Old San Juan

Casa Blanca is now a museum. It was Ponce de Leon’s homesite.

In 1493 during his second voyage to the New World Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Puerto Rico. The native inhabitants, called the Taino, were a peaceful people and showed Columbus their abundant natural resources including gold found in the rivers. It wasn’t long before these resources and the island’s critical location as the first stop entering the New World along the European sea routes made Puerto Rico the most important military outpost possessed by Spain in the Carribean. In 1505 the first planning stages for a fort began and official colonization was led by Ponce de Leon in 1508. In 1513 African slaves were introduced to the island. The Tainos and the Africans provided the slave labor force that created the new colony. The Spanish colonists were all male and in 1514 the Spanish Crown granted permission for the colonists to marry native Taino women.

Watch tower at Castillo de San Cristobal

View from Norzagaray Street

Our day started when we decided to walk from our hotel in the Condado area to Old San Juan. Despite the quizzical looks from the concierge at the Marriott (it’s a long walk) he told us it’s a picturesque hike along a road that hugs the coastline. Our destination was the San Juan National Historic site. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (we are suckers for those) consisting of 2 Forts, the old city wall and what is currently the governor’s residence. We get a little turned around on our stroll and I enlist the help of some lovely women who just finished their outside zumba class in one of the parks. Between my bad Spanish and their bad English we are soon headed in the right direction once again.

There’s a nice breeze but it’s still in the 90’s and humid and soon my sweating feet are sliding around in my Skechers creating blisters on my heels. The moleskin I applied as a preventative action is now falling off. I stop to try to salvage it as best I can. We are not too far from San Cristobal which is our first stop. I limp into the Visitor’s Center (air conditioned!) and we encounter the lovely Mrs. Gonzalez who is impressed that Don actually has his Senior Pass to the National Parks with him. (Apparently all the cruise ship tourists forget it.) We wind up talking to her for like 30 minutes as she gives us the low down on how to make the most of our day in Old San Juan including a great tip on a lunch restaurant that is truly a local establishment. We browse the exhibits in the visitor’s center then finally we grab our map and venture off into the Fort complex which is a series of defenses designed to support each other should invaders penetrate the outer, lower areas. Complete with tunnels, a dungeon and spectacular views of the city it is definitely a worthy exploration.

Main parade ground approaching the climb to the highest areas.

Spectacular view of the city when you climb up the walls.

Cannon areas

“Top of the world, Ma!”

Drawings of Spanish galleons made by prisoners in the dungeon.

Barracks area

Don hikes back down to the gift shop and gets me a package of bandaids which I apply to my ailing tootsies and we are back out on the road hoofing it through the streets to our lunch destination.

We find “El Jibarito” restaurant (loosely translated by Mrs. Gonzalez as, “The Hillbilly”) and enter. We are warmly greeted by the hostess who immediately welcomes us in English. (Funny, the locals take one look at us and must say, “Ah, Gringo!”) We are seated and handed a menu. One of the great things about Puerto Rico is that rum is readily available. They sell it everywhere in delicious smoothie-like concoctions made with local, fresh fruit. I order one with mango and Don gets a local beer. Mrs. Gonzalez has already sold us on what to order. They offer what is called the “Christmas Platter” which is loaded with all the goodies normally only made around Christmas time by your Puerto Rican grandmother. There’s a tamale-like offering made from mashed plantain seasoned and stuffed with a pork mixture then wrapped in banana leaf and boiled, yellow rice, fried sweet plantain and cubes of pork in a gravy. Extremely filling (no wonder it’s only made at Christmas!) and delicious. Local families are arriving and greeted by name. Mrs. Gonzalez assures us that this is a working class neighborhood and the establishment is a local treasure. I am now ready for a siesta but we must continue our trek to El Morro.

The western side of San Juan is the high ground. When we finish our tour of the second fort, El Morro. We tromp down the side streets winding our way through the narrow cobblestones. We visit shops and galleries and pass museums, parks and plazas as we eventually find our way to the old city wall and La Fortaleza. Many of the streets have the original blue cobblestones. Iron slag was used as ballast in European merchant ships in the 1800s and this was used to make the cobblestones. They are gradually replacing the stones (the streets are quite irregular) and unfortunately function will overrule beauty. We spend time chatting with the shopkeepers and artists including one very interesting lady who fashions rosary beads and jewelry out of larimar. This is a blue stone that is only found in the Carribean Sea. She sent a set of rosary beads to both President Trump and First Lady Melania and received a letter from him in return which she is happy to show you.

The outdoor art exhibit
“Sombrillas” on Calle Fortaleza.

La Fortaleza has served as an aresnal, a prison, a fortress and is currently the home of the Governor of Puerto Rico. We walked through the San Juan Gate in the original old city wall that surrounded San Juan. There’s a trail that hugs the shoreline and provides beautiful night time views across the bay. Then we strolled Paseo de la Princessa and saw the statue Fuente Raices which is a representation of the roots of Puerto Rican culture: Tainos, Spaniards and Africans. This was fitting because we had dinner at the nearby restaurant called “Raices” and indulged in more Puerto Rican food: mofongo with shrimp for me and Kan Kan porkchop for Don (delicious) washed down with a few local beers.

We logged over 10 miles that day and our FitBits were happy. My feet were not as I had to replace my bandaids several times. I would resort to sandals for the rest of our trip. We decided to reward ourselves with a cab ride back to Condado. We had a Dominican transplant for our cabdriver and he treated us by blasting his music and singing along loudly while dance/driving in his seat. All in all it was a great day in Old San Juan.

Next: Rain Forest & Beaches

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