After some much needed and restorative beach relaxation time, it was time to get out and explore.

One of my favorite things to see on trips, are ancient ruins. While the Caribbean does not have much in the way of remnants of truly old civilizations, many islands have massive fortresses that are remnants of the colonization era. San Juan has one of the best known of these of forts, the Castillo San Felipe del Morro, which was built in the 1500’s and ended up being one of Spain’s last bastions in the Western Hemisphere as their empire crumbled.

We went there on what (unfortunately for us) ended up being the hottest day of our trip. This is important because while there are places inside the fort that offer some shade, there is a LONG approach from the Old San Juan area that is entirely tree-and-building-less. The old city itself doesn’t offer much in the way of shade as the buildings aren’t really high enough to screen you from the sun. More on that later though…

Inside the fort there is no air conditioning in the buildings, and much of the ocean breeze is stopped by the walls of the fort. None of this is remotely a deal breaker, but it’s all something to keep in mind. If you the forecast shows a cooler, or more cloudy day to pick to go there, that’s what I would do. Like arguably the most popular exhibit there were the public fans they had set up that people kept crowding around for some relief.

Anyway, the fort itself is really very cool. There are exhibits documenting the rise and fall of the Spanish Empire, and its replacement in Puerto Rico (and arguably in all of the Western Hemisphere) by the United States. There are old Spanish weapons, including gigantic cannons and mortars, much like we saw on our two Bermuda trips. There are some educational videos and a ton of exhibits that looked interesting, but there’s only so much we could expect from our kids to tolerate.

The complex itself is really quite massive and sprawling. There are also tons of turrets that act as mini balconies/overlooks with really nice views. Dungeon-like interior sections and random cave-like openings were cool too. I kept mentioning to Jacob there might be a balrog hiding underneath the castle, which he thought was pretty funny.

Unfortunately for us, the only real way to get to the bottom section (which included the original 1500’s era fortifications) was a long staircase. Maybe doable with a stroller, but it would have taken a major effort and no one else was really interested enough to do it… especially in the heat. We also wanted to do some exploring in Old San Juan as well and get back to the AirBnB for Ethan’s nap so we were on a bit of a schedule.

We did push our way up the big ramp to the top of fort though. This offered some pretty sweeping views of the ocean and city. Very little shade though, so again something to keep in mind.

After we left, we headed out towards Old San Juan, but our stroller limitation had us turning around pretty quickly as the streets/sidewalks are cobblestone and all on an incline. It was kind of a disappointing turn of events really.

But the fort was really great and worth it even with a stroller. And I managed to find myself a coconut stand and enjoy my favorite tropical island treat.

Our next big excursion was to the Parques De Las Ciencias in Bayamon. This place was a HUGE hit with the kids.

Jacob kept calling it “The Children’s Museum” even though we kept correcting him, because of how fun he thought it was. Try to imagine something sort of like the Liberty Science Center, but mostly outdoors, and in Spanish. To be clear, there are a lot of indoor exhibits, but they’re all spread out across a wide outdoor area. It’s also in the foothills of some mountains, so there are some really interesting rock formations/hills all around you.

There’s also a really fun train ride that takes you from the park entrance to the far end — that’s the way to do it. Take the train to the far end and then work your way back to the entrance (which is also the exit). The kids loved the train so much that we actually did it twice, the second time as a round trip once we were done with the rest of the park. Just be advised that when the train departs (it’s not really a train, it’s on wheels and goes on roads, so more like a tram) it accelerates rather quickly through a tunnel with a lot of colors and lights. It was actually pretty awesome, but it took us a bit by surprise!

For us the main highlights, aside from the train, were the playground and the a very cool exhibit on the ancient history of Puerto Rico and many of the other islands of the Caribbean. There was also a reptile room with some very (almost disturbingly) large snakes and monitor lizards, plus a turtle tank where they let Jacob feed the turtles. They also had one of those large, interactive screen things where Jacob and Ethan could color in the animal or character of their choice and then it would appear on the screen with their name over it.

Maybe a coincidence, but all of these exhibits I just described were air conditioned, whereas a lot of the other exhibits were not. I do think that everything being equal these would have been our favorite parts regardless… on the other hand, the A/C was a very nice benefit!

Something else to consider is that a lot of the exhibits had an additional fee. None of what I just described did though, so you don’t really have to pay to play. But for example, there was an arcade section that had a race car thing, where you drive a real radio-controlled car around a track. The gimmick is that each car has a Go-Pro type camera, and you do it all via video. We didn’t do it because a) it was clear that the cars didn’t work very well, and b) it cost extra.

Finally, there was also a space exhibit that was cool, but it was all in Spanish so we didn’t get as much out of it as we could have. But very randomly, at the end, there was a mockup of a local newsroom with a desk you could sit at and deliver the news. Jacob (and I) really loved this.

Ultimately, we really enjoyed our time here. Somewhat amusingly, this was supposed to be our rainy day activity because there was rain in the forecast. But not only did it not really rain until after we left, I don’t think this would have been a great rainy day activity anyway because of how much of it is outside!

In fact, we chose this day to be our “indoor activity” day, because of the weather forecast. And the day we chose to go to the El Yunque Rainforest, actually ended up being the rainiest day of our entire trip, despite us choosing it because it had the best forecast. But that’s a story for its own blog post I think…

Overall I think both of these places are definitely worth a visit, but Parques De Las Ciencias is a true hidden gem.