San Diego Downtown & Campsite

San Diego is a lively town with an interesting mix of buildings. The Santa Fe Railroad Depot dates from 1915, when Balboa Park (previous blog entry) was created, and shows similar classical Spanish lines. It’s a bit overwhelmed by the skyscrapers at the back, but they look quite classy in their own right.

In fact, the modern buildings generally seem to fit in as part of a pleasant architectural environment. Here’s another view where the tall buildings’ paint scheme at the top gives the impression of shadows, or maybe the paint pots dripped over one night, but it looks good.

The Gaslamp District is the older quarter, comprising mainly art deco style buildings, with lots of cafes and restaurants. The original gas lamps are still there, lit by electricity. This is the typical look of the area.

One sad feature of the whole San Diego downtown area is the number of people living rough. The mild climate and comparatively affluent tourists no doubt create a hotspot here but it’s a shame to see so many fellow human beings living in such an evident downward spiral.

Now the campsite: “Campland on the Bay”. It sounded idyllic, and it’s also convenient for the centre of San Diego, so should justify the highest price per night we’d ever paid for a site. The photo supports that view, taken from the marina towards the private beach with the campsite behind.

However, the site itself proved to be little more than a concrete car park, with units crammed tightly together as you can see. The facilities were clean but tired and in need of upgrading. The camp shop was excessively overpriced and the wifi kept dropping the line; and many more complaints. But enough: when you feel you’re getting poor value for money a list of grievances starts to write itself in your head. It really wasn’t that bad, it just didn’t justify what they charged. 

We’re the vehicle on the left in the photo. Even though there’s a distant view of the beach, you can’t erase that concrete car park impression.