Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River.

The Mercado Modelo in Santo Domingo sells everything a visitor could ever want. It's an open air public market and souvenirs include wooden masks, carvings and local paintings. Las Atarazanas is the tourist area. The boutiques, galleries, shops and restaurants in the old buildings here are quaint and offer excellent shopping opportunities for local crafts.

Santo Domingo dates back to the 1400's, the street known as Calle de las Damas is said to be the oldest street in the new world and was used by Christopher Columbus himself.

The Alcazar of Columbus, a castle built around 1500 by Columbus' son Diego, now houses a museum with a collection of period furniture, artwork and jewellery.

A few miles east of the city is Los Tres Ojos de Agua cave complex, containing three lagoons, fed by an underground river, stalactites and stalagmites.

Activities such as diving, snorkelling, horseback riding (at Casa de Campo) golf, city tours and fishing are also available.

Beaches are excellent here but permission must first be sought from any hotel to use their beach facilities.

Dominican cuisine is mainly Spanish, Taíno and African. A typical lunch usually consists of rice, meat (such as chicken, beef, pork, or fish), beans, and a side salad. "La Bandera" (meat, red beans and white rice) is the most popular lunch dish. Sancocho is a stew often made with seven varieties of meat.

There are three different areas in the Dominican Republic that ships may call on. Santo Domingo offers two separate cruise ship piers - Don Diego Quay is only a few minutes walk from the Old Town area of Santo Domingo.

Another cruise terminal lies between the village of La Romana and the resort of Casa de Campo (please see entry under 'La Romana' for more information)

There are minimal services at the dock so one must either take a tour or negotiate for a taxi (limited and expensive).

There is also a pier at Puerto Plata's commercial shipping area, which is within easy walking distance of everything in Puerto Plata.