amjamin

Capitolio de Puerto Rico, the legislative assembly  History. The word most times reminiscent of yellowing pages of books, oft-forgotten expanses of time. In the alleys of San Juan, Puerto Rico, the hands of the clock stand still in a time and era when pace of life was a gingerly trod cobblestone street, and aromas of pungent spices mixed with the subtle breeze of the Atlantic Ocean. San Juan, one of the oldest cities in the continental United States, is tucked away from the bustling Condado district; high-rises, stores, and shops, clubs and shiny, swanky cars transition to an elevation, where the old city appears, the tar of the road giving way to the cobblestone streets. This old city is a mix of 400 years of urban development, which has a confluence of varied eras of Spanish influence - Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque architecture - which encapsulates arches, drones and ornamentation on the facades of the structures. Known as La Ciudad Amurallada (Walled City), San Juan has one ...

The high arches atop the Victorian columns of Scotiabank's King Street Branch lend old character to the façade of the building Imagine climbing a flight of stairs made of marble - the white shiny stone with black inlays. The flight opens up to a grandiose ceiling rising, and you find yourself in a hall surrounded by white marble, which also extends to the columns and countertops. No, this not transcending to romanticised poetry, nor by any figment of imagination is this a dream. This is a bank. Cold, hard currency and financial instruments are the last things that would come to anyone's mind in this early-20th century building - the King Street branch of Scotiabank, to be exact. A grand Victorian structure in downtown Kingston. "Not only does our branch boast a number of beautiful art pieces from a wide cross section of Jamaican artists," said Linley Reynolds, branch manager, King Street. "The building itself is an impressive piece of art and a Kingston...

Panoramic view of English Harbour from Shirley Heights Most potent mixtures come in small packages, it is said, and this could be true for a piece of heritage that is tucked away in Antigua. In Antigua and Barbuda, the visitor is invited to experience the 365 beaches, and, of course, the unofficial cricketing capital of the Caribbean. The drive to Nelson's Dockyard is replete with the scenic beauty of this eastern Caribbean island, just before the break of dawn, the smell of nature - foliage, dewdrops and the skies waking up to welcome the new day. The winding road leads to this sheltered marina, the masts of yachts anchored rising from the distance, Nelson's Dockyard is home to a range of structures, which house a museum, restaurant and a bakery, which is perched up on a hillock, accessed by stone path. Nelson's Dockyard, Antigua - cultural heritage site and marina in English Harbour On the steps of Dockyard Museum, which was the naval officer's and ...

Walls and ruins at Rockfort, coated with cement dust, staved off infiltrators and was the first line of defence. “Isn’t it an attractive idea to get an exciting tour that talks of the French invasion of Jamaica in 1694, the history of Kingston, and you get to fire a cannon?” asked Jonathan Greenland, pointing at the row of cannons lined at Rockfort. Fire a cannon? Just the mention of it is enough to transport you to the 17th century, when, the now-cement-dust-coated, cold stone walls of Rockfort were the front line of defence of Kingston. The cars that sped by on Sir Florizel Glasspole Boulevard faded into a distant obscure frame, the soldiers in rapt attention manning the metal-forged weaponry, looking out at the turquoise blue Caribbean Sea. “Rockfort,” informed Greenland, who is director of the National Museum Jamaica at the Institute of Jamaica, “was developed primarily because of fears of an attack on Kingston and the Liguanea Plain from the East, primarily the invasi...