Old San Juan: The Castillo San Cristóbal

After the zip-lining adventure it was time for some history.

We went into Old San Juan to visit the fortifications. We went to the eaatern of the two forts, Castillo San Cristóbal.

Begun by the Spanish in 1634 and completed in 1790, the Castillo San Cristóbal is the younger of the two forts with the El Morro fort that guards the western side of the bay begun in 1539 and completed in 1787. A wall surrounding Old San Juan, 20 feet thick also took well over a century to complete. The forts and walls guarded the strategic deep port of San Juan very well indeed.

Castillo San Cristóbal covers 27 acres and is the largest Spanish fortification in the New World.

The fort has multiple buildings with thick walls to resist cannon fire and impressive views.

At the battlements where the main firing battery used to be, there was a display of cannon balls, some of which could be moved around. The fuses of the balls had been removed and you could see their interior construction. Interestingly enough, there were no cannon on display on the walls or at any firing port. Only a lone cannon stood in the main entrance room to the fort.

The kitchen for the garrison when the fort was under US control was rather sparse.

The dungeon was indeed dark and dank, with drawings on the walls apparently from a Spanish captain that had been imprisoned there long, long ago.

It was an interesting self-guided tour and gave you an appreciation for the life of the soldiers at the fort from its construction through its being used by the United States as late as the Second World War.

2016 Vacation Day 2 - The Streets and Vittles of Old San Juan

We had taken the Flavors of Old San Juan walking tour last year, and enjoyed it so much we did it again this year.

It was not an exact repeat of last year, but had some new restaurants along with some of the best from the previous trip.

Our guide for this tour was named Juan, and he was an enthusiastic and knowledgeable tour guide.

We were in a group of 13, us and an extended family of 9 who were celebrating their fathers/grandfather's 60th birthday. They were an interesting and fun bunch - Hindus from Guyana of Indian (as in the subcontinent India) extraction who now lived in various parts of the USA. They're quite an accomplished family and they were great company to stroll around the city.

So we got the history of San Juan and got to sample some great foods.

First were two appetizers, one was a croquette made to a 300 year old Spanish recipe, the other a popular Puerto Rican appetizer.

Both were tasty.

We then went to the Parque De Palomas, where the pigeons rule the roost. Way more pigeons than people, and they know they're in charge in the park and will stare you down.

We also stopped by the second thinnest house in the world (apparently the thinest just opened in Amsterdam). If you want to stay here, they apparently are going to make it available on AirBnb for rent. If you want to live thin, that's the place for you.

We again went to Rosa De Triana and made Mofongo, which was great. Mofongo is fried green plantains that you mash up with a mortar and pestle with garlic and butter, spoon on a topping, ion this case chicken, and you're good to go.

We also stopped for popsicles, had some awesome Pina Coladas and enjoyed hours of touring the city and learning more about it.

By the end of the tour the kids were wiped, so we headed home where after a nap they revitalized enough to hit the beach.

Then we went to dinner at Molini's.

A small cafe, there's no permanent menu as everything is made fresh depending on what ingredients they get that day. The menu is handwritten on a chalkboard and the owner translated it for us.

Tash and I each decided to try professionally made Mofongo (#7 & 9 on the menu), one with shrimp and the other with steak. To say both were awesome would be an understatement. The kids had the Salmon and rice to share and it was plenty of food. Great service, cool atmosphere and awesome food. I also sampled one of the local beers, Magna, and it was quite good.

Then we tucked the kids into bed as tomorrow promised some high-flying adventure.

Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

We decided to explore Old San Juan with a walking culinary tour, run by Flavors of San Juan.

The first part of the adventure was finding where to meet our guide as quite a few of the streets in the port area lacked any street signs.

As we wandered trying to find the right location, we walked past the Federal District Courthouse and Post Office for Puerto Rico:

We then found the right place - the square in front of the Banco Popular De Puerto Rico, complete with the cat giraffe statue described in the instructions for finding the right location to begin the tour.

Yes, a cat-giraffe. Not sure what it means, but apparently it's lucky.

The guide, per the instructions was to be wearing a bright green polo shirt.

And indeed she was:

Her name was Rosio and she enthusiastically ran a fantastic tour of the history and food of San Juan. With two other couples for a total of 6 adults and 2 kids, we headed off on the tour.

The tour started off at Aromas Coffehouse with Puerto Rican Cafe con leche with mallorcas for breakfast. The coffee was truly outstanding and the mallorcas (a breakfast sandwich of ham, eggs and powdered sugar)wa alos great.

Suitably caffeinated, we learned a bit about San Juan's founding and construction of the city's walls and headed to our next stop.

The next stop was a big hit with the kids, and everyone else for that matter.

Popsicles!

