Brian & Patty's Awesome Adventure!: San Juan, Puerto Rico

November 25, 2015

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On Wednesday we arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is a United States territory so my Cricket Cell phone (AT&T) worked great. I was able to catch up on voice mail, e-mail and even call Crystal and Matthew!

As we arrived in the port we passed two ports. Fort San Felipe del Morro.

Fort San Felipe del Morro

We also passed Fort San Cristóbal.

Fort San Cristóbal

Because we did not have any plans for San Juan, I Googled things to do here. After seeing the Forts from the ship and seeing good reviews online we decided we would go see both forts. We were not sure how we would get there. Of course when we got off the ship we were deluged with people trying to get us to go on their busses for a tour.

Busses

We actually did get on one but had not paid yet. We waited for about 15 minutes while the driver kept trying to lasso more "marks" into riding with him. While we were waiting I found online that there was a FREE city tram that would take you around and we would not be stuck on this guys time table! We scooted off the bus and actually decided just to walk to the closest one, Fort San Cristóbal.

Walking to Fort

We got a little confused how to get to the Fort. We saw a Policia and asked him for directions. That helped but actually any road up the hill would have gotten us there! About a quarter mile up the hill was this town center. Just on the other side of this statue you could see the Fort.

Town Center

This photo was taken from the Town Center on the other side of the statue. From here you can see the Fort.

Fort San Cristóbal

We finished walking up to the Fort. The Three Flags represent from left to right, the Spanish Flag who built this Fort in 1783. They controlled it until 1898. In 1898 Puerto Rico became a US Territory. The Middle flag is the flag of Puerto Rico. The right flag of course is the flag of the USA!! In 1898 the Fort became a US Fort until 1949 when it became a US Historical site.

Three Flags

The Fort has many underground tunnels. In fact it even had a dungeon!

Underground Tunnels

Here are some of the tunnels.

Tunnels

At one of the tunnels there was another tunnel that took a left turn. There was a dead end to it. I asked a ranger what that was about? He took us to the end of it. It turns out it was the dungeon. They would chain prisoners in here. This is original prisoner writing and wall artwork.

Wall Art

Here is a watch tower.

Towers

We went out a rear door of the Fort and came across one of the FREE Trams. We jumped on Tram and headed to Fort San Felipe del Morro. The Tram reminded us of the trams they take you on at Universal Studio.

Tram Ride

The Tram let us off right at the front of Fort San Felipe del Morro. It was very convenient. We were so glad we took this instead of the $10.00 per person bus. We were able to take as much time as we wanted at each location, When we finished we waited for the Tram and took it back to the ship.

Tram

The construction of the citadel and its surrounding walls began in 1539 on orders of King Charles V of Spain. Its main purpose was to defend the port of San Juan by controlling the entry to its harbor. In order to have a viable defense while the rest of the fort was being completed, a small proto-fortress was erected during the first year of construction. It is estimated that this section comprises about 10% of the whole structure.

Lighthouse

The Lighthouse of the Castillo San Felipe del Morro was built atop the citadel in 1843, but was destroyed during the 1898 bombardment of the city by the United States; it was replaced by the US military with the current lighthouse in 1908. Including the exterior open killing grounds, known as the glacis and esplanade, which could be dominated by cannon in the 17th and 18th centuries, El Morro is said to take up over 70 acres.

Fort San Felipe del Morro

El Morro and many other Spanish government buildings in Old San Juan became part of a large U.S. Army post, called Fort Brooke. In the early 20th century, the U.S. military filled up the esplanade (the green space in front of "El Morro") with baseball diamonds, hospitals, officers' quarters, an officers' club and even a golf course.

In 1961, the United States Army officially retired from El Morro. The "fort" became a part of the National Park Service to be preserved as museums. In 1983, the Castillo and the city walls were declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations.

Cannons

After visiting both Forts we took the Tram back to the ship. We actually got out a few blocks early so we could check out the shopping. There was nothing we wanted. We need to be careful living full time in the RV. Something comes in something goes out!