San Cristóbal Castle

Audio Guide Transcript: San Cristobal Castle

Welcome to this Free Audio Guide to San Cristobal Castle. FreeAudioGuides.com delivers the best and most immersive tours of your favorite travel destinations, in a podcast format, always free, with nothing to rent and no app to download. 

My name is Lara and my name is Armando, and we are your local guides. Today, we’re taking you and your family to San Cristobal Castle, on a trip through 500 years of history.

You can do the tour at your own pace, but we estimate that at a normal walking clip it should take you about 40 minutes to get from site to site and enjoy the audio content we’ve prepared for each stop along the tour. 

To navigate your way through this tour, please pick up the very helpful and free map provided by the National Park Service for the San Juan National Historic Site. We’ll be referencing the inset map titled “Castillo San Cristobal”, which has all three levels of the fort clearly labeled, and we’ll play this sound ____ whenever we suggest you pause the podcast to make your way to the next location. We’ve also included a link to the map in the episode description for this tour.

By the way, Park Rangers are super friendly and super knowledgeable, so if you have any questions, reach out to one of them.

Our podcasts are also divided into chapters. Many podcast apps, like Apple Podcasts and Overcast support this feature. Each level of the fort has its own title and chapter, allowing you to quickly browse, skip ahead and navigate directly to different sections of the guide.

Once you’re done with this tour, be sure to check out our other podcast tours, for locations like El Morro Castle and the Puerto Rico Art Museum, and our weekly podcast, Puerto Rico Now, available on this same feed, where we’ll give you locals’ access to everything that’s happening while you’re here visiting the island. Find out about the most exciting parties, festivals, free events, new restaurants and family-friendly gatherings going on right now, this very week, in Puerto Rico.

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Now, let’s get started!

If you’ve just entered the fort, you’re in the Main Plaza. It is the level labeled with the number 1 on your map. Feel free to walk around the plaza as you listen to this first part of the tour.

Puerto Rico had been inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous peoples. At the time of Columbus’s arrival in 1493, during his second voyage to the Americas, the local population, known to history as Taínos, called the island Boriquén, loosely translated as "the lands of the valiant and noble lords”. The modern term for Puerto Ricans, “boricua”, is a derivative of the original, “Boriquén”.

The Spanish monarchs laid claim to the island and in 1508 granted Juan Ponce de León permission to explore and colonize the territory. In the ensuing decades, San Juan’s naturally well-protected bay became of strategic importance to Spanish transatlantic trade. Puerto Rico’s geographic location and access to fresh water made it the first good harbor for ships coming to the Americas from Europe after the months-long voyage. The trade winds, required to propel ships back and forth across the vast Atlantic, would naturally deposit  incoming vessels in its vicinity and sailors would disembark to resupply. 

This made Puerto Rico a hugely important asset in a complex network that defended the merchant fleet and its trade routes, and particularly the transportation to the Old World of gold, silver and gems extracted from Spain’s American colonies. 

The island’s strategic importance made it a constant target for attack by other European powers. If you’ve listened to our podcast tour for El Morro, you’re aware of the English attacks in 1595 and 1598, and the Dutch takeover of the city in 1625. This latter attack finally convinced the Spanish Monarchy of the need to fortify the entire city, leading to the construction of the walls that in their heyday encircled and enclosed all of what we now call Old San Juan.

Further, as the Dutch had managed to capture the city with their ground forces, the Monarchy decided that it needed to build defenses to protect the city not only against a naval attack but also against a land army. Whereas El Morro was built to defend the entrance to the bay, the fort you’re in now, San Cristobal, the largest of all Spanish fortifications in the New World, was built to defend land access to the city. 

The construction of this fort and the city walls began simultaneously in 1634, just a few years after the Dutch attack. San Cristobal would be completed almost 150 years later in 1783 and eventually grew to occupy some 27 acres of land. 

San Cristobal’s construction was a massive undertaking. It was built by artisans, carpenters, blacksmiths and sculptors, and also some pretty unsavory characters from Spanish jails in Cuba and Mexico. Iron is presumed to have been imported from Spain, but much of the rest of the construction materials were sourced locally. Thousands of African slaves mined the stones of this fort from nearby island quarries.

