Mallorcas & Castillo San Cristobal

Our first morning in San Juan was a strange one.  Andrew was up by about 3 am, and then couldn't fall back asleep.  Though awake several times (perhaps because Andrew was up foraging for food several times in the night), I was able to go back to sleep each time until after 8 am.  Role reversal - although I don't ever think to eat when I'm up in the night.  Despite his best efforts, Andrew was starving by the time I got up.  To be fair, we had only purchased coffee, cheese, crackers and some apples yesterday so there wasn't much for him to eat.  Invigorated by very, very chilly shower (I couldn't quite make the temperature adjustment work in my favor this morning), we headed out to tackle "the list".  

On the docket this morning, Cafeteria Mallorca for...what else?  Mallorcas!  A mallorca is a traditional Puerto Rican breakfast sandwich.  Think of it like a panini, but dusted in icing sugar.  It sounds weird but, trust me, it's delicious.  Sweet & salty is the trend, right?  I had ham & swiss, Andrew had bacon & cheddar.  Accompanied by Cuban cafe con leches, and our morning was off to a great start for less than $15!

From Cafe Mallorca, we set off to see how far away the cruise port was from our apartment.  Getting a taxi on our street is going to be a challenge, as it's not a main thoroughfare, and we didn't pack light.  To be fair, we never pack light.  As luck would have it, the port is only about a 10 minute walk.  We could easily get all our luggage to the ship on these narrow and cobbled Old San Juan streets in two trips on foot.  

Other than "the list", we don't have any solid plans for our time in San Juan.  Andrew had read about a trolley that rolls around around Old San Juan, so we climbed aboard to get the lay of the land.   In order to get a complete idea of how this went, you should imagine a series of very narrow streets.  Now, add a row of parked cars on one side.  Now, make all the streets a 1-way.  Finally, add in tourists, a weekday morning's traffic, a few garbage trucks and some construction crews.  Got it?  Good.  Now imagine trying to navigate that in a bus.  Needless to say, we went a total of about 2 miles in about 45 minutes.  We actually abandoned the trolley a few stops early in order to save ourselves some time.   Lay of the land established!

We arrived back to the apartment about noon and Andrew made a beeline for his favorite vacation activity - a nap.  I made more cafe con leches and sat out on the patio reading for a few hours.  Once Andrew resurfaced, we decided to walk up the hill to Castillo San Cristobal - one of the two forts in Old San Juan.  

San Cristobal is a Spanish fortress under construction from 1635 to 1783.  It takes up almost 30 acres and is a sprawling labyrinth (a nod to Mr. D. Bowie on the eve of his death) of tunnels, turrets and stairwells.  It sits along the ocean wall, but was technically built to protect the city from land attacks.  It was a subsequently renovated somewhat during World War II to serve as an artillery post for the US army.  There's no official tour of the grounds, but it's run by the US National Park Services so there are Park Rangers wandering about to answer questions.  As a randomly inserted aside, I recently read a book about NPS Park Rangers.  Did you know that they are the federal law enforcement agents most likely to be assaulted or killed in the line of duty?  It's more dangerous to be a NPS park ranger than a federal marshall or a DEA officer.  Interesting, huh?  I'm happy to report that we did not witness any park rangers being injured or killed during our time at the castillo.  I guess it could have happened, we just didn't see it.  

Tunnel leading from the main entrance up to the first observation level and the barracks

Another tunnel that opens up to the top observation deck

The view from the top

One of the artillery lookouts added during WWII

Original lookout

We wondered if these were cannonballs, but they seemed kind of big.  Bigger than a basketball.  Anyone?

Coastline

Look closely - in the center you'll see a picture of a ship that is carved in to the wall of the dungeon.  It's believed to be the work of a Spanish Captain imprisoned for treason.  

Lots of these big fellows living a life of leisure at the fort.  This guy was about 5 feet long. 

Reminds me of Ireland or Scotland with the crumbling walls and greenery

Looks kind of like a chessboard, no? 

After more than an hour trooping around the fort and grounds, we were hot and hungry.   We tried to go to Burger Bistro, but they are closed on Mondays.  Seems like a lot of places here are closed on Monday.  Not to worry - there are more options on the list!  We picked up a tripleta sandwich (another version of a panini with three kinds of meat, veggies and a yummy sauce), a couple of empanadas and a mojito to share at a little sandwich shop called Mavi.  We drank the mojito while we walked and, back at home, we enjoyed the evening on the patio while sharing the giant tripleta and a glass of wine.  The empanadas will have to wait for breakfast.  Yet another thing to look forward to!