Puerto Rico
Read MoreMuseo Antiguo Parque de Bombas: This photogenic Arabesque structure, on the east side of Plaza Las Delicias, served as the city's fire station for over a century. Now a museum, it hosts an antique fire truck and 19th century hand-pulled water tanks. Other exhibits poignantly recall a fire in the US Army's artillery store in 1899 that threatened to destroy Ponce; the fire-fighters disobeyed orders to retreat and saved the city. Open 9am to 5:30 pm. 787-284-3388.
Catedral de Nuestra Senora de la Guadalupe: This grand cathedral in the center of Ponce, with its striking, twin-spired Neo-Classical facade, was designed by architects Francisco Porrata Doria and Francisco Gardon in the 1930s and built on the site of a building that was destroyed in the 1918 earthquake. Rising over Plaza Las Delicias, the white and duck-egg-blue church honors the city's patron saint, the Virgin of Guadalupe. The interior boasts stained glass windows, a grandiose alabaster altar, and a huge pipe organ installed in 1934. Open 6am to 1:30 pm Mon-Fri, and 6am to noon and 3pm to 8:30 pm Sat-Sun.
La Puerta de San Juan: Durante los siglos XVII y XIX la Puerta de San Juan era la entrada simbolica a la cuidad. Despues de desembarear en el muelle abajo, los visitantes procedian por la puerta hasta la Catedral donde daban gracias por el viaje sin contratiempos. Los abastocimientos y materiales entraban por la Puerta de San Justo.