Santo DomingoMar 25, 2008
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Fort
Priest at the Cathedral
| We've spent the last 2 days in Santo Domingo at a lovely hotel called Hotel Atarazana (www.hotel-atarazna.com) run by a friendly German lady named Susanne. We've been exploring the City and getting in our obligatory cultural and historical sights before we head out for adventure and the beach. We started the day with a trip to Los Tres Ojos (the 3 eyes) which are a series of caves containing water filled limestone sinkholes. Then we checked out a museum called Museo Alcazar de Colon which was originally used by Diego Columbus, Christopher Columbus' son. The house is from the 1500s and is filled with items from Columbus and his family. We also went to the Larimar Museum. Larimar is a semiprecious blue mineral used in jewellery and can only be found in the Dominican Republic. We also went to the Cathedral (Catedral Primada de America) that was started in 1540. A church service had just started and we sat in and listened to the amazing choir for a few minutes. I'm always amazing at how elaborate the churches are in the latin countries I've visited. We also checked out Fortaleza Ozama which is a fort built in 1502 at the mouth of the Ozama River to defend the city from attackers. You can still see the some of the ancient cannons aimed at the water below. Its been much different travelling with my husband. Usually I'm travelling with a girlfriend and we shop for girly things like jewellery. Today we spent quite a bit of time shopping for cigars. Yesterday we tracked down the local fire hall so he could check out their set up. We were there for about an hour and saw every nook and cranny of the hall. The driver of the fire truck gave us the grand tour which even included a private barber shop for the firefighters. Tomorrow we'll be catching a bus to the small town of Barahona. We hope to visit a couple of national parks, but we've heard the tour boat has been broken down for a long time at one of the parks and likely isn't fixed yet. We shall see. |
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