11-9-2010 San Juan

One advantage to our new itinerary was that we arrived at our next port several hours earlier then originally planned. As we sailed into the harbor, Ken and I stood on our balcony and marvelled at the huge fort at the entrance of the bay.

As soon as we were able to disembark, we headed out in search of a cheap city tour. We quickly found a bus tour for $20@, and were off---first we saw the new city and it's contemporary structures.  

 Then we were off to the old San Juan.  San Juan is the second oldest European-established city in the Americas and is the 42nd largest city under the jurisdiction of the United States. We felt perfectly safe there among all the Starbucks, McDonald's, KFC's, ... . After a tour of the new city, we were dropped off at the Federal Courthouse. It was quite impressive with it's marble construction and domed center.

After completing the bus tour, we headed off to catch the free trolley and headed up to Fort San Felipe del Morro, or Morro Castle, which was built back in the 16th century.

In 1893, Puerto Rico became US territory by terms of the Treaty of Paris which ended the Spanish-Amirican War. In 1942, concrete artillery observation posts and underground bunker were added to El Morro to defend against possible German attacks. In 1949 it became San Juan National Historic Site. In 1961 the US Army moved out of the fort and it became the jurisdiction of the US National Park Service. In 1983, the fort was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations. We easliy spent over 2 hours there.

Didn't make it to the other fort, this time. But we did do a little shopping in the old city. When early evening rolled around, so did torrential rains. San Juan is definately a place we wouldn't mind returning to.

 By the time we left San Juan, it was dark.  

No snorkeling today, but it was a cheap fun port.