Senor Paleta makes them right at the store and they were good. With choices that included coconut, mango, nutella, passion fruit and more it was a hard choice to make but all were great.

The we learned about the architecture of the city, including seeing the thinest building in Old San Juan:

Built in an alleyway between two other buildings, its not much wider than two people standing side by side.

Then we went to see a church erected in the days when the Spanish controlled the island marking the site where a miracle occurred:

Behind the church is a sheer cliff and apparently as nobleman on a horse fell off the cliff while racing down the street. He apparently said a prayer to be saved, the exact details of which is not preserved, and he was indeed saved. The horse, not so much. So a church was built to mark the location.

It's right beside the Parque De Las Palomas, Park of Pigeons, which, true to its name, had a real lot of pigeons.

Then we went to Cafe El Punto, where we had a sample of ceviche and plantain empanadas.

The kids impressed everybody by giving the ceviche a try. Most kids apparently are fussy wusses who won't try new things. Accompanying the empanadas was an option to try pique, the Puerto Rican hot sauce. I tried it and now I need to find a local supply 'cause it was awesome - a smooth heat that really enhanced the flavor of the food.

We kept on walking, including past the governor's mansion.

The two guys in suits were part of the more subtle yet obvious security personnel around the mansion area.

We learned about the government structure of the island and it was interesting for the kids to understand the concept that Puerto Rico is a commonwealth, not a state of the US, so they generally do not pay Federal Income Taxes. Before you get too excited and head for the island, they do pay local income taxes and other local taxes that more than make up for the difference. Interestingly enough, Puerto Ricans can have both United States and Puerto Rican citizenship, which is recognized by Spain as a separate citizenship status that can get them quick acquisition of Spanish citizenship.

All that history led to our next stop, an opportunity to make a historic dish with our own hands, mofongo.

In a historic restaurant Rosa de Triana in a building formerly used as Old San Juan's original city hall (dates to 1523!) complete with a dungeon and a secret tunnel.

One of the cells beside the seating area.

Mofongo is made from fried plantains mashed in a mortar and pestle with garlic and butter and once proper;y mashed you spoon in some chicken in sauce and have a fine meal. You also work off the meal beating the plantains into shape.

To say it was great would be an understatement.

Then for dessert we went to Puerto Rico's oldest chocolate maker's restaurant, Casa Cortez:

Cortes, a maker of chocolate extraordinaire on the island since 1931 recently opened the restaurant. You can order whatever you like, and chocolate is in everything.

We received samples of hot chocolate made from melted chocolate bars that are specially sold for the purpose, along with a Churro, a portion of milk chocolate and a piece of cheddar cheese.

The cheddar went well with the chocolate which was a pairing I'd never thought of before.

Our guide also had those of us daring enough to try it put the cheddar into the hot chocolate. The tradition of doing so dates back to the Great Depression in Puerto Rico where it was a good way to get a lot of calories in hard times. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either, so I don't think I'll be continuing that tradition. We did buy a few of the hot chocolate making bars for home and the kids have already used them up over this harsh winter.

We then walked past the pinkest building in San Juan:

Then we went up to the roof of The Mezzanine at St. Germain, which they opened up just for us and we had pina coladas (the kids got pineapple and coconut juice sans alcohol) while relaxing and looking at the city skyline.

It was a great tour indeed, and if you're ever in San Juan and want a unique experience, Flavors of San Juan hosts a great, informative and tasty tour.

San Juan Bay, San Juan, Puerto Rico

On the cruise one of the stops was San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The ship was moored in the harbor of San Juan Bay, with a great view of the Old Spanish fort.

San Juan is rich in both history and culture and was a very interesting place to spend a day.

We were moored with an excellent view of Castillo San Cristobal.

Also visible was the Governor's Mansion, La Fortaleza (the blue colored building in the picture).

The Governor's mansion was the original main fort, but it was converted to the Governor's residence when the Spanish figured out they had built the fort in the wrong place - in the center of the harbor rather than at the entrance to the bay which was a much better position. The mansion remains the residence of Puerto Rico's governor to this day.

They then built the El Morro fort at the mouth of the harbor.

The doubled walls surrounding the city of Old San Juan are 42 feet thick with an inner layer of sand to absorb cannon shot and took over 48 years to complete.

It made for a very strong defensive of Spain's most important port in the Caribbean.

Even today the harbor is of import for control of the Caribbean, as can be seen from the several US Coast Guard vessels in San Juan Bay.

Among them was WMEC-910, The USCG Thetis, a Famous class medium endurance cutter, based out of Key West.

The day was sunny and warm and the views of the city were awesome.

Of course we didn't stay on the ship but went off to explore historic Old San Juan in a most tasteful way.