Thread by @USAS_WW1

#PuertoRico #Castles #travelphotography #SanJuan: Castillo San Felipe del Morro / El Morro astonishes. It is a massive triangular fortress draped guarding the harbor. It may be the second largest fortress in the entire New World, second only to nearby Castillo San Cristobal. 1/

2/ #UNESCO El Morro five tiers of wedding cake #ramparts must soar up to 100 feet above the #ocean. The Spanish started construction in 1539. To enter, one crosses a splendid multi-acre lawn on the landward approach they deliberately cleared of all obstacles.

3/ El Morro's original pierced windowless guard towers are named "garitas". (I use "margarita" as a mnemonic...). We also saw many 3' long iguanas: one on the giant exterior lawn and at least 10 more in the dry moat. They love eating the weeds/clovers.

4/ #travel #SanJuan #PuertoRicoStatusAct🇵🇷: We approach and then enter💳. El Morro has the world's most engaging men's room🚽. Look at the ocean🌊 view from the end! The courtyard has many rooms including museum rooms (next post) and more. + @YounesAouad

@YounesAouad 5/ #SanJuan: The beautiful golden wall courtyard was El Morro's central node between fortified roof parapets to residential quarters to the ramps to the lower floors. Each arch leads to one or more rooms. Two ramps lead up to the terrace, and a huge one goes down.

@YounesAouad 6/ Let's go up! The crenelated parapet delights. It's vast with splendid panoramas over the fortress's three sides: Atlantic Ocean, the mile-wide bar channel, and the neck of land that connects the fortress to the rest of old San Juan. The brick square tower was a lighthouse.

7 /#SanJuan #PuertoRico: Castillo San Felipe del Morro's panoramic views from atop the ramparts are staggering, epic, unbelievable. I've never seen anything like them. Your words might be different. But they'll all be correct. :) Hay, que bonito!

8/ El Morro's levels are mostly connected by ramps as they're easier than steps to move cannons. At bottom right was another ramp down to the original forward tower that was later completely engulfed by later fortifications. The walls were up to 40' thick.

9/ #artillery El Morro's prow still shows traces of where late-19th century artillery replaced older wheeled cannons. The new ones pivoted via rollers across the semi-circular metal tracks. You can also walk around by the ocean outside El Morro.

10/ #cannons Castillo #SanFelipe del Morro / #ElMorro has a nice collection of old cannons from the days when power was measured in pounds (e.g. 6-pounder, the weight of the cannonball). ↗️ shows the later artillery that rolled on the arcs mentioned in 9/.