Time for a history lesson by Garren!
Puerto Rico is one of the oldest colonies in the new world. Christopher Columbus stopped there with the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria on his way over from Spain. It's the largest island with a defensible harbor and fresh water that you encounter when sailing from Europe, so it was a very desirable piece of land to keep in your possession. It was settled and held by the Spanish, and to defend it against the Dutch, English and French, they built a series of fortifications, including a wall completely encircling the city of San Juan. How did the US end up with it then? Spanish-American war my friends. 1898, the Americans beat the Spanish and they turned over Puerto Rico and the Phillipines to the US, and let go control of Cuba. Those were the last 3 colonies of the mighty Spanish empire. The Phillipines were granted independence from the US, but Puerto Rico is still a US territory, and because of that, you don't even need a passport to visit! If you go to the US Virgin Islands, they are a protectorate of the US, so you DO need a passport there.
Back to the forts - there are 2 well preserved forts in San Juan today, El Morro being the larger one on the point defending the harbor entrance and Castillo San Cristobal on the inside defending the city.
We hadn't had the opportunity in the past to visit San Cristobal, it is pretty much surrounded by the city today. It was a US Army post up until the early 60's (as was El Morro) and now is run by the National Park Service (best $5 you can spend, gets you 7 days entrance to both forts!)
Nice panorama shot of the harbor above (looking south), and a view towards the west over the battlements
They fly 3 flags over the forts, the US flag, Puerto Rican flag and the flag of the Spanish colonies.
As we were leaving on our trek up to El Morro, a shot of me in a guardhouse on the city walls.
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment