Discover Santo Domingo
A great place to begin your explorations is the nation's capital, Santo Domingo, an enchanting city uniting modern sophistication, old world charm, and Latin charisma. This throbbing metropolis seduces you with superb dining, vibrant night life, and fashionable shopping. It is the first European city in the Western Hemisphere, and a large part of its rich colonial heritage is preserved in a unique enclave beside the Ozama River called the "Colonial City."
It's an extraordinary city-scape of sixteenth century dwellings, imposing late medieval palaces and fortresses, set amidst a refreshingly non-geometric street-grid.
Santo Domingo can boast the Western Hemisphere's first cathedral, its first monastery, its first hospital, its first university, and its first court of law. Recognizing Santo Domingo as the cradle of European civilization in the New World, UNESCO has declared the Colonial City a world heritage site.
The cobblestone streets and centuries-old façades of the Colonial City house scores of picturesque cafés and bars, small hotels and well established restaurants. In the expansive plaza framed by the Palace of Columbus, the Casas Reales Museum and the quaint 17th century sundial, the sidewalk cafés come alive after dusk as an intimate, informal rendezvous for locals and visitors alike.
Seated there, as daylight fades, and the darkened sky fills with stars, you can watch the monumental Columbus Lighthouse as it "turns on." This vast mausoleum on the Eastern shore of the Ozama River,- which houses the mortal remains of the Great Discoverer and is well worth a visit, beams a towering light in the form of a cross into the night sky.
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