Laid Back In República Dominicana

And now for something different! I got a tour for the Dominican Republic, which is just as well because the port of Amber Cove is very much tourist-orientated (read: expensive. and western.) and I've dodged another port-only experience. The tour was mainly historical - first we visited a small town of Luperón for some church time, and then continued to the site of the former colony of  La Isabela - one of the first European settlements in the Americas, established by Christopher Columbus during his second voyage in December of 1493. 

Later on we enjoyed some local food at a wonderfully positioned restaurant Rancho Las Paredes.

In Amber Cove I had the opportunity to laze around a pool and bar, at least thats what some folks were talking about...As I am not into that lifestyle, I just snooped around some souvenir shops trying to find postcards. And there was a nice range of them, and stamps available, so I grabbed quite a few! Alas when I was told one stamp is $2 I had to re-think it...The thing is, I have a list of friends at home I send postcards to, and if I send it to one of them, I have to send to all of them..! So its 'all or nothing' type of situation; decided to send from Barbados, if (hopefully) possible. 

Moving on to Guadeloupe...

And yay, my 1500th post on this blog *jiggle wiggle* :)))

Rural Scene From The Dominican Republic

Rural scenes are always an interesting representative of a country, its a bonus when they also include a donkey :) Thank you Idrialis!

 

UNESCO - Colonial City Of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

After Christopher Columbus's arrival on the island in 1492, Santo Domingo became the site of the first cathedral, hospital, customs house and university in the Americas. This colonial town, founded in 1498, was laid out on a grid pattern that became the model for almost all town planners in the New World.

In the ciudad colonial you can find as follows: ruins of the Hospital de San Nicolas de Bari; Alcazar de Colon (Viceregal residence) and plaza de Espana ; the Catedral Santa Maria la Menor; and a question mark heh. Many thanks to Idrialis for this swap, and lovely stamps :)

 

 

Views Of The Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region (the western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti). Both by area and population, the Dominican Republic is the second largest Caribbean nation, after Cuba.

I have received this colourful postcard a while ago via vacation rr...There is no info on whats on the postcard - I have discovered that the down-right corner shows the beautiful El Limón Waterfall; the view on the left is much more difficult to guess, might be the Los Haitises National Park but i cannot be sure...Both places can be found at the remote northeast coast of the country.

Many thanks to Trupti :))