San Felipe del Morro Puerto Rico
No ex marido tipo de pez? Umm Hell yes!! There's a 500 year history in this World Heritage Site which preserves the history of the forts Spanish soldiers and includes forts San Cristobal, San Filipe del Morro and San Juan de la Cruz known as Canuelo this is also a place where Hollywood has used the site as a set to film movies Amistad, A Perfect Getaway, The Losers, American Idol, Captain Ron, 22 Jump Street and most recently Plane, but plane and simple it's well worth a day with beautiful trails and views and colors of the ocean and the clouds that will make you shine on the inside from the wonder of travel.
Three Decades after a honeymoon from hell that began in San Juan how could I be anything but a "happy camper"
Solo Sojourning Puerto Rico's solo National Park at Sunset
Iconic Castillo San Felipe del Moro has a very long and storied past. A definite don't miss on any trip to San Juan no matter if you're staying one day or kicking off twenty days like I did in 2019. This five hunded year old fortification was built by the Spanish to fend off invaders, and as the gateway to the America's has always been fought over. Nowadays cruise ships sail past the 140 foot high promontory which is the entrance to San Juan Bay, but it wasn't always so easy to gain entrance. Sir Francis Drake fought two battles for the Moro back in 1598; followed by the Dutch in 1625, and as always the British Imperialists tried and failed with 64 warships and 7000 men under the command of General Ralph Abercromby. Makes me want to "Ralph" myself, those Brits always feeling entitled to everything far and wide, But when it Comes to America? If you're British? We don't clown around with Y'all watch some "In Living Color" I think Homie D. Clown said it best in the 1990's "Homie don't play that", but I guess y'all figured that out in 1776. FYI you lost- and if you travel to San Juan? Remember that. It has a very Spanish pride, but it's part of the U.S.A. (yes Puerto Rico is American) even if it lacks statehood and Donald Trump called it a "shit hole"? Well look where the Orange Mussolini is headed now, and respect that PR has Spanish roots with fighters like the "Rough Riders" which included the likes of Theodore Roosevelt himself who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 2001 as the commander of the unit. It was also Theodore Roosevelt who named it a National Monument in 1906 and added it to the register of National Historic Places in 1996 and is now managed to the National Park Service as the singular National Park in all of Puerto Rico. If you don't study history? I assume almost everyone (particularly in the last year) has paid an over abundance of attention to Johnny Depp, and yes "Pirate's of the Caribbean" used El Moro (and Penelope Cruz) for the film and other locations on the island, but being there's Scottish Curry restaurants? I doubt he dropped $50k at any Puerto Rican restaurants. Before it was Depp V Heard? I heard that the two fell in love on the island? Who knows? Factually filming of Hunter Thompson's classic "The Rum Diary" began on the island of Puerto Rico in 2009, which Thompson began writing about in 1959. The movie starred both Heard and Depp. But really? Did neither read the book nor study the author? It's a tangled fictitious 1960's tale of jealousy, treachery and alcoholic violence really written by a violent alcoholic who's infamous for his acts of domestic violence and who violently killed himself on in 2005?! Talk about life imitating art? Getting away from Hollyweird and Puerto Rico? Steven Spielberg's 1997's Amistad, was also shot at El Morro, but is based on real life events of the African slave ship (named Amistad) which occurred in Sierra Leone, but it's Hollywood folks. Costs of filming a slave movie on location in Africa? Don't get me going, but rewatch, or watch for the first time Amistad and you'll recognize that El Moro Citadel is the "stand in" for Sierra Leone. Puerto Rico is always being used as a stand in. The fifth installment of "Fast and The Furious" used Puerto Rico to pose as Brazil, Bad Boys II used Puerto Rico to stand in for Cuba, and Ironically? Captain America Civil War uses Puerto Rico to depict Lagos, Nigeria, the list goes on. My favorite movie shot in Puerto Rico? GoldenEye, and that itself is not at El Morro and I will reserve a whole blog post on Arecibo the locale for GoldenEye, but while you're in Old San Juan? Don't miss the drama of El Moro.
