Pat and I were getting well familiarized with this massive Oasis Class ship by day 4 when we pulled into the harbor at San Juan, Puerto Rico. I mean this is like a complex small town in 3D layers. You not only need to remember where all the restaurants and shops are located by fore and aft, but also on which of the 17 decks they are situated. To give us a break from all the onboard exploring, we got off to explore the very interesting town of San Juan!
San Juan History
San Juan is the capital and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. At 400,000 people, it is large in my book.
San Juan was founded by Spanish colonists in 1521, who called it Ciudad de Puerto Rico (“Rich Port City”). Puerto Rico’s capital is the third oldest European-established capital city in the Americas. This was about 250 years before the USA became independent from Britain. Wow!
Over the years, the island has been ruled by several countries. The first was the Spanish after being discovered by Ponce de Leon in 1508 to the US today. Today, the city is based on being a seaport, manufacturing and finance center, and tourism.
An Earthquake Just Before Arrival
The ship captain told us a day later that our arrival in San Juan was in jeopardy due to the significant 6.4 magnitude earthquake the day before we arrived. He said that power was still out in San Juan up until the morning of our arrival. When authorities restored power, he made the final decision to port.
Our ship, Oasis, on right 
Anthem on the left
The major damage was a few miles from San Juan as we did not see anything other than what might be ordinary wear and tear on the 500 year old settlement. At a hotel bar, the bartender told us that she still did not have electricity or water at her home about 45 minutes away.
Walking Into 500 Years of History
I tried to book a walking excursion through the cruise line, but they were quickly sold out. So, my next plan was to just jump on one of the many local tours being offered after walking onto land. That is when I decided to just start a walkabout in the historic old San Juan! On a very warm and humid 82 degree day!
In a very walkable city, I enjoy just heading off in a direction and explore. So, that’s what we did. Pat may have been a little concerned about getting lost but the town is built in a perfect grid with all downhill streets coming back down to the port.
Under repair from the hurricane. 
These brick lined streets were very old and hard to walk on. 
A cool fan designed decoration.
Our son Bryan, told us to visit this old majestic hotel, Hotel El Convento, that had an open atrium with a bar, so we found it and had a beer. It was very interesting.
A local Puerto Rico lager. Gotta have the local stuff. 
The atrium. 
The bar area inside the atrium. 
Us!
After that we just walked the historic district checking out the well maintained old Spanish style buildings. Our total mileage was seven miles for the day. A decent workout.
One way traffic, I hope. 
Catholic church 
An ice cream vendor getting bored. 
Us again after a hot day! 
The governor’s palace. 
Pat is guarding the old fort’s gate.
FortÃn San Juan de la Cruz
This old fort from the early 1800’s has a ton of history including a place to keep people with infectious diseases like leprosy and cholera. And we toured it after walking a good six miles! Although, Pat did pick up another cough….I wonder.
Used to be a moat here back in the day. 
Wrap Up
Thanks for following along! I’ll have at least one more post about the cruise before returning to regular programming. Take care and God Bless.
Great pictures. Thanks for sharing. Took me back to our cruise to the same place about 12 years ago.
Robert
Great pictures. Thanks