FTV Sightseeing in Old San Juan

Old San Juan is a favorite sightseeing spot for the MMA Cadets and Crew, this old historic city offers beautiful views architecture, restaurants, art, museums, shopping, history, sculptures, people-watching, music, and dance. Walking around Old San Juan is the best way to go so that you don’t miss out on anything.

Thanks to conservation efforts, this beautiful old city remains largely as it did 300 to 400 years ago with about 400 restored 16th- and 17th-century Spanish colonial buildings. The city of San Juan was founded in 1521 with a massive wall and forts built around the city to protect the transportation of gold, silver and jewels, on its route from America to Spain. These walls and fortifications are part of the heritage left by Spain to Puerto Rico. Today the cobblestone streets, interior patios, hanging balconies, plazas, and chapels make of this historic city a fun and interesting place to visit.

On a walk through Old San Juan you can see the colonial architecture of hanging balconies and cobblestone streets make you feel like you have gone back in time.

Plaza de Armas fountain in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. 19th century sculptures; sculptor(s) unknown

La Muralla De San Juan, is the mass City Wall.  The construction of this 42-foot-high wall that surrounded the city began in the 1630s. It is made of solid sandstone blocks and held together with mortar, limestone, sand and water.

At the end of the road El Morro Castillo San Felipe del Morro, (El Morro) overlooks the entrance to the San Juan Bay. It is the result of the efforts of Spanish engineers over a period of more than 250 years and is one of the largest fortifications built by the Spain in the Caribbean. Although its foundation was laid in 1539, the six-level fortification was not considered complete until 1787. During World War II, the U.S. government added an artillery fire control station. El Morro suffered several attacks from the English in 1595 and 1598 and the Dutch in 1625. In 1898, during the Spanish-American War, United States Navy ships fired upon the fortification, destroying the lighthouse, which was later restored. 

 Fishing Pier, Old San Juan Harbor

A Civil Engineers work on planning, designing, and overseeing construction and maintenance of building structures, and facilities, such as roads, railroads, airports, bridges, harbors, channels, dams, irrigation projects, pipelines, power plants, and water and sewage systems.

Watch this Video about Civil Engineers 

Building Big Structures Webquest

Try this game about engineering a windmill

Here are some activities for structures you can design and build

Learn about basic structures, how to reinforce, materials selection by working as a team, and designing and building a prototype structure to hold increasingly greater weights.

Work in groups of 3-4 to design and build the tallest freestanding tower using teamwork and simple materials