Precious Memories: Second Time in San Juan, Puerto Rico

34-Day Cross Country RV Trip + 7-Day Caribbean Cruise 2022

Day 20: San Juan, Puerto Rico

May 17, 2022

This is an exciting day, our day back to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where we were in 2019. Our time will be shorter though, only from 7:30 to 3:30. I went to bed late last night and did not sleep well but woke up around 5:30. Seeing that the sky is already lighten up, I hurried and got ready for the sunrise, which happened shortly after 6:00 as we were sailing into port. It was amazing seeing the old fort as we sailed into the harbor. There was a Princess cruise ship already in port and after we docked RCCL Adventure of the Seas also came into port and docked right on the other side of us.

We had a quick, early breakfast at Pig and Anchor this morning. Just some ordinary breakfast items but a fresh ground cup of coffee to start our day. Then we got ready to leave the ship around 8:30. So much memories rushed back in my mind as we walked out of the terminal. All the images of people and events that happened on that day in 2019 flushed back. With three ships in port, it’s going to be so different from that day.

Beautiful sunrise over Puerto Rico.

Docked at port.

Yes, I remember this. We waited here for the others to come out for hours in 2019.

Finally outside the cruise port.

We looked everywhere for the free shuttle that I've read about, but was told that it doesn’t exist any longer. We then walked up to San Cristobal area but headed to the capital instead.

We made our way up beside the Sheraton towards Castillo San Cristobal.

The colorful La Corazon Steps.

Christopher Columbus statue at Plaza Colon.

We seemed to be the only ones walking towards that direction. It’s really pretty in this area, with huge mansions and buildings along the clean street. It took about 12 minutes to walk there from the Columbus statue but it was a nice walk. More tourists were at the capital who had joined some kind of city tours in buses so it got a little crowded there.

Biblioteca Carnegie

Monument

El Capitolio

After spending some time taking photos near the capital building, we walked up to San Cristobal and found the main entrance closed. Apparently, now they have visitors coming through the back door and the place does not open until 9:30.

Tracking up the hill to the entrance in the back.

As we were figuring out the entrance time, we talked to a couple who were standing next to us. We ended up taking them in the castle with us on our National Park Passes. Little did we know that with the passes, we did not even have to be in the long line, the guard took us right in on a separate entrance. What a great deal! The couple was so thankful for our generosity and gave us hugs as we said our good byes. They are there on their land trip, visiting a couple of islands in the Caribbean. They said it’s their first trip after 30 years.

Castillo San Cristobal

Close to port

Now that they have closed the part on Level 1, it felt a little different walking around the castle. It was just like another visit with a new experience. We spent about an hour and a half in there.

Exhibition of the history of the fort

weapons

up to the top

There were so many people there that made it hard for photos without others in it. As the sun getting hotter, we decided it was time for us to move on.

Down to the old town area we went, basically following the same route as last time. We went to the fountain area, and then went to the Umbrella Street. We tried to go to the same restaurant that we went to on our last trip but the restaurant was packed with people with a line went around the room. Not sure how long the wait is but we figured it’s not worth the time waiting. Good thing we already had some mofongo a few nights ago at Downtown Kissimmee.

No more umbrellas at Umbrella Street.

Then Christian and I went to get some San Juan popsicles at a popular place called Senor Paleta. They were very good but expensive. $6.90 for two popsicles, Christian got a guava flavor, and I got a papaya flavor. After we met back with MOR who was sitting near the waterfront, it started to rain, so we walked towards back to the terminal. Many passengers had the same idea so the line was pretty long when boarding back on the ship.