I feature a number of galleries of best photos of San Diego and detailed galleries of each of the major attractions.



GALLERY - THE BEST OF SAN DIEGO

DETAILED GALLERIES INDEX



Shown here is the Hotel del Coronado.

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Balboa Park is one of America's largest urban cultural parks. It includes 15 major museums, art venues, colorful gardens & stunning architecture.

Many of the park's attractions are along El Prado, a long, wide promenade running through the center of the park. Most of the buildings lining this street are in the Spanish Revival style, a richly ornamented eclectic mixture of Spanish and Latin American architecture.

Along this boulevard are many of the park's museums, including the Museum of Man, the San Diego Museum of Art (right), the Museum of Photographic Arts, the San Diego Model Railroad Museum, the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center and Timken Museum of Art.

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Old Town San Diego, the first European settlement in what is now California, is called the state's birthplace.

The State Historic Park occupies nine square blocks and preserves many historic structures including five built of adobe (mud) bricks. Other buildings include California's first schoolhouse, a blacksmith shop, the state's first newspaper office and a stable. These preserved buildings, each a small museum in itself, give a glimpse of life here from 1821 to 1872.

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Point Loma is a seaside neighborhood of San Diego, California. Geographically it is a hilly peninsula that is bordered on the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, the east by the San Diego Bay and Old Town and the north by the San Diego River.

Perhaps the best known landmark in Point Loma is the Old Point Loma Lighthouse. Point Loma's well known landmark is the Cabrillo National Monument, named after Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese navigator sailing in the service of Spain, the first European explorer to see San Diego Bay. Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery is also located here.

DETAILED GALLERIES:

1. Point Loma (lighthouse & beaches)

2. Cabrillo National Monument

3. Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery

The San Diego Zoo has 4000 animals representing more than 800 species and subspecies, and a botanical collection of 700,000 exotic plants.

It is privately operated by the nonprofit Zoological Society of San Diego on 100 acres of parkland leased from the City of San Diego, and ownership of all animals, equipment and other assets rests with the City of San Diego.

The San Diego Zoo grew out of exotic animal exhibitions abandoned after the 1915 Panama-California Exposition.



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The Wild Animal Park is an 1800 acre wildlife preserve houses over 3500 animals representing 260 species and is a botanical garden.

The park is located 35 miles north of the San Diego Zoo and east of Escondido.

The park's most famous, and popular, exhibits, are the open-range enclosures. Visitors are taken on a tram tour to view various habitats and an exclusive photo caravan safari adventure to get up-close and personal with the wildlife.


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SeaWorld features some fabulous aquatic shows, amusements, and other adventures. Other SeaWorld institutions include Dolphin Discovery, Pirates 4-D, and Pets Rule, where dogs, cats, and pigs get into the act. Meanwhile, at Shark Encounter, you view hundreds of sharks in a huge habitat.

The key attraction is Shamu's show "Believe".

Another of the biggest attractions is the Shark Encounter, in which guests are carried through a submerged acrylic tube into the sharks' tank.



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San Diego is on the Pacific Ocean and offers many beaches to enjoy the view. Two of the most scenic areas are La Jolla and Torrey Pines (shown here).

La Jolla in Spanish means "The Jewel". It is the Jewel of America's finest city, San Diego. La Jolla is located 15 minutes from downtown San Diego.

LA JOLLA GALLERY

Torrey Pines State Reserve is located within San Diego city limits and yet remains one of the wildest stretches of land on our Southern California coast! Because of the efforts and foresight of the people in this area, 2000 acres of land are as they were before San Diego was developed.

TORREY PINES GALLERY

The USS Midway Aircraft Carrier served the United States longer than any other aircraft carrier. The largest ship in the world when commissioned in 1945, it was retired in 1991. The decommissioned USS Midway now serves her final tour of duty in San Diego, home to one-third of the Pacific Fleet and a large fraction of the Midway's former crews.



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At Legoland, California everyone in the family becomes a hero on more than 50 incredible rides, shows and attractions. Legoland California opened in 1999, as Lego's first park in the United States. This park is 1/2 hour north of San Diego in the city of Carlsbad.

Miniland USA (shown here) contains famous models and recreations of famous buildings and sights from around the world.


DETAILED GALLERY