San Juan, Puerto Rico

Our first port after the 6 sea days was colonial San Juan, Puerto Rico. We had been here years ago and had done a hike in El Yunque, the rain forest, as well as the panoramic tours of the San Juan area. The culinary walking tour we signed up for had such a long waitlist that, despite having three departures, we still didn't get on the tour. But we have a backup plan - we will be in San Juan again in March with our Silversea cruise, and have already reserved a similar, if not the same, tour.

After Immigration clearance we set off to visit the Fort San Cristobal, which was closest to our ship. Puerto Rico has been an important gateway to the Caribbean since Christopher Columbus first arrived in 1492. As the Caribbean islands were controlled by England, Spain, France and the Netherlands in varying degrees since their discovery, it was also important for military defense. San Juan itself was founded in 1521.

We walked up to San Cristobal and spent an hour wandering about, checking out the fortress. The views are spectacular, and it is easy to see why the fortress complex of San Cristobal and San Felipe del Morro was built on this point.

San Cristobal from the ship

Walking toward San Cristobal

The entrance gate

The ship from San Cristobal

We spotted this guy on top of the wall, and
he came down to check the tourists out

Some of the views from San Cristobal. There were rather ugly towers added to the fort during World War II used a gun emplacements and observation posts, looking for German U-Boats. So the forts have been used defensively for about 500 years.

The views along the coast from one of the World War II tower additions:

The original guard towers, still the most iconic structures in the forts, and probably in San Juan itself.

We strolled toward El Morro, but it was getting quite hot outside and we didn't want to go all the way up to the fort. We had been there before, and although the views are amazing, there is not as much there as at San Cristobal. There is, however, this very interesting cemetery just outside the walls of the fort itself.

We had noticed a number of school buses coming toward the grounds at El Morro, and as we got nearer, we saw that the kids were having a field trip to fly kites in the breeze off the ocean.

                                               

The main street running alongside both fortresses, Calle Norzagary, has some beautiful houses on it. It actually runs along the top of the original fortress wall. The area between the bottom of the wall and the sea, called La Perla, was pretty much destroyed by Hurricane Maria in 2017. There are still many buildings with missing walls and tarp covering roofs that still need to be replaced.

                                      

Wednesday evening we went to Pacific Rim for our second dinner. We had a few things different from Tuesday's meal:

The Siu Mai, steamed dumplings

Larry's Sashimi platter. They certainly don't scrimp on size.
Larry had to cut these pieces up before eating them with
his chopsticks

Under here is a very delicious Duck and Watermelon 
Salad

Larry also had a selection of Sushi before
his repeat of the Lobster Tempura

                                     

This is the Giant Shrimp plate. Also
very different and delicious.

                                       

So that was it for our port stop. Two more sea days, including the big reveal of the Needlepoint Challenge, to come!