The history of San Diego begins with the Point Loma peninsula. It was in this place that the conquistador Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo landed in December 1542 and proclaimed California a Spanish territory. In memory of this event, in 1939, in the southern part of Point Loma, declared a national reserve, the Cabrillo Monument was erected 4.3 meters high.
Nearby is the tower of the old lighthouse with an annex, which houses the exposition of the lighthouse keeper's museum. Many of the inactive artillery batteries built to defend San Diego Bay in the 1930s remain on the National Monument grounds, which can be visited with a guided tour that culminates in an exhibition about Point Loma's military history.
From the heights on which the lighthouse and monument are located, a wide panorama of the harbor of San Diego opens up, the Pacific Ocean, and in winter, if you're lucky, you can watch the migration of gray whales from here.