The Fortress of the Immaculate Conception: Nicaragua's Sentinel on the San Juan River
The Fortress of the Immaculate Conception, built by the Spanish between 1673 and 1675 in El Castillo village on a bend of the San Juan River, is one of Nicaragua's most important colonial landmarks. It gained fame through Rafaela Herrera's heroic 1762 defense against a British attack and witnessed Horatio Nelson's 1780 campaign. Now a museum within the Indio-Maíz Biosphere Reserve, it mixes military history, colonial architecture, and rainforest, accessible by boat along the historic river route used by pirates, colonists, and British navies.