I can tell you that the airport in San Juan is accommodating . I can tell you that the cruise ship personnel were helpful in getting us safely transported from the airport to the cruise ship. I can tell you that the city street life was exciting to view as our bus traveled through the various neighborhoods on our way to the oceans shore. But, what I did not experience is all that I read about this fascinating dot on the would.
We missed seeing the Old San Juan, the old walled city on a tongue of land between the Atlantic and San Juan bay. I had read that its charm and character was a living museum. I wanted to see the narrow streets of Old San Juan, said to be paved with small grey-blue blocks which were cast from the residues of iron furnaces in Spain and brought over as ships' ballast..
And we missed such restored and interesting buildings as La Fortaleza, the Governor's Palace, built between 1533 and 1540 as a fortress against Carib attacks but greatly expanded in the 19th century. It is believed to be the oldest executive residence in continuous use in the Western Hemisphere.
But our journey was only beginning. Soon we would set sail for such Islands as St. Thomas, St. Maartin, Dominica, Barbados and Martinique. Although we spent only one day on each of these Islands, we did our best to take in as much of the flavor of the peoples and their homelands as our feet and hearts would bear.