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The full name of the Rio San Juan's historic fort is La Fortaleza de la Limpia y Inmaculada Concepcion, though everyone refers to it as El Castillo . Lying on a hillock perched beside a narrow stretch of the Rio San Juan, the Castillo was built by the Spanish as a bulwark against the pirates who continually sacked Granada in the seventeenth century. The fort was more or less effective for over a hundred years, until the British finally took it in 1780, after which it was abandoned for nearly two centuries. The Nicaraguan Ministry of Tourism, with the help of funds from various overseas governments, has renovated and restored the low stone structure with an iron door and an access ramp, and has had several floors re-tiled. There's a library inside the walls with over a thousand books on the history of the castle and the Rio San Juan area, plus a small museum (9am-5.30pm; US$1) with dusty armaments of the period and a few random artefacts found during the restoration of the castle. Four boats a day leave San Carlos for El Castillo, a journey of about two and a half hours; the last returns at 2.30pm. You can rent a panga (motorized dugout boat) in San Carlos for about US$160 and holding up to eight people. Ask around at the docks and compare prices. The trip to and from the Castillo can be completed in a day, but if you want to hang around, the small village offers a few places to stay . The smart Albergue El Castillo (US$15-25) offers simple but comfortable rooms with fans in a well constructed cabin-style hotel with good river views. Of the budget options, the best is the Hotel Richardson (US$5-10), signposted from the dock, which has nice clean singles and doubles with private bath. Alojamiento Aurora (up to US$5) and Alojamiento Manantial (up to US$5), both on the left side of the dock, are both very basic, family-run concerns with small rooms and shared bath. Places to eat are restricted to the acceptable Bar y Restaurante Cafetin , built over the river next to the dock, and a small unmarked soda on the opposite side of the street.
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