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As Ice Cube said, "today was a good day." We were able to sleep in a little late. We packed our gear for the day and headed up to the Windjammer. We arrived sort of at the end of breakfast and the beginning of lunch. But it was all good.
We found a table and put our gear down and headed for the lines. This morning I happened by a different omlette line. There was a shorter fellow cooking up the fatboy omelettes. You know I fell in line there. His took a bit longer to cook, but they were cool.
They also had what they labeled "smoothies." I liked the flavor, but they were no smoothies. I told Hope, I thought they were pureed fruit, probably from the cruise a couple of weeks ago, that had over-ripened.
We ate and people watched. I swear I see new folks, everyday.
We headed to Deck 3. It changed today from the Gangway. Hope and I walked out and into San Juan. We passed a CVS and ducked in for a moment. Hope was shopping but I couldn't help myself to head over to the Red Machine. I typed in the only phone numbers I could remember at that moment and voila the coupons printed. They were in Spanish, but I'm sure the barcode will work. Yes, I'm crazy
We walked on down to catch the free city trolley. While sitting there, we met Emma. Emma was a very nice young lady who was born in New York but moved to Puerto Rico 15 years ago. She has her daughter with her, who spoke no English. We exchanged great conversation for a while until the trolley came. Her daughter watched Hope and my mouths as we spoke, but her Mom was a great interpreter. We assumed she wanted to move back to be with family.
Tracie and Sydney showed up and we all boarded the Trolley to snake the winding roads up to El Morro.
Old San Juan has a free trolley service to help you get around the city. The trolley runs Monday through Friday from 7:00am until 7:00pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 9:00am until 7:00pm (except the Green route, which runs only 9am- until 6pm or so). Just stand at any of the marked trolley stop signs and wait for the next trolley to come along. You can get off at any marked trolley stop.
These trolleys are strictly free transportation. They are not "tour" or "sight-seeing" trolleys. There is no tour guide to explain what you're seeing. But having said that, the trolleys are a nice way to see an overview of the city. They are not the fastest way to get around in the city - the best way to get around and see more is on foot. But they are convenient when you are hot and tired, or physically unable to walk the steep streets.
There are three routes, all of which start at trolley stop 1 , which is on the corner across the street from Cruise Ship Pier 4. This corner has a little restaurant, a convenience store, liquor store, a cigar shop, an internet cafe, and scooter shop. The route names are posted on the front of the trolley above the windshield.
And up to El Morro........................
Its full name is the Castillo de San Felipe del Morro, but it is better known by El Morro, which means "promontory." Perched on the northwestern-most point of Old San Juan, this daunting citadel must have been an intimidating sight to enemy ships. In fact, in its long history, El Morro was never defeated by a naval attack. El Morro only fell once, in 1598, when the Earl of Cumberland took the fortress by land.You'll follow in the Earl's footsteps as you cross a large green field to get to the fort. Today, people come here to relax, picnic, and fly kites; the sky is full of them on a clear day.
Once you reach the citadel, take your time to explore its ingenious architecture. El Morro is made up of six staggered levels, incorporating dungeons, barracks, passageways, and storerooms. Walk along its ramparts, where cannons still face the ocean, and step inside one of the domed garitas, or sentry boxes, which are themselves an iconic symbol of Puerto Rico. Looking out across the bay, you'll see another, smaller fortification. Called El Cañuelo, this was El Morro's partner in the island's defense: ships hoping to attack Puerto Rico would be cut down in a barrage of crisscrossing cannon fire. Two modern structures were added to El Morro after Puerto Rico became a commonwealth. A lighthouse that was damaged and repaired by the U.S. in 1906-08 stands out in stark contrast to the rest of the structure. During World War II, the U.S. Army added another entirely incongruous fortification, installing a military bunker on the top level.
The views were just as awesome as I remembered. Families were there with their children, as Emma had informed us that the children were on vacation this week. There were lots of fathers flying kites with their boys. Families had coolers for picnics. This a a nice huge open area for that. Hope and I walked around and took plenty of photos for a few hours. She wanted to enter the museum, but it was closing in 15 minutes. It was around 6 P.M. and the last city trolleys had rolled up, so we hopped aboard to make sure we'd had an easy ride back downtown.
The trolley passed several monuments and government buildings and into the square. We wandered around the cobblestone streets peeking into the wonderful little shoppes. We happened upon a little store that had the most beautiful summer dresses. We tried on several in the small crusty little bathroom in back of the store. At $20 each, we'd purchase a bunch. After that we strolled on down to several more shoppes and happened upon a few with absolutely unique items. Yep, we bought more stuff.
After some great finds, I had to find the guy who sold the sesame seed candy. I love this stuff and everywhere I go, no 2 are the same. Each place has there own flavor, gooeyness, crunch, etc. We had to wait for the guy, just a few moments. One of the other vendors told us he'd be back. Another couple walked up and then the gentleman appeared, walking towards us. I made my purchase and we headed back.
Hope stopped in CVS again, to purchase a few snack items and we headed for the ship.
Our ship was lit up with different colors and its gerth truly made the Oceanic and Costa ships look like miniature tugs on the port.
We dropped all of our bags off and headed upstairs to get some dinner. Hope tried the steak and potatoes and I tried the chicken stir-fry with noodles. It was really good. I'm trying to try different foods while I'm here. I haven't had anything that I didn't like, yet. LOL.
After dinner, the fuddy duddy (that's me) wanted to head back to the cabin, with my cookies and ice cream and sit out on the balcony and watch the city lights, as we sailed away.
This was a very nice day and Hope stated that she enjoyed it. I've been here before, so it was a nice re-visit.
Hasta mañana!
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