Puerto Rico's Old San Juan - Perfecto!

Christopher Columbus, who first sighted Puerto Rico on his second trip in 1493, is well recognised in Old San Juan.

Prior to planning for this trip, all we knew about Puerto Rico was from watching West Side Story maybe 40 years ago! Now we've stayed on Vieques and in San Juan, we think this American outpost may well be the unexpected highlight of our whole Caribbean journey. San Juan is not only the oldest European settlement in the USA, the little peninsula known as Old (Veijo) San Juan must be one of the most photogenic cities in the world. We didn't even leave it to look at new San Juan!

The modest San Juan Bautista Cathedral, just up a short hill from the San Juan gate. 17C arrivals would visit this church to give thanks for a safe journey. Devotees come to the cathedral to see the tomb of Ponce de Leon and the body of martyr St. Pio.

This design and colour scheme is typical of many chapels in Old San Juan.

The narrow streets of Old San Juan are packed with colorful old buildings and parked cars.

Our hotel was El Convento, originally a Carmelite convent dating back to the 1600's. This hotel is fantastic! It's on the 100m long hill up from the San Juan Gate where VIPs used to enter the city through its fortified walls and climb up to the San Juan Bautista Cathedral to give thanks for a safe journey. The hotel is full of character, as you would expect. It has been renovated, of course, but in period style so as not to lose any of its magnificent ambience. Our "superior" room was in the same vein, with all the required mod-cons including that feature missing from every other Caribbean hotel, genuine hot water a decent flow and pressure. El Convento has no beach, and has no view, but as an inner-city hotel with charm, it delivers the full package! It even has tiny pool and a hot tub on the roof, and a guest laundry. It provides a turn-down service in the evening, with chocolates on the pillow. What a hotel!

Our digs, the Gran Hotel, El Convento, dates to 1651 and was the world's first Carmelite Convent.

The view from our hotel window down the Escalinata de las Monjas.

Cool and breezy inside the courtyard at El Convento Hotel.

Three distinct features give Old San Juan its fabulous appeal, the incredible fortifications, the magnificent buildings and the narrow cobblestoned streets.

Newer dwellings outside the Old San Juan fortifications don't match the excellence of those inside.

Under Ponce de Leon, the Spanish established a colony in San Juan in 1508, and 25 years later, they commenced building incredible fortifications which eventually completely ringed the city and effectively protected the entrance to a great deep water harbour. It would take 250 years to complete. San Juan withstood multiple attacks by the English and Dutch, but finally fell into American hands after its war with Spain in 1898.

The symbol of Puerto Rico, which appears on car registration plates, is the sentry box which helped the Spanish protect its most strategic asset in the Caribbean.

Old San Juan is famous for the sentry boxes at dozens of locations on the Spanish fortifications. This one, seen from the Santa Maria Magdalina de Pazzis cemetery, enjoys divine protection.

For our part, we have never seen more complete and better preserved fortifications anywhere. The many sentry boxes are the iconic emblems of all of Puerto Rico, but also, you can clearly observe maybe hundreds of embrasures (wedge shaped slots cut in the tops of walls to give shooters access while protecting them at the same time), casemates (storage and quarters), bastions (protrusions in the walls to give defenders a better view of attackers). There are well preserved loopholes (for protected shooting), wells (holding a year's supply of water) and moats (for trapping the enemy). Collectively, these add up to an amzing historical site, now in the hands of te US National Parks Service, which, by our observations over many trips, always does a magnificent job at conservation, education and managed access.

Roughly, Old San Juan is a grid of about 9 streets running east-west, and 9 running north-south. Every one of these blocks is packed with buildings so magnificent they dare the camera to capture them, but but in itself is a great challenge because the streets are so narrow. Many of the buildings are as old as the fortifications, most are in good order and condition, freshly painted in rich pastels, but others are in various stages of dereliction. The run down places have often been the target of revolutionary graffiti and attractive in a different way.

The entire precinct of Old San Juan is packed with gloriously decorated, centuries old buildings, all impossible to photograph with good perpective due to very narrow streets.

Residence in Calle del Christo at dusk.

Many houses feature fine ceramic artworks near their front doors.

Night time in Calle del Cristo, with the Cristo Chapel showing at the bottom of the hill.

Art Deco is strong in Old San Juan. This lovely example is the Banco Popular seen from the waterfront.

We saw many groups of school children resting in shady places, this one in the plaza between our hotel and the Cathedral.

The grand but stark courtyard of the Ballaja which houses the Museo de las Americas and also our favourite coffee shop, the Cafe Don Ruiz.

Just another magnificent Old San Juan building, impossible to photograph with good perspective due to the narrow streets.

The surface of almost every street is paved with blue oxidised cobblestones. These are rich with character and the intensity of the blue colour is sometimes quite remarkable. Vehicles travelling over the cobblestones make a delightful rumble and give pedestrians good warning of their approach. The city officers who must have chosen to maintain the cobblestones made a very good decision!

Brightly coloured buildings and cobblestoned streets provide our lasting memories of Old San Juan.

Old San Juan is a busy hub for cruise ships. We couldn't work out whether ships were calling in here as part of an itinerary, or if the city was the terminus for Caribbean cruises. But the effect was the same - the presence of a cruise ship brings a new buzz to Old San Juan as passengers (or soon-to-be passsengers, or ex-passengers) take tours and roam the streets and fortifications.

The fortiifications which originally defended Puerto Rico from English, Dutch and maybe American invaders now welcomes them in the form of gigantic floating apartment blocks.

Old San Juan is rich with bars, cafes and restaurants, and we had no trouble finding meals outside the hotel. The only problem was making the decision! Our great hotel spoiled our appetite somewhat by turning on free wine and cheese every evening. How many hotels do that these days? This function was very well attended by hotel guests as you can imagine - we even met a couple of Aussies (from the Gold Coast) there. We don't think many Australians come to the Caribbean, but when you say that to someone, it turns out that maybe there are more than we think!

This property is uniquely decorated with colorful puppets.

This ceiling fan in a cemetery mason's workshop is done cooling!

Old San Juan is very Spanish, but also very American, just like Miami. All the familiar fast food stores are here, CVS and Walgreens drug-stores are in town, and we could get Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Unlike most of the rest of the Caribbean, San Juan operates with American efficiency, but boils with Spanish culture and charm - a thoroughly delightful city to visit, and a highlight of our Caribbean holiday.

San Juan has a thriving arts culture, with numerous galleries and exhibitions.

Not all buildings in Old San Juan are in good order and condition. Like many derelicts, this one has lost its roof.