San Juan, Puerto Rico

Wednesday, March 11

Ugh…I was not crazy about setting an early alarm, but we wanted to be one of the first ones off the ship when the Glory docked at 7 a.m. in San Juan.

Our goal was to visit the fort, El Morro and do a bit of a walking tour of Old San Juan. A second fort, San Cristobal, is closer to the pier, but we had toured that fort when we cruised out of San Juan in January of 2012. (The two forts are very similar.)

As we started walking in the general direction of the fort, many tour guides were yelling at us trying to get us to book their tours…but we just ignored them. A city bus pulled up as we were walking by the bus stop. Trying to remember what I had read during all of my research, I “thought” the bus would eventually go by the fort and I was pretty sure it was free…so we hopped on. Well…I was half right. It was free.

An older man sitting behind us spoke English and was able to explain that the people on the bus were all just going to work and the bus did NOT go to the fort. He showed us which stop to get off that would be close, but once we got off the bus we weren’t quite sure which way to go. 

Another nice, young guy who had been sitting near us got off at the same stop and knew we were confused. He was a student on his way to the art institute which was located near the fort and he offered to walk with us. His English was very limited and my Spanish is almost non-existent but we were able to communicate enough to get a guided tour on our way to the fort!

Together we walked as far as the Plaza del Quinto Centenario (Quincentennial Square Plaza) which was across the street from El Morro. Here we parted ways as our new friend headed to class at the art institute. The plaza was built in 1992 to honor the 500-year anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s first visit to the Americas. At the center of the plaza is a 40 foot totem pole commemorating the Indian culture, which plays a major role in Puerto Rico.

  
Looking across the street to the fort.

 Just outside the walls of the fort was the Cemetery Maria Magdalena de Pazzis.

 The grassy area in front of the fort is often used for kite flying. Being a scavenger at heart, Bob rescued an abandoned kite out of the garbage and it became his souvenir.

 The gates had not yet opened when we reached the entrance to the fort, but we only had about a 15 minute wait. It gave us time to read some of the signs in front…and watch the pigeons. The fort is maintained by the U.S. National Park Service. A single $5 entrance fee is good for both El Morro and San Cristobal forts.

The weather alternated between blue skies…and brief rain showers in rapid succession at times. At one point we managed to avoid getting wet by ducking into the sentry box.

Construction of the fort began in 1539 and I was intrigued by the history…and got just a little carried away taking photos!

The fort is built on many different levels.

Some poor soul had been left to starve in the dungeon of the fort (I rescued him and took him back to the buffet on the ship!)

If you visit the fort, make sure you stop in to see the restrooms. Yes…that is right! I doubt you will ever find a restroom with such a view!

This photo was taken later in the day as we sailed past the fort. The people in the photo are standing IN the restroom!

Built in the mid-1800's, the lighthouse on top of the fort is a relative new addition. Fortunately we were able to duck inside to get out of one of the heavier downpours of rain. 

I had found directions online for a walking tour of the old city that went from the cruise ship pier to El Morro. Since our day began at El Morro, we tried to follow the directions backwards as we left the fort and slowly walked in the direction of the pier.

The streets in Old San Juan are paved with blue cobblestones. Many of these are being replaced with new stones, but the original pavers were brought as ballast in the European merchant ships in the 1700’s.  

Our poor map reading skills caused us to go a few blocks out of our way, but once we were back on track, we found the Old San Juan Cathedral…the second oldest cathedral in the Americas. The original, wooden structure which was built in 1521 was destroyed by a hurricane a few years later. The current cathedral was built in 1540 but has undergone multiple renovations over the years.

The cathedral is best known as the burial place for Ponce de León…his body is encased in a marble tomb.

But...Ponce de León is not the only dead body in the cathedral. The church also houses the relic of San Pío who was a saint martyred in Rome. The Catholic church felt that the Catedral de San Juan needed a relic so it sent them the skull of San Pío. The skull is encased in a wax sculpture of his body and displayed in a glass case. The back of his skull isn’t covered so you can see it is real – if you look in his mouth you can see his real teeth. Just a bit creepy if you ask me.

The location where the cathedral was built was no accident. It is located straight up the street from the San Juan gate where Spaniards would enter after their voyages and then walk to the church to give thanks to God for a safe journey.

We walked past colorful houses on our way down the street to the San Juan gate.  (And I mean “down”. By doing the walking tour backwards from the fort to the ship, we avoided much of the walking “uphill” on the steep streets.)

We noticed several cats along the street and even saw where people had set out bowls of food and water for them next to the sidewalk. According to my research, Christopher Columbus brought cats to San Juan to help control the rat population and many of these feral cats that roam the streets of Old San Juan are descendents of those original felines!

Another rain shower caught us and we took refuge inside the San Juan gate which leads through the 20 foot thick massive stone walls. For centuries, these heavy wooden gates were closed at sundown to protect the city.

The gate leads out to the Paseo de la Princesa, an elegantly landscaped walkway with trees, statues, benches, and street lamps facing the bay.

At the end of the promenade is the Raices Fountain which depicts the rich cultural diversity and heritage of Puerto Rico through the images of Amerindian, African, and Spanish people.

Near the fountain was the the headquarters of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company. This building dates back to 1837, when it was used as a prison and was known simply as La Princesa. 

As we walked down the street, we noticed a botanical garden built inside an iron fence with the ancient stone wall as its backdrop. We wandered in and enjoyed the tropical plants as we walked down the stone path. With several large cruise ships in port that day, it seemed unusual that we were the only ones in the garden!

This statue in the garden was Felisa Rincón de Gautier. She was the first female mayor of San Juan and was much beloved by the people, holding the office of mayor for 22 years, from 1946 to 1968.

Working our way back towards the ship, we stopped at La Casita, the visitor’s center where you can pick up maps and pamphlets. Craft vendors had set up tables in this small plaza and we bought some Puerto Rican meat pastries from one of the small food carts.

We passed by these bright colored birds near the cruise ship pier...you could pay to have your photo taken with them.

By the time we returned to the ship, it was around 12:30 pm and we had been walking for well over 5 hours! I was beat, but Bob went directly to the jogging track to run!

If I hadn’t taken enough photos already, I took my camera and went up to Deck 10 where I could get a good look at the other cruise ships docked next to us and see across all of Old San Juan. With my long zoom, I could see many of the sites in the city…some that we had visited that morning.

San Cristobal....the "other" fort.

The view in the opposite direction was the "new" city of San Juan.

The Glory sailed at 3:30 pm and went right by El Morro. (The southern Caribbean cruise that we took on the Carnival Victory in 2012 didn’t leave San Juan until 10 pm and it was much too dark to get any photos that time.)

Here is a good view of the Paseo de la Princesa where we had walked.

The sail away caused us to be a few minutes late for the Past Guest Party in the Amber Theater. (We didn't make it to the party the previous week.) Between all of the walking and the free rum punch, getting dressed for dinner in the MDR seemed to be too much effort. Instead we were able to catch the sunset and then had dinner in the buffet. All day long we had dealt with brief periods of rain showers and the pattern continued even once we were at sea.

The evening entertainment was the Love & Marriage show which we saw the first week so instead we retired to our cabin for an early evening. As always, our cabin steward, Ni Ketut, was hard at work when we returned. 

The ship continued to rock and roll throughout the night as the Glory sailed towards our last port...Grand Turk.