San Juan

We just got back from our 8 day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean.  I have a whole post about the the cruise to come, but I wanted to give the port of San Juan, Puerto Rico it's own post. We docked in Old San Juan. I believe there are several places to port in Puerto Rico though. I will have to say I fell in  love with this place! The culture and history here is abundant! I did not make any reservations to do anything in particular here. I had read a good bit about the city and I was aware of the forts and shopping and figured we would just walk around and enjoy the city. It went way above my expectations! Unfortunately,  I managed to leave the Ergo (my baby carrier ) in our car. Parked near Port Canaveral.  So we rented a little stroller from Carnival for $8.00 for the day. Well worth the 8 bucks!

We arrived in San Juan at 8 am. It was our 3rd stop of 4 ports. The kids slept in a bit. We took our time and ate breakfast and got off the ship around 10 am. We made or way out of the port and into the city. We found a few souvenir shops to browse and a Burger King for drinks and a bathroom break. While we were there, a local artist did a sketched drawing of Kennedy! It was so cute to watch her sit there and be perfectly still while.the man drew her. We decided to head to the forts.

Checking out the leather fanny packs.. haha!

 We went to Castillo  San Cristobal first. This fort was amazing. Built in the 1700's , and used for many years. It was massive. I am in awe of these amazing places! The views were absolutely breathtaking. 

View from the front. Look at the little tiny people at the top. This place is huge!

I can't take her anywhere... 

We could see the ships from the top on the other side of the city.

Awesome views from the top.

The Dungeon!

Looking out at Old San Juan from one side of the fort.

I put them in jail.

 After we explored every inch, we headed to the other side of town to Castillo San Felipe del Morro. This fort was built in the 1500's and was even more amazing than the first! Our walk led us across the back side of old San Juan an along the wall built to surround the city and protect it during the wars. The scenery and views were breathtaking. It was a little over a mile walk from one fort to the other and the sites were well worth it. We stopped at a beautiful cemetery that overlooked the ocean along the way. It was so fascinating.

The wall that surrounded the city.

We passed a local basketball on the way.

Enjoying the scenery as we walked to the other fort.

We walked through a long tunnel to a beautiful cemetery right on the ocean.

 The fort did not disappoint. It was so massive and stunning.  The views from the fort were absolutely captivating! I wanted to stay and explore more but the little ones were getting tired and hot. We headed back towards the ships , which was another mile or so walk. 

Looking out into the ocean from the top.

Peeking out through the lookout.

The size of the fort is indescribable.

On the way back we stopped at a few more stores. We were getting hungry as well (we skipped lunch and were just going to eat as soon as we got back on the ship. The girls and I found a little park and a local food truck so we decided to stop. We got several empanadas and bacalitos. The pizza empanadas were so good! 

The food truck we found.

Chowing down on empanadas!

What is a foot locker here??

After our snack we finally made our way back to the ship. I just loved our day in San Juan! I definitely want to go back to Puerto Rico and explore other areas! I highly recommend a visit to Old San Juan for the day to explore all it has to offer.