Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

March 16, 2022

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Sat. & Sun., March 12, 13

We’re celebrating! Two days including an overnight in one port is a rare occurrence. No need to hurry aboard before the ship disembarks, and this usually allows small groups of our multi-national crew to have a few hours off the ship. We’re always happy for them as they’ve been ship-bound for health purposes for months.

Often, an overnight in port allows us passengers a chance to be on and off the ship more at our leisure, with the choice of using the local bars or restaurants as a change of pace from cruise fare—which is really delicious! An added bonus is that our ship is docked across the street from the historical district, walking distance from the two original buildings from the 16th Century: palace built by Diego Columbus—now a museum and the oldest Catholic Cathedral in the Caribbean. Also close by was the longest pedestrian mall I’ve seen. All of this, except for the trussed-up tourist sites, there was little lure to meander to explore.

We learned that Santo Domingo is the oldest city in the Americas, is the first city on the island built using stone, was established by the brother of Christopher Columbus—although Christopher himself did land here on his second of 4 journeys to the area, because it is the oldest city in the Americas it has a whole bunch of other firsts associated with it.

Columbus' crest given to him by the King of Spain

Our tour took us to major sites. First was the lighthouse that is NOT what we think of as a tall, cylindrical building next to a cliff and rough water. This modern 1990 building is a tribute to Christopher Columbus whose bones are supposedly (DNA tests have shown that the actual remains of Columbus are in Seville, Spain) buried under the 300-piece mausoleum that was sent from Spain and blessed by Pope John Paul II (and whose “Pope Mobile” is reverently parked outside). The remains from the crypt are displayed once a year on Columbus Day. The building is formed as a Latin Cross and the neon “light” which shone up from top no longer is lit. Embedded in the cement are the coat of arms for the Columbus family.

Columbus Mausoleum

Next stop was directly across from the ship (where we had boarded the bus for the start of our tour) the palace/castle of Diego, son of Christopher, where he married a Spanish noblewoman and raised 7 children. Maria, his wife was so wealthy that she came from Spain with 30 women to wait on her. Photos show bedrooms with mahogany beds and benches, the kitchen, staterooms, courtyard, and lots of period pieces: a glass case with period jewelry boxes made of gold and mahogany, a nativity, an 18^th Cent. harp, a sugar cane press, a pharmacy with painted herbs on each drawer because the servants couldn’t read, a sundial from 1753, a people-carrier that was the first ambulance, etc.

These folk are proud of their direct connection with Christopher Columbus and his legacy. A stark contrast to conversations I’ve heard in the USA that want to erase some of the reverence because the early explorers wiped out entire populations of indigents via disease. And then there’s the embarrassment of slavery. See Jen’s Writings for more on this tough topic.

Our final site was St. Mary of the Incarnation Cathedral. This humungous building was being dressed up for a wedding. I’ve never seen so many flowers and wreaths! The structure dates to 1502 (!) and was one of the first churches in the islands to be constructed with square corners.

We had a unique end to the tour. The guide gave us an hour to look along the shopping district street which went for blocks. I asked what we would see if we returned to the meeting point and was told we would continue to the Presidential Palace. We spent our hour and returned to meet up with our tour. We walked back through the old city to the river road across from where our boat was docked. The bus pulled up into a small loading area, a policeman stopped traffic so the bus could do a left hand turn across traffic, and the bus pulled up to the boat and dropped us off after a fifteen second bus ride. Huh.

We chose to stay on the ship on day two in Santo Domingo, so now we are off to Jamaica.