FORTALEZA SAN FERNANDO DE OMOA

A small museum recounts the history of the fortress (in Spanish only). The village of Oma was an important port in the Spanish conquest (the main Atlantic coast), coveted by the pirates, the Miskito and the British. At the th century, a fortress was finally thought to be built to preserve its looting. Ironically: when it was completed in 1773, after many troubles (construction problems, engineer changes, unbearable tropical climate), the privateers launched no more assaults. The British seized it in 1779, and then Spanish royalist resumed it before it fell into the hands of Guatemalan soldiers. After Honduras'independence, it was converted to prison before being abandoned. Today is an impressive testimony to the military colonial past of Honduras. Unhappy restorations sometimes ugly it and there is little to see apart from the general architecture, but the excursion is not unpleasant: tropical environment and mountains in background form a picturesque landscape.