An Afternoon Spent in Zona Colonial, Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo is a vibrant city and one of the main attractions for visitors is Zona Colonial. A place that you could visit multiple times for multiple experiences.
I was reading the other day that Santo Domingo is one of the most travelled destinations in Dominican Republic for tourist. The capital city doesn't offer the beaches as some may expect, instead there's so much more that can be explored that the beach can wait. Before deciding to live in the DR, I once traveled to the Island before. I took a flight to the capital city, Santo Domingo, and this was not just any city, this is the first and oldest city in all the Americas. To be honest, at that time I didn't even know how historical the city was, but that changed as I got to Zona Colonial. Nothing from the modern airport, to seeing popular American fast-food chains, passing by the beautiful houses, watching over the skyline of the nice older style apartments blended in with modern high-rise condos that would have one think that this city has some of the oldest anything. My lesson began once entering Zona Colonial.
As I mentioned in the previous article “Dominican Living under $1000” we don't live in Santo Domingo. So, when we go there, productively we like to make the best of it. Santo Domingo has everything that Dominican Republic as a country has to offer, whatever you need is there. From mailing, shipping, embassies, government offices etc..... Santo Domingo is the business capital of the Dominican Republic. Awhile back I needed to send out some documents and it had to be stamped by the office only located in Santo Domingo. So, we borrowed a car, put some gas in and headed to the capital city. The scenery driving anywhere on this beautiful island is always special, so you're constantly in awe. Some few hours later we arrive to our destination, Santo Domingo. Instantly you can feel the energy of this city, the people are more live, and everything is moving faster. There’s much more restaurants, stores, plazas, malls, banks, US brands, and high-rise condos here. Some really nice houses (mansions), some luxury cars, busier roads, more traffic, and street vendors that approach cars at the red lights to sell water, peanuts, toys, candies etc.… Santo Domingo is a hustle bustle type of city. So, what I had to do was straight forward and didn't take much time. The people involved were professional and moved promptly. Which was perfect, so that we would have time to do something while we're here for a little longer. We didn't plan to stay too long, because Santo Domingo is known to have the worst rush hour traffic, that a 3 hour drive can become 6 or 7 hours due to extreme traffic jams.
There’s so much to do in Santo Domingo and it really comes down to what time of the day, where you are, and what would you like to do? You could go shopping at the mall, they have all types of clothing from cheap prices and regular stuff to Zara, Levi’s affordable brands to all the luxury brands like LV, Gucci, Fenti, Prada etc.… You can sit by the shoreline (malecon) and watch the water waves. There's lots of theme restaurants to choose from, such as El Mesón de la Cava. A real cave, nice layout, pricey romantic restaurant. Five miles east of Santo Domingo, is Santo Domingo Este, there you can explore Los Tres Ojos. A national park, with caves, and pathways to fresh water and where the indigenous Taino once inhabited. If your there in the evening and want to go dancing, there's many options to choose from, Dominicans don't lack when it comes to partying lol. We decided to go to the historical Zona Colonial (Colonial Zone). I highly recommend going there if you decide to visit Santo Domingo. It’s tourist friendly, safe, with a blend of tourists and locals. You won't be harassed to buy something, it's not that touristy. You got people from all over the world there, it was weird at first hearing all the English speaking and seeing my fellow North Americans again after so much time lol.
There is so much going on in Zona Colonial, this is truly a one stop shop. Everything is here, even random things that I might not have thought of like hair braiding, T-shirt/hat designs, cigar making shops, I was probably looking at the making of the cigar for too long that the fella working noticed and began waving to us to come inside lol. My lady being a Dominican local, she knew pretty much where everything was in Zona Colonial, I didn't need a tour guide. There are tour guides there if needed, and I think they go for a few bucks. Zona Colonial was built in 1502 by the Spanish. The buildings are old, and the zone takes you back in time. There's a little tiny bit of modern style splashed in, like building renovations, road repairs and construction, the most modern being the few US brand fast-food chains. Other than that, it’s as old as the beginning of the new world, which is what they called it at that time of 1496, The New World. In 1990, the entire zone was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).
Walking through Zona Colonial there is a calmness to it, maybe because it was the daytime or maybe that’s how it is. With so many people it's surprising how well behaved and well-mannered everyone is there. We get past the restaurants area and walk more into where the statues and castles are located. It felt like if we were on a movie set lol. What I thought at first was a castle happened to be one of the churches. It was in a nice cozy area where a lot of people were having refreshments, eating and sitting in the shade. Zona Colonial is home to some of the oldest churches in the Americas, including the first ever and oldest church, Cathedral of Santa María la Menor. The churches remain open to the public, and for Sunday service, also I heard many people get married in the church, Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación. With cameras out we continued our tour and then we came upon the home of Christopher Columbus (Fortaleza Ozama) where he once lived and then later prison, Ironic. We walked down the first ever paved street in the Americas “Calle Las Damas” where we entered a small museum. They were doing construction over by where the first hospital was, so we weren't able to go there. Still very cool though when you think about how far west has come, the first hospital.
To be honest time flies when you're there, it felt like a shorter time than what it was. A reminder that having water is a must, because it gets hot, and those ancient architects never built those buildings with shade in mind lol. So, a lot of the time you're walking in the sun. We had ice cream, water and a passion fruit slushy during all that time walking around, and now it was time to eat and leave. So, what else do you get when you're in the capital city and there are particular options that your small town doesn't have? Pizza Hut lol (Pizza Hut is amazingly more delicious in DR).