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Puerto Rico Day 4: San Juan’s Historic Forts

28 December 2021 • 6 km / 4 mi (map)

  • Added to Eric Scouten :: Travel on 5 January 2022
  • Puerto Rico 9

Today we walked through the old city and its historic forts.

A gravel garden pathway lined with brick-edged planter beds full of lush green ferns, shaded by a large spreading tree, in a small plaza in Old San Juan. Colorful yellow and pink buildings, a black lamppost with a blue “San Juan” banner, and a green park bench are visible in the background.

I love the blue bricks used to pave the streets in the historic district.

A quiet cobblestone street in Old San Juan, lined by colorful colonial buildings including a yellow structure with white columns on the left and a mint-green building with wrought-iron balconies on the right, under a bright blue sky with scattered clouds. A street sign reads ‘Caleta de las Monjas’ and a few parked cars line the lane in the distance.
A quiet, empty cobblestone street in Old San Juan lined with pastel-colored colonial buildings in yellow, pink, green, and blue, with potted plants along the walls and a Puerto Rican flag hanging from a wall on the right under an overcast sky.
A large tree with a thick, textured trunk and leafy green canopy stands in front of a whitewashed colonial building with barred windows in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. A low stone wall topped with a green wrought-iron railing runs behind the tree, above brick and stone steps, under a blue sky.

Is it me, or are the Three Wise Men looking a bit grumpy? Especially the one on the right.

The symmetrical yellow-and-white neoclassical facade of a historic building with a triangular pediment, white columns forming a second-floor gallery, and three tall stained-glass panels depicting robed bearded figures set between the upper balconies. A Spanish-language inscription runs across the middle of the facade, and an arched central doorway with a “Cerrado” sign is fronted by a black iron fence, framed by palm fronds on either side.
The facade of a yellow neoclassical building in Old San Juan with white Ionic columns and an arched window fronted by an ornate iron balcony railing. A tall stained-glass panel depicting a bearded, crowned figure fills the arch, and Spanish-language text carved into the frieze below mentions the year 1847 and the name Matilde de León de Marín.
A seaside plaza in Old San Juan on an overcast day, with palm trees, flowering green shrubs, wet stone paving, and a wrought-iron lamppost overlooking the ocean, where a lone person in a light jacket stands at the railing looking out to sea.

We started at the Castillo San Felipe del Morro, at the very northwest corner of the city. This fort helped Spanish and later American forces to defend the island until it was retired in 1961 to become a museum and park.

A child in a white shirt runs across a grassy slope flying a kite decorated with the Puerto Rican flag, near the weathered stone walls of a historic fort in San Juan, with other visitors gathered on the ramparts and a moody blue sky overhead.
Sitio Histórico de San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico
The weathered stone ramparts of Castillo San Felipe del Morro rise above a sloping green lawn, with the fort’s gray and white lighthouse and its black domed lantern visible over the wall against a bright blue sky with white clouds. Old cannons sit on the grass at left, and the Puerto Rican and Spanish Cross of Burgundy flags fly from poles atop the wall.
Castillo San Felipe del Morro, San Juan, Puerto Rico
A sunlit courtyard at a historic fort with bright yellow, white-trimmed walls featuring rounded archways and green-painted lower borders, under a partly cloudy blue sky. Wooden benches line the left wall, a person sits reading near an interpretive sign, and puddles reflect the light on the weathered stone paving.
Castillo San Felipe del Morro, San Juan, Puerto Rico
A curved stone rampart of a historic Spanish fort with a domed sentry box (garita) overlooking the deep blue Atlantic Ocean, under a bright sky filled with white clouds. A barred iron gate is set into the weathered fortress wall on the left.
Castillo San Felipe del Morro, San Juan, Puerto Rico
A weathered, crumbling stone rampart at Castillo San Felipe del Morro, framing a metal barred gate that opens onto a view of the calm sea and a partly cloudy blue sky. Patches of yellow lichen and exposed brick mottle the aged fortress walls.
Castillo San Felipe del Morro, San Juan, Puerto Rico
A weathered stone gun emplacement platform at Castillo San Felipe del Morro, with curved metal tracks embedded in the aged masonry floor and crumbling ramparts to the right. Beyond the fort walls, the Atlantic Ocean meets a distant coastline under a dramatic sky of heavy gray and white clouds.
Castillo San Felipe del Morro, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Sitio Histórico de San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico · by Lisa Rozmyn
A weathered, whitewashed stone fortress wall with peeling, mottled black-and-white surfaces, topped by a tuft of tall dry grass, set against a dramatic sky of heavy gray and white clouds.
Castillo San Felipe del Morro, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Sitio Histórico de San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico · by Lisa Rozmyn
A narrow, dark passageway cutting through the weathered stone and brick walls of Castillo San Felipe del Morro, framed by crumbling, mottled ramparts with exposed brickwork beneath a dramatic sky of heavy gray clouds and deep blue.
Castillo San Felipe del Morro, San Juan, Puerto Rico
A weathered stone fortress wall with a domed sentry box (garita) at the edge of a rocky coastline, overlooking the ocean where a lone white sailboat crosses beneath a dramatic sky of heavy grey and white clouds. A few visitors stand along the fort’s rampart on the right.
Castillo San Felipe del Morro, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Sitio Histórico de San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico · by Lisa Rozmyn
A dense seaside cemetery filled with white marble headstones, crosses, and statues on green grass, with a Puerto Rican flag among the graves and the Atlantic Ocean, palm trees, and colorful houses in the background beneath a bright blue sky with billowing clouds.
Sitio Histórico de San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico

We then walked along the north coast, where we skirted the la Perla (the Pearl) neighborhood.