If you’ve been to El Morro, you’ll notice that the architecture in this Main Plaza seems more modern and less rustic. That is because San Cristobal was built later than El Morro. Tastes had changed: the columns and arches in this fort use a neoclassical style, in vogue in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Further, military planners had more resources at their disposal to build out San Cristobal, with the Spanish monarchy intent on holding its American empire. 

Among the problems the fort’s planners had to contend with, was the supply of water for troops garrisoned here during a potentially long siege. Old San Juan does not have a natural source of fresh water, so engineers designed a rainwater collection and storage system consisting of five cisterns located in San Cristobal. If you’re still in the Main Plaza, you’re actually standing over one of these cisterns right now. The two large round structures on the Main Plaza partially enclose the wells providing access to that cistern. In total, San Cristobal could store up to 716,000 gallons of rainwater.

Opposite the wells, on the other side of the plaza, be sure to check out the troop quarters and their not so comfortable sleeping arrangements.

Finally, before we continue, look up toward the three flags over the fort. You probably recognize the Puerto Rican flag and the American flag. Puerto Rico is a United States commonwealth or territory, and hence, The Stars and Stripes fly over public buildings here. The third flag, however, may be unfamiliar to you. It is the Burgundy Cross, the Spanish military flag during most of the colonial era. 

We’ll now be heading into San Cristobal’s tunnels. Look over toward the end of the colonnade opposite the main entrance to the fort. You’ll see three open archways. The first archway, under the colonnade, will lead you to the fort’s tunnel system. We’ll pause here, and when you’re in the tunnel, press play on your podcast app.

Welcome back, feel free to walk through the tunnel system as you listen to this part of the tour. 

These tunnels, a military innovation in their time, allowed discrete troop movements around the fort making it difficult for enemies to anticipate the exact position of the defenders. Similar tunnels could also be countermined, in other words, booby trapped with gunpowder, and made to blow up to trap enemies inside or to destroy parts of the battlefield overhead.

The first entrance on your right as you’re walking into the tunnel will lead you to fort’s dungeon. There are  drawings of ships from the late 18th century on one of the prison’s walls. It is speculated that they could have been drawn by a Spanish captain held at the fort for mutiny prior to his execution. 

This prison’s most infamous occupant was the Spanish friar, Pablo de San Benito. The 35 year-old priest had fallen in love and become obsessed with 18 year-old María Luisa de Tassara. As they exited church after mass in a small town in the province of Cádiz in Spain, Pablo approached María Luisa and her mother. The older woman informed the cleric, in no uncertain terms, that he was no longer welcome in their home. Unexpectedly, the priest drew a knife and stabbed the young María Luisa five times, killing her on the steps of the church. 

Ordinarily, the sentence for such a crime would have been death, but the Spanish King, in view of his position as a member of a Catholic religious order, spared Pablo's life and instead sent him to Puerto Rico to serve out a life sentence in San Cristobal’s dungeon. He spent 20 years in chains, losing a leg due to gangrene caused by the rusty shackles. He left this fort in 1797, on the occasion of the British attack on San Juan, but only to be transferred to the prison in El Morro, as authorities made room at San Cristobal for possible prisoners of war. He died in 1801 and was buried in San Francisco Church in Old San Juan with clergyman’s honors as, by that time, no one in Puerto Rico could remember why he’d been imprisoned in the first place. 

Let’s take another break here. If you’re in the tunnel, you’ll have to make a U-turn to exit; the tunnel itself is a dead end. Once outside, head up to the second level via the second archway adjacent to the entrance to the tunnel system. Once you arrive on that level, keep walking straight with the seaside on your left. You’ll eventually get to a sentry box. Once you’re there, press play on your podcast app.

Welcome back. The sentry box, or “garita” in Spanish, on this level of the fort is typical of similar structures throughout San Juan’s defenses. Soldiers would be posted here to look for enemy ships or soldiers. 

One sentry box in particular, however, is known to every single Puerto Rican as “la garita del diablo” or the devil’s sentry box. It is here in San Cristobal Castle but, sadly, inaccessible. To see it, look below the fort’s walls from the small corridor leading to the sentry box on this level. You should see a triangular bastion jutting out into the ocean, and atop it, la garita del diablo.

