Saturday, May 22, 2021

San Juan National Historical Site

There probably aren't many lists, if any, of "things to do in San Juan" that fail to mention San Juan National Historical Site. There are several components of San Juan National Historic Site that include "Castillo San Felipe del Morro, Castillo San Cristóbal, most of the city walls, the San Juan Gate and Fort San Juan de la Cruz just across the entrance to the bay."

A smaller, less known part of the San Juan National Historic Site allows for sweeping views of the harbor.

We unfortunately did not have enough time to tour both main components of San Juan National Historic Site (Castillo San Felipe del Morro and Castillo San Cristóbal), so we chose to tour Castillo San Cristobal.

We were surprised how few other people were present in the spacious Castillo San Cristóbal and suspect part of this was no cruise shops allowed at the time.

The main level of Castillo San Cristóbal is accessed by walking up a ramp from the street.

That level with the entrance contains photographs and displays providing historical details of Castillo San Cristóbal over the decades. These displays are in covered/shaded (but open air) areas in the outside walls.

All levels feature some outstanding views.

Although we did not have time to tour Castillo San Felipe del Morro, we did drive closer to it before heading to the airport. We drove through a narrow tunnel to park next to the Santa Maria Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery.

Leaving the cemetery was a bit stressful on narrow streets and through another narrow tunnel, but we finally got back to the larger streets. Although we did not have time to tour "El Morro," we had been able to see it from the outside from various perspectives including from San Juan Harbor.

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