We first visited San Juan, Puerto Rico on a cruise. We liked it so much that we returned 5 years later for a longer stay. A panoramic view from the city walls illustrates the strategic importance of the island for the Spanish and American colonies.
 

San Juan is a major port and tourist resort of the West Indies and is the oldest city under the U.S. flag.

The major attractions are within an easily walkable area encompassing the two forts and historical old town.
 

Old San Juan is a 465-year-old neighborhood originally conceived as a military stronghold. The city includes more than 400 carefully restored 16th- and 17th-century Spanish colonial buildings.
 

The 7-square-block area of the old town has evolved into a charming residential and commercial district. The streets here are paved with cobbles of adoquine, a blue stone cast from furnace slag.

At the end of the Paseo de la Princesa, a European-style 1853 urban promenade, monumental Raíces Fountain depicts the origins of Puerto Ricans – a people with descendants from the Taino Indian, African and Spanish, all blended and rising out of the sea with dolphin escorts.
 

The Capilla del Cristo (Cristo Chapel) was built in the 18th century (1753). A horseback rider took a terrible spill off the cliffs at the end of Calle Cristo. The chapel was either built to commemorate the miracle of his survival; or it was built to prevent such an accident from happening again

Old San Juan has several plazas filled with interesting statues and skirted by historic buildings.

The Alcaldia (San Juan's City Hall) was designed to look like Madrid's. It was decorated beautifully for Christmas.
 

The most striking features of San Juan are the fortifications recognized as UNESCO World Heritage sites. The Fort San Felipe del Morro was a masterpiece of military engineering with 400 cannons and stout wall and ramps for carrying men and artillery.

San Juan occupied a strategic point as the first stop for explorers, traders and colonists coming from Europe to the Americas. Spanish, Dutch, British and Americans disputed ownership of Puerto Rico. Between the 15th and 19th centuries a series of defensive structures was built to protect the city and the Bay of San Juan.

The National historic site includes forts, bastions, powder houses and walls and also includes Canuelo Fort on the the Isla de Cabras across the entrance to the bay. The forts' turrets (bartizans) are an important symbol in Puerto Rico.
 

Cementerio de San Juan (San Juan Cemetery) is located between El Morro and the rocky cliffs above the Atlantic. The cemetery is particularly noteworthy for its elaborate tombstones and the circular neoclassical chapel.

Strict remodeling codes have allowed for the development of shops, restaurants and hotels, while preserving the Spanish colonial architecture.

The Escuela de Artes Plásticas (School of Fine Arts) was built by the Spanish colonial government in the 1800s. Previously the facilities served as an asylum for mental patients.