Local legend has it that this particular post was so isolated from the rest of the fort, that soldiers dreaded being sent there on duty. One night, a soldier by the name of Sánchez, disappeared, leaving behind only his uniform and his weapon, never to be heard from again. The sentry box would have its cursed name from then until the present.

Let’s pause here. Press play when you’re ready to move to the next stop on our tour. 

Welcome back. Start walking in the direction of the ramp that led you up to this level. On your right, you should see an entrance. From here you should also be able to see a more modern observation post, on the upper level of the fort, with a smooth curved surface and two large slits. Clearly, this isn’t colonial Spanish architecture. In fact, it was built into the fort during World War II. From here, American soldiers would watch for German submarines and other warships. If you’d like to see this type of observation post from the inside, go into the entrance on your right and imagine yourself, a twentieth century soldier in a  seventeenth century fort looking out for modern naval vessels. 

Let’s pause here so you can explore this observation post. Press play when you’re ready to move to the next stop on our tour.

Welcome back. Now, head toward one of the embrasures, or openings, in the fort’s east wall looking out toward Puerto Rico’s Capitol building. We’ll end our tour here with an explanation of the fort’s defensive capabilities and with an exciting audio recreation of the 1797 English attack on San Juan. 

San Cristobal was designed to be the final layer in a military strategy known as “defense-in-depth”. Instead of having a single front line, which if breached  would expose the city to invading ground forces, Spanish planners in the eighteenth century built successive layers of defensive fortifications starting at the bridge, which you likely crossed to get here and that connects Old San Juan to the rest of Puerto Rico. An attacker that successfully breached the forward defenses would still face line after line of smaller fortifications manned by veteran soldiers, leading up to the impressive final line of defense: San Cristobal Castle.

To visualize this system of defense, look out from here east toward Puerto Rico’s Capitol Building. Up until the late nineteenth century, none of those buildings would have been there and the land between the fort and where the Caribe Hilton would eventually be built, was a vast battlefield. It was similar in appearance to the huge grassy esplanade in front of El Morro, only much larger and fortified with successive lines of earthworks, artillery batteries and other defensive structures.

To give you an idea of how massive and important this entire defensive strategy was to Spain and the city, consider that on the small island where Old San Juan sits, 250 acres of land were dedicated to military installations, while just 62 acres were for public and private civilian structures, and even these were heavily regulated with, for example, a restriction on the height of buildings for defensive purposes.

This comprehensive defense plan would be put to the test in 1797 with the third and largest British attack on San Juan.

Throughout the 18th century, British interest in occupying Puerto Rico grew. Its strategic position in the Caribbean was a sought after asset. The island had also gone from repelling foreign pirates and privateers to becoming the home-base for Spain’s own corsairs. Known as the “guardacostas”, or “coast guard”, these seafarers were tasked with the protection of the island and often also attacked and looted enemy countries’ ships, at times with the tacit toleration of Spanish authorities and at other times with their express blessing. England’s growing commercial interests in the Americas were threatened by these activities. 

In that context and in the wider scope of European geopolitics, Spain declared war on England in October of 1796. This conflict would come to be known as the Anglo-Spanish War, which lasted twelve years, and was one of the Coalition Wars waged by various European military alliances against Revolutionary and, eventually, Napoleonic France. 

Seizing the pretext of war, Great Britain would attempt to grow its American colonial holdings. To this end, a fleet of 68 ships led by Admiral Henry Harvey was dispatched along with General Ralph Abercromby at the head of the expedition’s ground forces. In total, the British armada carried upwards of 7,000 men. Their first attack in the Caribbean, against Spanish-held Trinidad, was wildly successful, with the Spanish surrendering to the British in a matter of just days. 

Believing that Puerto Rico would be as easy a target, the English headed for the island and were first sighted on April 17, 1797. The next day, Abercromby disembarked 3,000 troops on present-day Isla Verde Beach. Planning to attack San Juan by land, he marched his men to the area where the San Antonio bridge connects Old San Juan to the rest of Puerto Rico. This was, of course, the very first line in the defense-in-depth design of Spanish military planners. 

