El Capitolio, the capitol building of Puerto Rico, greets you as
you drive into Old San Juan. It’s a century-old neoclassical structure with a
commanding dome situated on a hilltop overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Bob
decided it was time to take a tour inside!
For Puerto Ricans, El Capitolio de Puerto Rico stands as a
powerful symbol of self-government. This video is packed with history, info,
and photos, as well as a tour of the many fascinating monuments near the
capitol building.
Bob recently scored a private tour inside La Fortaleza, the Puerto
Rico Governor’s Mansion, which is located in a prominent spot at the edge of
Old San Juan, with dazzling views of the Bay of San Juan. The oldest Executive
Mansion in continuous use in the Western Hemisphere, La Fortaleza is the main
residence and the office of the Governor of Puerto Rico.
The name means “The Fortress,” an apt title because La Fortaleza,
along with the later fortifications of Castillo San Felipe del Morro, Castillo
San Cristóbal, and San Juan de la Cruz (El Cañuelo), along with a large portion
of the original San Juan City Wall, was built to protect the city and the bay.
La Fortaleza was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960. It’s also a
UNESCO World Heritage site. Read all about its history and importance here.
Enjoy the tour!
We continue wandering around Old San Juan on Day 2 of our walking tour of this beautifully preserved 500-year-old settlement. (Part 2 of 2.)
Old San Juan
Map to Old San Juan
Map to Dona Fela Parking Garage
Map to Barrachina
Visit the Old San Juan Playlist on YouTube to see our
other videos.
No trip to Puerto Rico is complete without at least a
day in Old San Juan, a mélange of Old World elegance and vibrant 21st-century
Caribbean culture. It’s so interesting, we had to create two videos!
San Juan was built for walking, so we’ll start out by heading to
our favorite parking garage, Dona Fela, so you don’t waste an hour looking for
a place to put your car. Then we’ll visit the cruise ship port and explore the
narrow streets, nooks and crannies of beautifully preserved Viejo San Juan,
which just celebrated 500 years.
There is so much to see and do, for every age and stage: explore
history, culture, shopping, eating, drinking, praying, gallery hopping, even flying
kites!
Check back in a couple of days for the second half of our video.
Maritime Museum (Museo del Mar)
Book Museum (La Casa del Libro)
Map to Dona Fela Parking Garage
Visit Messy Suitcase’s Old San Juan Playlist to see our other videos.
Sorry for the long gap between blogs. We've had a lot of stuff going on: buying a house in Puerto Rico, taking care of some health issues, and welcoming our oldest child home from college. We've been moving and buying furniture and repairing toilets and getting kayaks and watching sunsets. But now we are settled in PR for half the year, and the questions are coming from friends and friends of friends planning visits to the island: What should they do here? Here are some of our favorite experiences for visitors based in San Juan.
Read the blog HERE!
As Messy
Suitcase makes the rounds of rum distilleries across Puerto Rico, we discovered
a new boutique one in Old San Juan and decided to pay a visit. Scryer Rum Barrelhouse
& Rooftop is a small-batch, pot-distilled sipping rum distillery in a gorgeous
historic building.
“Sipping” is
industry-speak for expensive
– the good stuff you drink on its own, as opposed to the cheap stuff you pour
into a cocktail.
Scryer was
founded by a couple of buddies shortly before the pandemic. Garrett, who led
our tour, started his alcohol education in whiskey and brought that expertise
to rum distilling. But while the partners have created a delicious sipping rum,
a lovely bar and a delightful rooftop, they have a lot to learn about running a
good tour! They missed out on a lot of opportunities. Find out why in this
video.
(Sorry in
advance for the loud music in the background – they conduct the tour right next
to the noisy bar.)
Info: https://scryerrum.com/
Museo de San Juan: No Video
Allowed
It was hard to find the Museo de San
Juan, and once we got it in, they made making this video even harder: No photos
or videos!
Fine. We enjoyed the air
conditioning on a hot day.
But it was free, and worth 20
minutes of your time, if you're near El Morro and can find your way in.
There were some silver religious
artifacts in one room, and old maps and historical photos and art in the second
gallery.
That's it.
