Just a quick photo tour of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. We visited with Kim & Wade and then a week or so later with Ela & Andrew, so the pictures are from both visits.

I’ll try to shut up for now, but will tell you more about our PR travels in The Big Puerto Rico Post.

Turned out I liked taking pictures of people at the guerites…

West of the Castillo San Cristóbal is the Castillo San Felipe del Morro. Most people, including myself until not too long ago, think of an esplanade as an open, level, pleasant place to walk, perhaps beside a river, or a parkway. The actual meaning of “esplanade” is an open and level killing field beside a fortress or castle. The picture below is a perfect example.

I don’t know how many malls, restaurants or seniors’ complexes I’ve seen called “Esplanade Something or Other”; The Esplanade Apartments or Hotel Esplanade or just The Esplanade. Eek.

It was a nice walk from the west castillo to the east.

A brief sampling of some Old San Juan architecture…

Both intact, and not…

And how about a small sampling of the monuments, churches and public spaces?

Though brief, we had nice visits to Old San Juan. Yes, it’s plagued by cruise ship crowds and suffers from the touristy-kitch that’s unavoidable in such ports, but it’s still a beautiful place. Lots of history and old-world charm – right here in the Caribbean.