One morning we got to Old San Juan around 9:30 and some costumed drummers were drumming and leading the tourists and other costumed actors to the plaza for a little welcome skit. The main character was Juan Ponce de Leon, the first governor of Puerto Rico. He was also the explorer who discovered Florida and the Fountain of Youth legend is associated with him. Therefore, the welcome group passed out bottles of water to the tourists.
Old San Juan is an eight by ten block historical district. It is primarily made up of one-way, narow, blue cobblestoned streets. They were used as ballast on the trade ships. The ballast and cargo were unloaded when the ships were filled with sugar cane produced in Puerto Rico. (Hope you can see the blue.)
Welcome Skit
Blue Cobblestones
Narrow Street in Old San Juan
Calle Sol is know for its beautifully painted houses. A painted house meant the owner was wealthy.
Calle Sol
We saw the massive City Wall. It was started in the early 1500s and is almost 20 feet thick in places and up to 60 feet tall. It was constantly being extended as the city grew and was finally completed in 1782. It was built to protect the city against enemy attacks.
A Part of the Wall Around Old San Juan
Guard Station on the Wall
More of the Wall
The La Princesa which once was the San Juan jail has now been turned into a tourist information center. We went to the back courtyard and through the tiny walk betweem the buildings to see the old jail cells.
Stan in one of the old jail cells.
There were several sculptures on the walking tour of Old San Juan.
Bronze sculpture by Luis Sanguino called Raices, which symbolizes the island's cultural roots.
A metal sculpture that looks like “spikes”.
Queen Isabella
Unusual totem pole
Ponce de Leon
Monumento La Rogativa
A pelican visited Stan while he waited for me to take pictures of the sculptures.
Stan and pelican
From the bay, you can see the big golden cream colored building which is the Barcardi Rum Factory building.
Barcardi Rum Factory
This City Gate is the only remaining city gate. It was one of the six original massive wooden doors that were closed at sundown to protect the residents. It is painted red. Above the gate is inscribed in Latin “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” The wall is about 15 feet thick as you walk through the gate.
City Gate
Wood Door of Gate
We walked through San Juan Cathedral where Ponce De Leon is interred. The artwork on the ceilings has been recently restored.
Limbers for Flavored Ice
We walked to the very pretty blue building built in the 1500s as the first fort. In 1846, the fort was turned into the current mansion. It is now the official Governor's Residence.
Governors Mansion
We went on to Capilla del Cristo. This chapel was built in 1753. There are different versions of the story of why it was built – either by a thankful father whose son lived after his son and his horse fell over the wall, or by a sad father whose son died after falling over the wall on his horse. Either way, the altar was made from thousands of the silver “promesas” that were given as offereings for a wanted miracle.
Cristo Chapel
Right next to the chapel is Pigeon Park. There was an interesting part of the wall there and lots of pigeons.
Wall in Pigeon Park
Pigeons