It’s less than two weeks away from the first day of spring, and we’re still not fully out of the bad weather here in the Northeast. But just a plane ride away, you’ll find sunny Puerto Rico where I was invited to visit by the beautiful San Juan Marriott located on Condado Beach. I’ve already mentioned some of my adventures there and, during the last full day of my trip, I  got the chance to visit Old San Juan City.

During the morning, we took in the some of the area’s famous landmarks including the historic Castillo San Felipe del Morro.The earliest fortification of San Juan, Castillo San Felipe del Morro was initially constructed by Spain in 1539, 68 years before the First English Settlement in Jamestown.

El Morro means “the headland” a high point of land that extends into a body of water. The National Park System says that El Morro  guarded San Juan’s harbor. The service says that it was reasoned that to control the harbor was to control the entrance to the Caribbean Sea and access to the riches of the New World.

After our visit to this massive fortification, it was on to a walk around the cobblestone streets of one of oldest American cities, filled with museums , boutique shops. All of this walking built up an appetite and we had a wonderful lunch at Raices where we ate traditional puerto rican dishes including a signature dish of the area mofongo.

Here, this plantain based dish could be filled with a variety of extra ingredients including shrimp, chicken or steak.