started with work. Huck and I got up early to get some work done before starting the day. After wrapping up a few tasks, the two of us headed to Balboa Park. I really didn’t know much about Balboa Park, but the pictures I found looked nice. That’s a good reason to go, right? I read a few reviews on TravelAdvisor, before our trip, but from the reviews, it seemed like everything was really spread out and required lots of walking.
Our cab driver dropped us off in front of the House of Hospitality building. We started by grabbing a coffee and muffin and sat in the square enjoying the beautiful weather and view.
For the next few hours, we wandered around the park {the people from the TravelAdvisor reviews were either lazy or crazy because everything seems very close and the park was extremely walkable}.
We walked through a Cactus Garden…
A Botanical Garden…
I climbed around a giant Moreton Bay Fig Tree…
And we passed by countless museums wishing we had more time to check out one or two…
Once our time was up, we headed back to the condo to meet up with Jon and Betsy. We had a food and walking tour in the Gaslamp Quarter and Little Italy scheduled for noon with Bite San Diego.
We started by meeting our guide, Eddie, at Royal India. The tour included history about the Gaslamp Quarter and Little Italy as we walked to a few different restaurants.
At Royal India, we were able to sample a few items on their lunch buffet. All the items I had were great and Huck said he wanted to come back for dinner.
From there, we walked to Berkeley Pizza. We tried 3 different slices of their stuffed pizza plus a ordered a couple beers. Because you can’t have pizza with out beer! I imagine this place would be AMAZING at 1AM after a night of drinking.
Next on the list, Magnolia Tap & Kitchen. We sampled some seared Brussels Sprouts and Beer Soaked Fries. The Brussels Sprouts were my favorite. They were seared with bacon and balsamic. Trying that next time I make them.
From there, we headed to Zymology 21. We were served a great slider and able to order homemade shrub cocktails. Zymology 21 makes their own flavors you can have mixed with an spirit. We split a flight, thank god. They were STRONG! The strawberry balsamic was my favorite flavor. Great combo.
From there, we headed to Little Italy for Nutella Pizza at Napizza. Another great crust and you can never go wrong with real Nutella.
Our last stop was at Davanti for my favorite sample of the day, Focaccia di Recco with Honeycomb. It was a thin focaccia with soft cheese on the inside and fresh honeycomb to melt on top. It was flaky and the salty soft cheese tasted great with the sweet honey. I need to make this at home.
I’m really enjoying food tours! They’re a great way to try a bunch of different restaurants and learn more about a city. Eddie was great, very knowledgeable, and gave us a long list of beer places to check out while in San Diego.
After the tour was over, we headed to Sunset Cliffs to watch the sunset.
And I touched the Pacific Ocean for the first time.
We actually walked in the water, too. It was cold!
We spent the rest of the night barhopping in the Gaslamp Quarter and Little Italy.
If you’re wondering, we went a whole day in San Diego without going to a brewery! I’m just as surprised as you are. I’ll make up for it in the next recap 🙂
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