Romantic old San-Juan
It’s possible to drive around the island of Puerto-Rico in a single day and to walk around Old San Juan in an hour. On a global scale, the island and the old city are not very large. But in the hearts of its people – and of many visitors – Puerto Rico is a continent, and old San Juan is its epicenter.
The settlement of San Juan began in 1509, the same year the infamous Henry 8 th ascended to the throne of England, and almost a century before Pocahontas befriended John Smith at Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States.
During four centuries of Spanish rule, its enemies coveted the city and tried to capture it. Each attempt resulted in greater fortifications: first the twin towers of La Fortaleza, then the ever-expanding ramparts of Castillo San Felipe del Morro and the city walls; finally, the impregnable San Cristobal, the largest fort built by the Spanish in the New World, and a smattering of smaller forts and battlements as lines of defense.
Fort San Cristobal
English and Dutch attackers led by the most brilliant captains of the day could not conquer Old San Juan and hold it. The city and the island remained Spanish until the War of 1898, when by the treaty of Paris it became part of the United States. The forts and most of the city are now the San Juan National Historic Site, carefully tended by the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the interior and recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
To roam the cobble-stoned streets of the oldest European-founded U.S. city is one reason to visit Old San Juan, but there are many more: there are the shops, restaurants, clubs and pubs, art galleries, craft markets, churches, museums, hotels, guesthouses, plazas and patios, and lovely private homes – all framed by brightly-painted buildings that date from the the 16 th to the 18 th centuries.
If that isn’t enough, there is always something special taking place: street fairs, food festivals, gallery nights, folcloric dance shows, etc.
Many times in my blog I compared capital of Puerto-Rico, city San Juan, to Odessa. And again, after I came here in the evening time, even harder to deny similarity of these two cities. Perhaps, this feeling increased with my separation from Motherland, but the fact remains, old city behind the wide sea-front street looks like my native, as like as two peas in a pod. Rectangular right planning, old buildings, laid with paving block streets, in yellow evening light of street lamps leveling day tropical tint and making it similar to other megapolises of the world.
Sea-front street of San-Juan
It’s hard to get lost, surface is flat, inclined to the ocean, light is good everywhere, lanes are not looking weird, and vice versa, romantic. Disregarding the lack of police I couldn’t feel any crime things.
Romantic lanes in the capital of Puerto-Rico,
example of lane in San-Juan
It’s still US and fans of shopping for sure will like plenty of opened stores. Quality and prices for clothes and other everyday goods particularly will be liked by foreigners. Without heat walk around such a city is pure pleasure. Sometimes you can see carriages with white horses . Romantic style is supported also in appearance of local folks, overhelming majority – Latin, pure white and Afro-Americans is minimum. Prevailing inscriptions in Spanish, but residental population speaks English very well.
Shopping in San-Juan, store in Puerto-Rico
Like in any other American city, which respect itself, there are a lot of world-famous establishments in San-Juan, such as Sheraton , Starbucks, McDonalds, Wallmarts etc .
View to one of the squares in San-Juan ,
Evening view in capital of Puerto-Rico
Old part of city is situated on rather small peninsula, you can feel deficit of space and that’s why everything is compact enough.
BMW in San – Juan
Any city of the world would be proud of such cars which are riding around the streets of the capital of Puerto-Rico. They are only good and very good, like for example, those BMW and superbike, more alike block of gold on the roadway.
Motorbike in San-Juan,
golden stone on the street of Puerto-Rico
Main minus of this place – expensivness, it’s still America, like all advanced places with high level of life. It’s pitiful to pay 6 dollars for 1 bocal of live beer in the bar, and for average dinner in cheap Chinese caf? – 60.
Dinner for two in Chinese caf? in San-Juan only for 60 $,
Chinese dinner in Puerto-Rico for 60 USD
OK, enough about sad. That, what is not good in Russia, is partially good here. There are fools and roads with character « -» and here remain beautiful girls and not less beautiful roads. It’s hard to describe them, you have to see them, that’s why let’s touch topic of architecture. First of all, in the old part of the city I’d like to mention the grand monument to Cristofor Columbus, signed in Spanish style – Cristobal Colon. Raisin of city’s interior I would call small balconys and small marble benches, whichever I don’t think somebody would setup in northern cities.
Monument to Cristofor Columbus in San-Juan, capital of Puerto-Rico;
Statue of Columbus in Puerto-Rico
Stone bench in San-Juan;
Marble bench in Puerto-Rico
I succeeded to take picture of Puertorican homeless, who will never die a cold death.
Puertorican homeless ;
San-Juan’s wino
