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| San Juan National Historic Site Photo Credit: Robert Hodgen |
Old San Juan National Historic Site
Año Nuevo en Puerto Rico - 2017 a 2018 después de Maria
2 Enero 2018
Summary:
Link to Main Post of the Trip: Año Nuevo en Puerto Rico: 2017 a 2018 después de Maria
It's the final day of the trip and the time to do the one activity I absolutely needed to do while I was here. I didn't drag my National Parks passport all the way down to the Caribbean for nothing!
There are two main locations to San Juan National Historic Site. The first is Castillo San Felipe del Morro (El Morro). The second is Castillo San Cristóbal. Your admission fee covers both locations for 24 hours. You will also see defensive walls and sentry boxes surrounding Old San Juan too. These structures are very prominent when you are exploring Old San Juan.
Castillo is the Spanish word for both castle and fort. In this case we are talking about forts.
There were many wonderful photo ops as well as in depth history of both the fort as well as the fight for control of the Caribbean. Sometimes I get a little bit crazy talking about the history which then takes me awhile to complete a post - hence why I have 15 outstanding blog drafts at the moment. Let's see how this one goes.
The Gear:
Passport To Your National Parks® Collector’s Edition
Sony A5100 Mirrorless Camera
The Story:
There are a bunch of pictures of El Morro's exterior in the main Puerto Rico blog post, so I will leave just this one right here.
El Morro overlooks the entrance to the San Juan Bay. We watched a number of cruise ships entering and departing. If this were several centuries ago, those might not be friendly ships. They definitely weren't going to be as big as these giant, sparkling, floating monstrosities. But at the same time, the island was about to get invaded by "cruise people". You know the ones. Their only traveling consists of cruises, they never skip the all you can eat buffet, the families are all wearing matching t-shirts, and they go into port to go shopping at the same stores as their local outlet malls.
Above is the courtyard area that we entered upon paying our admission. My first stop was to get the cancellation stamps. The layout of the fort is kind of crazy so we really didn't follow any set direct path. If something looked cool, we went that way. There are six levels to the fortification that you could get lost in. You could be inside and then get a glimpse of the ocean through a small opening. There was one like below in the women's restroom, but apparently not in the men's. #FemalePrivilege?
El Morro is one of the largest forts that Spain built in the Caribbean and is a result of over 250 years of work. The foundation was first laid in 1539 but was not considered complete until 1787. The fort is surrounded by a dry moat with a drawbridge. It makes the walls higher for an enemy who may be trying to climb in, all while being shot at.
Iguanas loved this fort. There were so many great spots to soak in the sun.
There were many reasons as to why Puerto Rico was a popular island in the Caribbean. It was the first large island encountered with fresh water, and the San Juan harbor serves as an excellent, secure deep-water port.
Now time for some history. Each time period had a model of the development of Old San Juan at the time.
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1539-1760
- Spain had control of the Caribbean basin by 1500. With their colonies across Central and South America, they had large quantities of gold, silver, spices, and exotic wood. Since San Juan was at the entrance to the Caribbean, it played a big role in protecting Spain's empire from other European countries.
- Spain established a Puerto Rican colony in 1508 but had conflicts with the resident Taíno people and later the Caribes. This began their construction of fortified houses to protect themselves. The efforts were led by Juan Ponce de León. New threats arrived by the 1530s in the form of European privateers and pirates who were attracted to Spain's growing wealth.
- They had created a strong fortress at El Morro but neglected to protect the city of San Juan. The Dutch attacked in 1625 revealing the vulnerabilities, so the Spanish built a system of walls and strongpoints around the city.
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Some pictures:
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1760-1835
- During the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), Spain lost several battles to the British. They then expanded their defense and reformed the local militia.
- During the reform, they added new batteries, quarters, and walls. They had all six levels by 1790.
- Spain's colonial empire in the Caribbean reached its peak in the late 1700s. The British attempted to seize San Juan in 1797.
- San Juan's population was at about 4,500 when the post-war construction began in 1766. In 10 years, it grew to 6,600.
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Some more pictures...
1836-1898
- Spain's military forces modernized slowly due to their imperial fortunes declining in the 1800s. They had many international conflicts along with a civil war.
- In the 1810s and 1820s, a series of wars led to Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Peru, and Chile claiming their independence.
- They constructed a lighthouse to guide ships into the harbor.
- Spain only had rule over Cuba and Puerto Rico by the 1870s.
- Their tensions with the United States increased in the 1890s, which forced them to rush install new artillery, such as the Ordoñez 15cm cannon.
1899-1961
- The United States took control of El Morro in 1898, which puts the fort at almost 400 years old.
- When the Panama Canal opened in 1914, Puerto Rico became very important to American trade as it was located along the main trade routes from the Atlantic through to the Pacific. Puerto Rico was helpful in protecting shipments especially during the world wars.
- By the 1950s, the grounds had a hospital, baseball diamond, swimming pool, outdoor theater, and officers' quarters.
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| Rob pretending to be a sentry |
This photo looks out to the land entrance of the fort. If you look closely you can see an iguana perched prolifically as he guards the place.
Another iguana
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After we wrapped up at El Morro, we made our way over to Castillo San Cristóbal. We stopped for a beer on the way. This fort guards the land entrance to Old San Juan at the eastern gate. Its construction began in 1634 and finished right around the same time as El Morro, in 1790. There was a similar setup discussing the history but with the emphasis on Castillo San Cristóbal, obviously. It is also a larger fort, heck it's the largest fortification built by the Spanish in the New World.
We were greeted by some soldiers.
You may have noticed that many of my pictures contain the three flags. There is finally a sign about it. The middle one is the Puerto Rican flag, and the one on the right is the United States flag. Those I knew. The flag on the left is the Burgundy Cross, which was the Spanish flag that was flown during the Spanish colonial period.
We got to go into the dungeon.
Sentry Boxes, called 'garitas' were built in the 1600s and 1700s. Sentries would keep an eye on both land and seaward approaches along with the bases of the walls. They were built to support one man. There are 28 garitas ramaining on Old San Juan's fortresses and city walls.
This structure was built as an observation post by the U.S. Army during WWII. Their active post was called Fort Brooke. This was the last time that the fortifications in San Juan were used for military purposes. In 1961, the U.S. Army transferred them to the National Park Service.
Castillo San Cristóbal has many wonderful views of San Juan. Below you can see the coastline of Old San Juan to El Morro.
Hey look a cruise ship.
We didn't see this sign full of its National Parks glory until we left through a different entrance/exit. It was good timing because the cruise people were coming in.
I didn't get too caught up with typing out the history this time around, just a surface level abridged version :)
Hurdles:
None really.
Quote:
TBD
