Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

We left the boat at the anchorage in Luperon under the care of some fellow boaters and ventured off to Santo Domingo. Santo Domingo is the oldest city in the New World (Western Hemisphere). Christopher Columbus landed in the Dominican Republic on his first voyage to the new world and thought it was so beautiful, he was involved with the formation of this first city. His son Diego Colon moved here and brought his wife as well as many of her personal friends from Spain. We stayed right in the Colonial Zone at a lovely B&B and spent time exploring the city. Included in this first city was the first cathedral, first university, first hospital and many more firsts. This group shot was taken in front of the palace of Diego de Colon (son of Columbus). This next photo is of the San Franciscan Monestary. The monument that the girls are standing in front of is the Faro de Colon. This was built in celerbration of the 500th anniversary of Columbus´s first voyage here in 1492. His ashes are entombed inside. We also toured a very interesting series of sinkholes and caves called the ¨Three Eyes¨and walked through the beautiful cathedral and around the town.
This fun picture is of the girls feeding the pigeons in the square adjacent to the cathedral.