The Walled City

February 27, 2023

We arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico today, at 3:30 pm. The ship will stay here until 10:00 pm. That’s a little bit of an unusual time to be in port. We decided to eat dinner on the ship — it’s already paid for — so we just stayed on board and relaxed while the ship emptied out. We will be returning to San Juan in 8 days and we will do some sightseeing then.

We started our day in the café. It wasn’t Paris - it was more like Alaska.

 Here are some photos Ken took during the sail-in. The entrance to the harbor is dominated by the Spanish-built Castillo San Felipe del Morro, also known as “El Morro.”  According to the National Park Service, construction began in 1539, but the fort was not completed until 1790.

El Morro sits on the right in this photo, as we sail toward the entrance to the harbor.

These colorful houses perch on a hillside to the left of El Morro in the photo above. Here is a closer view of them. This neighborhood, or barrio, is called La Perla. Not surprisingly, it started out in the 18th century as the location for a slaughterhouse and housing for slaves.

As we sailed around the point, we could see how El Morro still dominates the entrance t the harbor.

Below you can see the red gate known as La Puerta de San Juan, the only remaining original gate in the city wall. The gate is 16 feet tall and 20 feet thick. There is a walkway along the outside of the wall.

The Paseo de la Princesa ends at Fuente Raíces, or the Roots Fountain, representing the Taino, African, and European heritage of Puerto Rico.

In the foreground is the US Coast Guard station. Four white US cutters are on the left and two gray Canadian cutters are on the right. In the rear are two cruise ships.

In the evening we went to see Ryan Story, a guitarist and singer. His show was called “Infinity - Rock of the 80’s.” He was backed up by four musicians from the ship’s orchestra. He was a good singer and it was an energetic, loud show.

Today’s color is crimson, for the Gate of San Juan.