The roofless concrete shell of an abandoned building painted bright green and decorated with cartoon-style street art, including a pink ghost-like figure with a heart on its head and a red-faced character, set against a vast expanse of choppy deep-blue ocean under bright daylight in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.
by Lisa Rozmyn
Two frayed Puerto Rican flags with their light-blue triangles, white stars, and red and white stripes flying from a metal pole against a weathered gray building wall in Old San Juan. Smaller colorful banners are visible lower on the pole.
A narrow cobblestone street in Old San Juan lined with brightly colored colonial buildings in green, yellow, orange, and pink, featuring wrought-iron balconies and arched doorways under a deep blue sky. A black Jeep and a yellow SUV are parked along the left curb with more cars down the street.
Brightly colored colonial buildings in Old San Juan, with a turquoise-blue facade at center flanked by orange and lime-green buildings, wooden shuttered windows and black balcony railings, and a tall palm tree in the foreground under an overcast sky.

That walk led us to Castillo de San Cristóbal, the eastern counterpart to Castillo San Felipe del Morro. This fort was designed to protect San Juan from attacks from land. It, too, has been retired from military service and is now open for visitors to explore and enjoy.

A weathered stone sentry box (garita) with a domed roof and a ball finial stands on a brick-lined fortress wall overlooking the deep blue ocean under a bright sky with scattered clouds.
Castillo de San Cristóbal, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Three flags — the Cross of Burgundy, the Puerto Rican flag, and the United States flag — fly on poles above the weathered stone ramparts of Castillo de San Cristóbal against a bright blue sky with large white clouds.
Castillo de San Cristóbal, San Juan, Puerto Rico
View through an arched doorway with weathered, peeling stone walls into a room where an old wooden-wheeled cannon sits on a red tile floor, aimed toward a window that shows blue sky beyond.
Castillo de San Cristóbal, San Juan, Puerto Rico

At this point it was early afternoon, and the heat and humidity got to us. We found an outdoor restaurant for lunch and appreciated the cool of an afternoon rainstorm:

A bright green juvenile iguana with dark banding on its tail rests on a speckled terrazzo and pebble floor, near two large gray barrel-shaped planters at the top right.
El Balcón del Moreno, San Juan, Puerto Rico
A rain-slicked plaza with a wet terrazzo pavement under a heavy, overcast gray sky, framed by large leafy trees and city buildings, with a bronze statue on a stone pedestal at right and a person in a poncho standing near a white van in the distance.
El Balcón del Moreno, San Juan, Puerto Rico

In the evening, we set out for another walk around the city.

A small weathered stone chapel with a wrought-iron gated entrance under a rounded arch, topped by a bell tower crowned with an iron cross, its ledges covered with roosting pigeons against a deep blue sky. Pigeons also peck at the cobblestone plaza in the foreground, with a decorative fence and trees to the right.
Capilla del Santo Cristo de la Salud, San Juan, Puerto Rico
A row of colorful colonial buildings along a cobblestone street in Old San Juan, with a bright yellow facade bearing the number 55 and a wooden louvered door, an ornate wrought-iron wall lantern glowing warmly, and clusters of green palm and deep purple foliage against a pastel blue and green wall next door.
A stone sentry box (garita) topped with a domed roof projects from a massive weathered fortress wall lit warm gold by late afternoon sun, set against a bright blue sky with a few clouds, while lush green sea grape shrubs with round leaves fill the foreground.
Paseo del Morro, San Juan, Puerto Rico
A coastal view at sunset with waves washing over dark rocks in the foreground, calm blue ocean beyond, and a low silhouetted shoreline dotted with palm trees on the horizon under a wide sky streaked with golden and pink-tinged clouds.
Paseo del Morro, San Juan, Puerto Rico
A sailboat with two white sails glides across dark, rippling water at sunset, its hull and crew silhouetted against the glowing orange sun setting behind a low tree-lined shoreline. Bands of golden and dark clouds stretch across the sky above, with the sun’s light reflecting in a shimmering path on the water.
Paseo del Morro, San Juan, Puerto Rico
The neoclassical facade of the Departamento de Estado de Puerto Rico in San Juan lit up at night with red and green Christmas lights, a large decorated wreath above the balcony, and a glowing “Feliz Navidad” sign with figures of the Three Kings on the balcony railing.
Departamento de Estado de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
A colorful mural along an interior wall reading “The Cave” and “Puerto Rico,” featuring a stylized man in a hat, a hibiscus flower, palm trees, dominoes, a Cuban flag, and a religious figure, above a checkered tile floor leading to a dimly lit seating area.
The Cave, San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan, Puerto Rico · 6 km / 4 mi
(Mouse over or tap on the markers to see the photos there. Use the button to adjust the map’s position and zoom.)

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