Un viaje a Santo Domingo, la capital de la Republica Dominicana

(A trip to Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic)

Deciembre, 2005

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Not knowing how long we might be in the Dominican Republic, we took a long one day tour from Luperon to Santo Domingo, the country's capital.  This involved about a three or four hour bus ride the length (north to south) of the country.  Santo Domingo is a gorgeous city on the southern coast of the DR, on the Caribbean sea.  So, during our trip we drove from the Atlantic coast to the Caribbean coast.  We passed through tunnels and over mountains along the one major north-south highway.  We saw pigs being roasted on spits on the side of the road in the morning, which at lunch time and in the afternoon are sold at stands marked "lecheron" ("suckling pig").  We saw banana plantations, cows and horses grazing.  We passed through a major industrial city of the country, Santiago.

Santo Domingo is proud of its history, marked by the Spanish conquest via Christopher Columbus.  Here is the Columbus monument in Santo Domingo which also offers a beautiful view.

We toured the oldest church in the New World, from the 16th century.  It is still a working church but is open for tours during certain daytime hours.

  Although apparently I didn't take any pictures of it, we also toured the home of the son of Christopher Columbus which is filled with accurate replicas of the furniture and household goods they used.  We also saw a series of freshwater, underground pools in the middle of the city.

In the next couple of pictures, you see a Dominican soldier standing guard at one of the government buildings.  He will stand motionless, like the Royal Guard in London, for a shift of two hours.

We really loved Santo Domingo.  It is a gorgeous city with beautiful, ancient architecture and fancy shops and hotels right on the Caribbean Sea.  The main thing we learned from our whirlwind one day tour was that we would love to go to Santo Domingo for a longer visit and wander the streets for a few days.