One of the places i wanted to go to while in Puerto Rico was El Morro. The full name is actually Castillo de San Felipe del Morro. But its widely known as El Morro. Just a little history lesson on it-The construction of this six-level fortress was begun in 1540 and completed in 1589. Its main purpose was to serve as a fort front to invaders. Rising 140 feet above the sea, its 18-foot-thick wall proved a formidable defense.
Here we are at beginning of the path to walk down and into the castle. It was a beautiful day, but it was tremendously hot and muggy.
As you can see, its sits on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. You can hear the waves crash against the rocks as you get closer to the edges of el Morro.
The views were spectacular. The height advantage let you see clear cross the ocean.
I totally forgot what this small island was called, but back in the day, it served as a quarantine for all of the people who had leprecy. There was a few telescopes you could look through where it showed the actual hospital building were these people were sent away to. Now its used as a recreational site, with picnic tables and all!
The Castle was massive and pretty confusing to walk around in. El Morro was built this way. It has tons of tunnels, stair ways, secret paths and there is even some paths that lead no where. It was amazing to see that most parts of the castle were still in tact.
Here my lovely husband decided that he might get a better view from higher up. So he decided to climb up one of the walls. I know it doesn't look very high in the picture but it was pretty darn high, just look at how tiny he looks up there. All i could think to myself was, oh he is so gonna fall and break something. So there he went climbing the fort walls wearing chanclas. I think he actually took them off to get back down.
Giant Q-tip
Here we are in the entrance way of the castles corner look out post.
Down below right on the water front, there is a lovely cementery. Its the San Juan Cemetery. It is located right behind 'La Perla'. Its actually quite sad, everywhere you research information about el morro or old san juan, it talks about the perla and the cemetery adjacent to it, and it specifically states it is not "recommended" to visit- It is not safe for tourists, even though the bright colors look inviting. I stop to think about the people who are actually buried there. I wonder if there is unvisited grave site due to the danger one faces going into the outskirts of town. Many times i've read online something to the effect of- "outside the city walls", "beyond the islands' limit" and "outside the morro wall". It makes it sound so scary and dangerous. Im sure people from la perla have family and friends buried there, but i wonder if there is other people buried there, like before the perla took over that part of the island. You can see the Morro's wall in the picture below. Look to the right....you see that White mausoleum looking like thing? behind it... the brown wall- That's the Morro's most outer wall.
You can actually see the perla right behind the cemetery- top to the left.
And here we are leaving, about to go eat our savvy lunch... oh you'll see.
We knew we had a long day planned ahead of us, so we decided to make us some sandwiches and bring em with. We figured we were going out to dinner later that night so might as well save some money on lunch... And yes, that is WHITE bread. We figured what they hey! We're on our honeymoon... lets go CRAZY!!
No comments:
Post a Comment