500 years since the first Spanish explorers beached their boats under the high Caribbean cliffs of the island of Puerto Rico, San Juan tourist guides still tell tales of the naval sieges and pirate raids that took place under the dilapidating fortress complexes and cannon-ball-battered bulwarks of the city’s coastlands, or rattle off stories of unchartered expeditions to the New World that eventually end with the foundation of America and the European colonisation of the Latin states.
Such is the importance of San Juan—the embryonic tip of the figurative colonial ice berg. For history buffs looking to glimpse the relics of this region’s bygone past, there’s nowhere better that the high fortresses of El Morro, San Cristobal and the UNESCO-attested Santa Catalina, while simply wandering the streets of El Condado or Puerta de Tierra will reveal a curious intermingling of Caribbean culture and laid-back Arawak life.
But it’s not all history here either, because San Juan is something of a legendary destination among surfers and spring breakers on the American east coast, who flock here in the high season to relax beachside at Ocean Park or join the local fiestas and party in the discos of Isla Verde.