Sunday, March 14, 2010

Vieux San Juan

Puerto Rico was a fascinating territory to explore. I know several folks from Puerto Rico and have always been impressed with their sense of pride for their country. There is a ton of natural beauty in Puerto Rico- particularly as you move outside of San Juan. On the other hand, there is also a lot of poverty in the country.




One of my favorite parts was touring Old San Juan. While discovered in the mid 1400s, the city was first "settled" by the Spanish in the early 1500s. Old San Juan has maintained much of the colonial Spanish Architecture.










This is the city wall built around Old San Juan. Love the contrast of the wall and the newer bank building.

Can't show old San Juan and miss the San Jose church, which hopefully will be undergoing renovation. I LOVE the lines of this building... and see the quatrafoil!





More quatrafoil.. and fantastic arches.





And look at the beautiful mosaic and intricate detailing here.



Can a doorway get any better than this?




And this is the view through the doorway. I love the plaster walls, dark wood bannister, tiled stairwell. Gorgeous.




And THESE are shutters.



Love the varied bright colors and all the balconies.








My dream house includes a bedroom with a balcony like this-- love the idea of opening the doors and having sheer drapes billowing about.






And just beyond these beautiful buildings is the sea...




Hope you enjoyed the mini-tour. Have a great week!

Emmie



9 comments:

  1. The facade of the church really does it for me.

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  2. My grandmother has a house off the coast of PR and we try to make it there as much as we can. It is such a fun place with a lot of history and cool architecture!

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  3. Such a beautiful place! All the colors, and that sunshine- oh I would LOVE to see some sunshine right about now.

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  4. Great pictures, Emmie -- you did a great job of capturing the spirit of PR. I particularly love the Juliette balconies -- so romantic!

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  5. Emmie, great pictures. fantastic inspiration. beautiful architectural details, those tiles, the balconies, colours... gorgeous. i'm sure you had fantastci time. thak you for sharing with all of us.

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  6. I love all of the intricate architectural details found in these images. Just stunning!

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  7. Simply beautiful images! I love San Juan and these pictures make me wish I had an opportunity to go back! Envious of your trip! It looks like it was fantastic! Marija

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