blog like you mean it: Back to the cruise...next stop Puerto Rico

Our third port of call during our Caribbean cruise had us stopping in Puerto Rico.

I think out of all the ports this one was my favorite and it had nothing to do with the free drinks they were serving at the Bacardi Rum Plant we took a tour of. I enjoyed everything about this stop. Our tour driver, who was hysterical. The bus tour he took us on through Old San Juan because we had some time to kill before the plant opened.

Here is a picture of the boat docked in Puerto Rico. I took pictures of the boat in all of the ports but this one was the best. Our home away from home for eight days. Wasn't she a beauty?

Okay the next set of pics are from our tour of Old San Juan. I swear you could feel the city pulsing with history as we made our way through it. It was absolutely breath-taking.

This is a picture of their capitol. The building was very old and built with stone brought over from Spain.

Here was another view of the Capitol. I loved how majestic it sat.

This was the Fort San Felipe Del Morro. We also got to see this even better as we were leaving the port. It was more amazing from the water.

Here was a picture I took as we were driving on the bus. How awesome.

Of course we were on the party tour bus. Our tour was scheduled to start at 9:00 AM. We had to be on the dock by 8:45. We made it with time to spare and once everyone was on board one of the guys ask our tour guide when we got our drinks.

Unfortunately we didn't get them until we got to the Bacardi Plant, but once we arrived the bar was open. I guess they figure it's five o'clock somewhere, right?
We were only allowed to take pictures in certain areas. So here is a shot from the outside.

And here were some of the fresco that were done on the inside in the reception area. It was very interesting and quite informative.

But I think my favorite were the statues of the bats. The bat that adorns every Bacardi bottle.

They were so interesting and there were plenty of them. The story goes that when Bacardi was first founded the gentleman behind the brand wanted something that would always be associated with Bacardi. His wife suggested the bat since they lived in the rafters of the barn he started distilling in. And the brand was born.