Sailing from Santo Domingo
Trip Start
Apr 18, 2009
1
6
Trip End
May 07, 2009
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Sunday, April 19, 2009
We were so excited when Jeanie and Monroe decided to join us on this trip - so here we are in the Dominican Republic - We had a great flight over on Copa Airlines through Panama - it seemed so quick after our longer flights of late. We arrived about 40 minutes before Jeanie and Monroe - so we were able to share a 'van' to the hotel. I had made the arrangements for the transportation with the hotel and told them we had 4 people and a lot of luggage but the van had one of those natural gas tanks in the back so that cut down on the luggage space and when all was said and done with the driver, the four of us and the 10 pieces of luggage - it was a tight fit and Jeanie and Monroe shared the front seat with the driver.... We have a microbus taking us to the ship....
We rested for about an hour and then headed out to the Colonial Zone of Santo Domingo. Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1990 we were looking forward to seeing some beautiful Colonial Architecture. The Spanish settled here in 1496 - first named La Isabela after Queen Isabella I of Spain by Bartholomew Columbus - brother of Christopher - it was later names Santo Domingo in honor of Saint Dominic. Bartholomew accompanied Christopher on his last voyage to the Americas.
We were able to walk on the grounds of the Cathedral Santa Maria La Menor - the first cathedral to be built in the Americas.
We walked along Calle de las Damas and saw beautifully restored homes - like that of Hernan Cortes. We went into the Panteon Nacional - a former convent - where many members of the Dominican Order are buried.
We headed back to the area around Plaza Colon (Columbus Plaza) where we attempted to have dinner. We sat outside - then it started to rain - so we went inside - but there wasn't enough room for the four of us at a table and the other options were to dine on a bed - and we didn't want to do that - so then it stopped raining and we went back outside - and finally got drinks and dinner - it was great and we were happy to be outside. The temperature was great - very mild with just a little humidity.
We walked around a bit after dinner and then headed back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.
Bon Voyage!!
Comments
Pirates to Vikings?
Lets leave the Pirates out of this.........please!!
Not sure about the comment about cooking and cleaning - I will go with the cooking but you already have someone that does the cleaning - who are you kidding?
Have a safe voyage and we look forward to the blogs and pictures.
MomXX00
Well....
....this IS where the most famous Pirates were from, right?
Swallow the ring if you have to.
Such history...How's the music?
It's great that you have company to share your new adventure! Have you heard any local music? Any steel drums? Do the people there speak English or Spanish?
Marlyn