Vacation Day 2: Exploring Castillo San Cristóbal in Old San Juan

It didn’t occur to me until I got here... I’ve never seen a Puerto Rican license plate in my life! Today, we went to the historic fort depicted on each one.

Here’s what they look like:

The guard tower on the plate, called garitas to the locals, can be found at Fort San Cristóbal in Old San Juan, also called Castillo San Cristóbal. It’s a sixteenth century fort complex, built starting in 1539, and was the Spanish Empore’s largest fortification ever built in the new world.

Since the 1500s, the fort has been expanded multiple times, and used as recently as World War II by the US to spot Nazi submarines in the Caribbean. Complete with sweeping views of San Juan, secret passageways, canonballs, and even dungeons, this is a very cool stop if you visit Puerto Rico. And the best part... it’s a National Park! You can go on a self guided tour and explore the whole thing by yourself, just like Acadia back home.

Here are some great photos we took, and a quick insta video that shows you what it’s like to look out of one of the garitas. Very cool!