My ipad travel blog: Puerto Rico or a few hours in San Juan

I like this picture looking out onto our balcony.

Since we were near the front of the boat it was really fun to watch as we got close to land.

On our second day we were scheduled to arrive at San Juan at 3:00 pm but of course more accurately we would be able to leave the ship at 3 pm.

I like to watch the pilot ship guiding us in

We got our first glimpses of the port.

Apparently San Juan is the busiest cruise ship port after Miami.

We had elected to take a walking tour of Old San Juan offered through Celebrity. We were dropped off at the fort with our guide and then after touring the fort we would back through the old city towards the cruise ship.

It was very windy as we entered the grounds. Later we were told this is where they filmed the opening sequence of the TV show The Flying Nun!

I have never seen skies as blue as those in Puerto Rico.

The walls reminded us of Quebec City.

The Spanish built this fortification in the 1500s.

San Juan was seen as the gateway to the New World.

Where is that flying nun?

The fort was very interesting but we felt as if we spent too long going up and down and around in the fort and felt rather rushed exploring the streets of the old city.

This imposing sculpture is Ballaja is by Spanish sculpture and architect Ochoa Sierra and represents how this district that has struggled against forces in order to conserve this district!

The blue cobblestones were so neat-apparently originally used as ballast on Spanish ships until someone got the idea to pave the streets of San Juan with them

Here is the first governor of Puerto Rico, Juan Ponce de Leon

I loved the bright colours of the houses

And of course the beautiful vegetation

I love the colour contrasts and look how summery it looks

Here's a cat deciding to come home

Such lush vegetation

Beautiful wrought iron balconies

Parking here must take skill

Those skies...

I can not resist a cat

The there was this amazing statue, La Rogativa, commemorating how a religious procession fooled the British who had blockaded the city. They thought extra reinforcements had come so the British left without attacking.

Puerto Rico has amazing skies

Amazing trees

And check out a cat on each car

It was so beautiful

Can you see our cruise ship hidden away?

But the best was yet to come because we were on our way to Raices restaurant to meet my friend, Laura, for the first time, who I had virtually met through our Facebook photography group. It was so neat and we all had a wonderful time.

we had so many questions for Laura and since she is a copy editor and translator for Puerto Rico's official tourism magazine, Que Pasa? she is a good person to ask!