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San Juan, Puerto Rico, Calle del
Cristo, in the historic center of the old colonial city. Since 1700, a building
now restored, is the Casa del Libro. Between dusty incunabula, collections of
ancient books and collections of rare manuscripts stands an exception: an
autograph manuscript of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, the King
Catholic patron of Christopher Columbus. Were married in 1469 unified the two
main Spanish monarchy, the Kingdom of Castile and Aragon, turning Spain into a
single nation state. Then, in 1492, with the capture of Granada, Ferdinand
completes the conquest of the last areas still held by the Arabs. That same
year, Isabella sends Columbus discovering the new world that changed the fate of
the horses' West. Columbus discovered Puerto Rico in 1493 and named San Juan
because it was the day of St. John. Today, San Juan, Puerto Rico, after four
centuries of Spanish culture and a century of U.S. culture is a lively modern
city with a large shopping mall and a pretty colonial town. Who comes to live is
unlikely to leave: to enjoy both the culture and beauty of a historic city, the
amenities, shops of an American organization, all just minutes from the beaches
of the Caribbean, it is not a trivial matter. If you then add the fishing in
high seas in the channel of Mona, show off the reef diving and hiking in the
rainforest to the mountains of El Yunque, where the Tainos believed he lived the
God of happiness, the effect can be more than intriguing.
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