Situated at opposing ends of the old city, Old San Juan is dominated by two massive fortifications revealing the dangers posed to this colony throughout it's history. These two embattled monuments stand like sentinels guarding the city. It's inhabitants, until not too long ago, faced a barrage of hostilities from naval attacks to pirate assaults. They were constantly under threat of takeover, but also the port was a stopping point for the transportation of gold, silver and jewels en route from America to Spain.
The first true fort in Puerto Rico was constructed in 1537 following an attack from the French in 1528. It was plainly called La Fortaleza, or The Fortress. Though pretty, it wasn't of much use as a fortress, it was too far inland from the opening of the bay. This became the Governor's Mansion, and can be found overlooking the San Juan Gate high up on a hill. It's a beautiful decorative blue building but we weren't able to go in the day we visited. It still houses the Governor and has become the oldest Governor's Mansion still in residence.
In 1589, work began on the new fortress. They called it Castillo San Felipe Del Morro; Felipe after the King of Spain, and El Morro, which means 'the promonatory', for its location high above the rocky edge of the northwestern most point of the island at the entrance to the bay. And so began the legend of El Morro, which remained elusive to all who tried to capture it for three centuries
There were a number of significant attacks on the fortress that forced the Spanish to build a new fort on the opposite end of the city and enclose the city in it's now famous wall.
- 1595 - Sir Francis Drake attacked early on in pursuit of the gold and silver stored at La Fortaleza. The artillery from/of El Morro effectively defended the city and punished the invaders sending them away with many casualties.
- 1598 - the English attacked again led by Sir George Clifford, 3rd Eearl of Cumberland. El Morro's strength lay in attacks by sea, but the Earl landed in San Juan from the other side and sieged the city. Unable to take El Morro, the Earl's soldiers held on for 6 weeks, before exhaustion and dysentery forced them to abandon their conquest.
- 1625 - El Morro and the Puerto Rican people's day of glory came when the Dutch, Commanded by General Boudewin Hendricksz, landed on San Juan. The Spanish refused to surrender, and made it impossible for them to take over. Purportedly, even the released prisoners chose to stay and help fight. The Dutch, in their fury, burned down the city, including La Fortaleza before retreating. By this stage it became imperitive for a second fort and city wall to be built to reinforce defenses.
El Morro is the first of the two forts we visited, which makes sense, being the oldest on the island. We took one of the free trolleys up to the fort because it was so hot. The first thing you notice is the huge expanse of green spreading across either side of a long straight road leading up to the fort. This was a strategic maneuver by the Spanish, providing the perfect "field of fire" for the approaching enemy. Known today as the Esplanade, it's a popular place for kite-flying with the north-easterly tradewinds providing the perfect conditions; and boy, it was blustery over there!
Off the trolley we were finally face-to-face with this legend of Puerto Rican history. You could see the past etched in it's battered facade; in the crumbling stonework, in every fracture and crack, and it's discolouration, all worn with the heaviness of it's burdens through years and years of unrest.
It was very fitting that we visited these forts not long after having just visited two in Alabama. In the centre of Mobile, AL we went to Fort Conde, which was a small scale reproduction of the fort that used to be there, and had been held by the French, Spanish and British before coming into American possession. We also went to Fort Morgan located on the tip of a peninsula at the mouth of Mobile Bay. It played a large part in the Battle of Mobile Bay during the Civil War and was badly damaged. Those forts were like introductory forts, and the knowledge we gained from them helped us get a feeling for the forts that we would now see in San Juan, which are on a whole new level; a lot bigger, a lot older and have seen way more conflict.
We came out into a courtyard on the 4th floor of the fort, called the Plaza Principal, surrounded by sunny yellow exterior with white arches accenting each opening. We wandered through the old casemates some of which still contain cannons as they were, pointing out to sea through the embrasures. Some embrasures we could walk through, between the thick walls to the opening, now closed off by a balcony, and gaze over the sides to the sea far below. The restrooms also contained these openings with the balcony, it was a nice unexpected feature, and made it nice and airy.
Without a tour there was a lot of walking around aimlessly and it would've been nice to get a detailed description of features of the fort, but it was still incredible and you could wander almost anywhere through the web of tunnels and passageways, down to the dungeons, up to the roof top, and around the different levels. You could get a real sense of what it was like to be holed up in this place during seiges. There was also a short video of the history of the fort in one of the old prison rooms and some exhibits displaying time lines and historical narratives. My favourite was an exhibit showing "before and now" photographs of military structures around San Juan that would show whether they were still here, damaged or demolished.
We stopped in the small chapel before heading down the steep, long artillery ramp to the Battery of Santa Barbara (named after the Patron Saint of Artillerymen) on the 2nd level. This was a large opened triangular observation area that looked straight out across the ocean. There was an observation deck at the point and down one side you could see semi-circular ... , evidence of where dozens of cannons used to line it's bank. On the other side we could step out into the confined domed garitas and look through the slits to spy oncoming ships, and if you looked closely you could see El Cañuelo across the bay, another smaller fort that was El Morro's partner in defense, though El Morro was always the star of the show. We wandered around another couple of levels that you could access here, went down to the dark dungeon and then proceeded back up the ramp to the Plaza.
Then we headed through the archway of which the three flags of El Morro fly representing the United States, Puerto Rico and the Cross of Burgundy, the old Spanish military flag which was flown at El Morro from 1516-1785. There was another ramp up to the attractive yet incongruous lighthouse tower, the tallest point of the fort at 180ft (55m) high. The tower stands out from the rest of the sandstone structure of the fort and this is because it was built by the Americans in 1908; the original was damaged during the war. From up here there were more views to be had; back toward San Juan we could see the Maria Magdalena cemetery, the colonial-era cemetery, and the bright colours of La Perla, from here, looking very peaceful. There were also more cannon scars on this level.
The tower wasn't the only redesigning the Americans did. During the World Wars, the US used El Morro as an outpost to detect and control hostile water activities. It became part of Fort Brooke for the US Army, a kind of comical country club really. The green lawn in front of El Morro was replaced with baseball diamonds, a hospital, officers' quarters and clubs, a car park, and even a golf course! (Wikipedia). Luckily, though, commonsense prevailed, and in honour of the Quincentennial in 1992 the esplanade was restored to it's original form so that I, and everyone else, can enjoy it as it should be.
*Don't forget to click on the pictures to enlarge them :)
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