The Forts of San Juan
The Spanish controlled Puerto Rico (Spanish for Rich Port) for over 400 years. They spent 250 of those years constructing forts to protect the city of San Juan. The Spanish maintained control of the city until the United States took it over in the Spanish-American war in 1898. These forts, which began being constructed in the 1500’s, were occupied by American soldiers into the 1960’s. Today these forts are National Parks and can be accessed with a National Park Pass or by paying $10 admission.
This is the forward ship cam. You can see Castillo San Cristobal isn’t far away and it’s a straight shot from the ship. I’m going to walk it.
Castillo San Cristobal
I am coming up on the Fort.
You have to go up a pretty steep hill to get to the entrance.
Castillo San Cristobal is the largest fort built in the Americas. It was built to defend San Juan from land attacks. The name of the fort comes from Saint Christopher.
You can purchase tickets in the visitor center on the left. The ticket price is $10 but it’s good for both forts. This visitor center was actually a bunker that was added by the U.S. Army in the 1940’s.
For $7 you can purchase an audio tour.
The gift shop is right here as well.
This is the main plaza which was built in 1780. This is where drills, inspections, and assembly for formal events took place. The surrounding rooms include the kitchen, the chapel, and quarters for the soldiers.
The casemates that surround the main plaza are where cooking, eating, and sleeping happened. They are bombproof vaults designed with ports for cannons. The arched ceiling provides support for the gun deck above it.
San Cristobal has five cisterns designed to collect and hold rain water below the plaza. Collectively they can hold up to 800,000 gallons of water.
There’s a system of six tunnels that allowed soldiers to move around the fort without being detected by the enemy. Some of the tunnels were rigged with explosives so they could be collapsed on enemy intruders.
All of the tunnels were closed off on my visit.
The side passage down this tunnel is said to have been a dungeon where a friar was chained to the wall for 20 years for the crime of murder.
This chapel was added in the 1800’s. Soldiers gathered around it for daily mass.
Three flags are flown above the San Juan forts: The American Flag, The Puerto Rican Flag, and the Burgundy Cross which was the Spanish Military flag that flew here during the colonial period.
You can see the other fort from here.
This fire control station was built during World War II to detect and relay the position of enemy ships and submarines.
When I came down, I saw there was a sidewalk that was a direct path to the other fort. I was told there was one mile between the forts. I decided to walk it.
Castillo San Felipe del Morro
You can see the cemetery down by the water.
The open area surrounding the fort is known as the field of fire. It’s wide open so there was no place for attackers to take cover. Now it’s a popular picnic and kite flying area.
Castillo San Felipe del Morro was named after King Phillip II of Spain. It was designed to guard the entrance to San Juan Bay.
This dry moat protected the base of the fort from enemy cannon fire and added a level of difficulty to anyone who wanted to charge the fort.
This fort was constructed in several phases over a 250 year period beginning in 1539.
When they saw me holding my receipt from the other fort they let me skip the line.
This is the main plaza which was completed in 1780. Very much like San Cristobal, this is where drills, inspections and formal events took place. This plaza is also surrounded by casemates.
Just inside the entrance is the chapel.
Inner casemates were used for cooking, eating, and sleeping. Outer casemates were used to fire cannons.
Three flags are flown above the San Juan forts: The American Flag, The Puerto Rican Flag, and the Burgundy Cross which was the Spanish Military flag that flew here during the colonial period.
The first lighthouse was constructed here in 1846. The second lighthouse was destroyed by the US Navy during the Spanish-American war in 1898. This is the third version of the lighthouse built in 1908.
This looks like a prison cell though I couldn’t find anything saying what it was.
This casemate served as the kitchen.
This is actually the view from the modern day bathroom.
I’m going to go down to the main gun deck which is where you can see people walking in this picture. I believe you can also go down to that sidewalk by the water but I’m not going to make it down that far.
This is the original bathroom. Human waste was deposited here and flushed out into the sea through a sewer running beneath the courtyard.
In the 1700’s this room was where the fort commander lived. It was later turned into a prison. The friar who spent 20 years chained to a wall in the dungeon of Fort Cristobal was moved here in 1795 where he remained until his death in 1801.
Heading down this ramp to the main firing battery.
These circular sentry boxes known as garitas are where Spanish soldiers stood guard at night.
Across the channel is a small sister fort called San Juan De La Cruz. Any ships that tried to avoid fire from this fort, would sail right into the fire of that fort.
The cannons closest to the water and incoming ships were known as the water battery.
The large concrete structure with dark slits up top is a coastal artillery observation post that was added by the US Army during World War II.
I am going to take the circular staircase down to one of the lowest levels of this six level fort.
This room was the lower level kitchen.
This is the oldest section of the fort built in 1539.
On the right side of the ceiling you can see a projectile still lodged in the wall from the US bombardment during the Spanish-American war.
Now I have to climb out of this place. Instead of the circular staircase I’m going to take these stairs this time.
And now the triangular staircase.
I am heading out. You can go down by the water to the guard shack and cemetery as well if you want.
It’s less than a half mile to the port once you reach the road. I started to walk back until I was able to flag down a taxi driver.
It was $15 for less than a half mile ride back to the ship.
