Puerto Rico part 2!

 After the first fortress, we got back on the excursion bus to head to the second fortress: San Felipe Del Morro. I was impressed by the greenway leading up to the fort. 

The greenway to the left of the long long sidewalk that led from the street to the fort

and the greenway to the right. The red dome is a building in the middle of a wonderful cemetery that you can't see in this photo because of the light tan wall. 

The fort. See the long walkway? It was long.

we approach the entry to the fort. We did not follow a guide in the fort. 

This colorful fellow was surveying the tourists as they entered 

Inside the fort was my favorite color. 

Light house at San Felipe

The view of San Juan from San Felipe

This tiny little sub-fortress is iconic--many of the souvenirs from this  place feature it and I must agree it is very photogenic. 

Why didn't the tourist board use this brutalist structure as souvenir images? 

Me from down the hall from the main part of the fort

And now closer.

It just begs for you to come on in and enjoy the view.

And here is Jim, who is holding the bag with souvenirs we bought for the kids

Remember that red dome I pointed out in an earlier picture? Here it is with the cemetery for context. The scene was very impressive. The cemetery is outside the city wall--it's not walled off, the city is.

Our guide on the bus mentioned that only important people are buried here.

A self-important chicken marching around a town square

Jim liked this because it could apply to San Jose 

We found a little restaurant for lunch in Old San Juan

They like dollar bills at this place.

Old San Juan is colorful. The guide on the bus said that building owners in Old San Juan are required to maintain the outside of the building in keeping with the Old San Juan look. The inside can be as modern or whatever, but the outside has to look like it would fit with this style--colonial? Whatever the style is called, it is very pretty. 

As Jim and I were strolling through the streets of Old San Juan post lunch, we walked by a church. The doors were open and we popped in for a look. They had a nativity in front of the alter and some other decorations that looked Christmasy.

Looking back from the front of the church

I don't know who this person is or why they are revered, but it's probably not the Virgin Mary.

I think I should paint my house this color.

We found a post office where I wrote out a couple of postcards to Mom and Jenni. Then we headed back to the dock, but found a pharmacy on the way and we went in to get a few things. This was a modern pharmacy and they had what I needed: La Roche-Posay Effaclar face wash, which I had forgotten to bring, and toothpaste, which we were almost out of. I convinced Jim to buy a Puerto Rico baseball cap for himself. I got some chocolates for when I was in the room and couldn't be bothered to leave the room to get something to eat.

Spinach and artichoke dip. It was good by why does it come with just ONE measly bruschetta? One bread stick? We needed a pile of stuff to dip.

I think this was a lobster roll

breaded chicken on a pile of veg

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

Night time views off the back of the ship

I do wonder what this building is. Possibly a casino? It was across the bay from us.

I just like the lighting on the ship in contrast to the lights from the city.

I can't remember if this was the night we played euchre with Tim and Pam, but I might as well mention it now. I hated euchre. I had no idea how to play and it seemed like Tim was making up rules as we went along and made up words to describe various card scenarios. Any game that uses the word t*ump is unlikeable in my worldview. Tim asked "haven't you guys played card games? Mormon Bridge etc?"  Nope. I've played canasta, and the kid card games, and cribbage maybe twice, but this kind of game does not amuse me. I played as best as I could, but my various hmmmphs and exclamations of irritations were not easily hid. I didn't hate the experience because spending an evening with friends is always a good time even if you play a dumb game.