In order to take San Juan, they would first have to silence the powerful cannons of the small San Jerónimo fort, which still stands to this day next to the Caribe Hilton, and the troops stationed at the San Antonio bridge which was itself a fortified crossing. 

From the 21st to the 28th of April, British and Spanish cannons faced off across the short distance of water that separated the two enemies. With many thousands of Puerto Ricans mobilized to protect their homeland alongside Spanish troops, and heavy cannon fire from the excellent defensive positions of the two small forts and even from as far afield as San Cristobal, the British lines were destroyed. 

Abercromby, using the English name for San Cristobal Castle, Saint Christopher, reported on the attack in a letter to Great Britain’s War Secretary:

“The only point on which we could attack the town was on the eastern side, where it is defended by the castle and lines of St. Christopher, to approach which it was necessary to force our way over the lagoon which forms this side of the island. This passage was strongly defended by two forts and gunboats, and the enemy had destroyed the bridge which connects the island with the mainland. After every effort on our part, we never could sufficiently silence the fire of the enemy.”

A final Spanish counterattack on the 29th and the 30th convinced Abercromby to pull back his troops, and by the first of May, the English had sailed off. 

All told, 225 English soldiers died in the attack while some 42 Spanish and Puerto Rican soldiers perished in the defense of San Juan. 

While this fort played a smaller tactical role in the defense of the city, firing its cannons at an enemy that was 2 miles away, its strategic importance is unquestioned. San Cristobal, along with, El Morro, the city walls, and the defense-in-depth strategy, had proven to be an effective deterrent and had forced the English to attack along what Spain correctly believed would be its strongest line of defense. 

General Abercromby himself  recognized this fact:

“The intelligence which we received in England with regard to this island was scanty and the information which we got has proved erroneous. The enemy was in a state of preparation and ready to receive us. San Juan is both by nature and art very strong, and even the worst troops would stand behind such a defense.”

More so than the valiant military success of San Juan’s defenders, the lasting legacy of this attack would be the unity of purpose that Puerto Ricans from all over the island demonstrated to protect their home. It was a defining moment in the consolidation of a Puerto Rican national identity. 

After 1797, the great forts and their guns would be idle for over 100 years. San Juan’s military import would wane in the coming decades and, toward the end of the nineteenth century, just prior to the Spanish-American War, a section of the walls was torn down to make room for the expansion of the city. 

The peace was broken as dawn approached on the twelfth of May 1898.  A month earlier, the United States had declared war on Spain, and now an American fleet was bombing the old city. In just seven minutes, San Cristobal’s cannons were the first to respond. The outcome of this conflict, however, would be different, and the US would take Puerto Rico as part of the post-war settlement with Spain. 

We hope you’ve loved this audio guide as much as we loved putting it together for you. 

Before you head out, be sure to check out the third level of the fort on your own for the most amazing three-sixty views of Old San Juan and the harbor. 

And remember there’s more content on this same podcast feed: more audio guides are up now, including one for El Morro and the Puerto Rico Art Museum, and we’re putting new guides up all the time. There’s also Puerto Rico Now, updated every week, with insider tips to what you might be interested in doing while you’re here visiting. Finally, please remember to leave us a review and subscribe to the show on your podcast app of choice or, if you’d like, you can leave your friendly guides a tip at puertorico.freeaudioguides.com. 

Until our next adventure together, enjoy your visit to Puerto Rico!

Sources and further reading

History of Puerto Rico: A Panorama of its People

Viejo San Juan: Historia Militar

The Forts of Old San Juan: Official National Park Handbook

El Lago de Piedra

Puerto Rico Then and Now

Special Resource Study: Fort San Gerónimo

Biblioteca Histórica de Puerto Rico

The Fortifications of San Juan National Historic Site

Leyendas Puertorriqueñas de Coll y Toste

Las Garitas de San Juan

El crimen que sacudió el sistema judicial de la monarquía española

El crimen que sacudió el sistema judicial de la monarquía española, segunda parte

The Eighteenth Century Caribbean and the British Attack on Puerto Rico in 1797

Map of the English Attack on San Juan in 1797

Print of the English Siege of San Juan in 1797