san juan, puerto rico

the first thing we did on our vacation was fly down to san juan, puerto rico.  on the way down to san juan, one of our fights was delayed so we arrived in san juan much later than we originally expected.  once we landed in san juan, we hurried from the airport right to the cruise terminal to check into the ship.  we didn't have any time to explore the town of old san juan before our cruise ship set sail.

however, when our ship docked back in san juan at the end of our cruise, we had some free time since our returning flight home did not leave until later in the afternoon.  after we got off the ship, we had a chance to explore the town of old san juan.  

there is an unbelievably massive fortification system that surrounds the town of old san juan.  while we were in old san juan, we went to the castillo san cristobal fort.  the castillo san cristobal fort dates back to the 1600s, and it was built over a period of 150 years to protect the city from attack.  the fort is the biggest european fort in the americas.  we were absolutely amazed by the intricacy of the fort and how many secret passageways were hidden in the fort.  from the outside, it appeared to be pretty large, but once inside it seemed even larger.  everywhere we turned, it opened up into a new section.  it was really neat to see the fort up close and to walk through that part of history.

while we were walking around the fort, we came across a few different iguanas.  they run all over the place in puerto rico, and they kept catching us off guard every time we would spot one.  we couldn't believe how big they were.  some of them got a little too close for comfort.  needless to say, we were a bit scared!

love, laurie

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you can see more photos from our caribbean cruise here:
st. thomas, barbados, st. lucia, st. kitts, and st. maarten