The Caribbean beauties on the streets of Santo Domingo are full of charm.
The guards of the Dominican National Pantheon, tall and handsome.
Dominican middle school students, cute expressions.
Elementary school students in Dominica, concentrating on painting.
Children in Dominica, innocent and lively.
Columbus sailed to Hispaniola in December 1492, the island where the Dominican Republic is today. The Spaniards arrived in Dominica on a Sunday, and the country was named after the Spanish Sunday.
The building is said to have been inhabited by three generations of Columbus's grandchildren, and the private residence built in 1510 by Columbus's son, Spanish Governor Diego, is now open to the Columbus Palace.
More than 500 years later, on March 1, 2016, I flew from the Virgin Islands, stopped in Puerto Rico, and arrived in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, at 4:30 p.m. As soon as you get off the plane, you feel different from the U.S. Puerto Rico and virgin islands, that is, it is not developed enough. Each paid $10 in entry fees and entered the Dominican Republic.
The old town of Santo Domingo, a European city with a predominantly black African population, still retains its Spanish flair.
It is said that Dominican lobster is delicious and cheap, eat lobster and drink beer for dinner.
Plaza de España during the day.
The inner chambers of the Columbus Palace still retain the luxury of the past. It was because of the extravagance of the Columbus family, or for other reasons, that Columbus was not welcomed by the King of Spain in his later years, and was not allowed to return to Hispaniola, where he died in 1506.
But after Columbus's death, his body returned to Dominica, where it had been stored in the Episcopal Cathedral of the Americas in Columbus Park. A statue of Columbus stands in the plaza of Parque Colon in Santo Domingo, the first American city he created during his lifetime, with the great admiral still pointing out into the ocean.
Columbus Park, a dominican leisure plaza.
Dominican girls painting in the square.
The old white house is called Casa de Tosado, across the street from Columbus Shopping Plaza.
A Dominican painter is intently painting the old house and the streetscape, and his girlfriend is also concentrating on playing with her mobile phone.
This is the nostalgic style painting that has not yet been completed.
It happened that a carriage passed by, which was the scene on the painting.
Another motorcycle suddenly passed, leaving a few smoke and dust.
I asked the painter, and the painter said the painting had been painted for two weeks.
The girlfriend has been with her in this way, and love is the source of the painter's strength.
Another work by this painter.
The streets of Santo Domingo in the sunset.
The Episcopal Cathedral of the Americas, which began construction in 1510 and was intermittent until its completion in 1540, was the first church built in the New World.
In the evening, there are still many painters in Columbus Park.
The red and white walls of an alley.
Friends at street meals.
The pedestrian shopping street of Santo Domingo, the streets of Dominican chess.
Street painting in Dominica.
There is a rather modern supermarket around the corner where we bought a whole bunch of fruit, several of which we have never seen.
Old houses in old street.
It seems that there is no shortage of artists in Dominica, which inherits the legacy of Spain.
The night market is full of old book stalls.
Dominican girl selling snacks.
It's a long street where the Dominican flair is all over again, including pornography.
At 7 o'clock in the morning at dawn in Dominica, the streets of Santo Domingo are quiet.
There are many ruins in Santo Domingo, each of which has a beginning. The street remnants were once the first hospital in the Americas.
The White Church in the monument.
Remains of a monastery.
Some students have started school.
Colonial hotels in Dominica.
An ancient cathedral still in use.
Palace Museum.
Plaza de España in the morning.
Splendid buildings on the streets.
Good bye! Dominican beauty.
In the ancient city of Santo Domingo for three days and two nights, I bought tickets to visit the Palace of Columbus, the Royal Palace Museum, the Episcopal Cathedral of the Americas, the National Pantheon, the Amber Museum, and the rest of the time to visit the ancient city over and over again.
On the morning of the third day, I checked out and rented a car at the airport and started my four-day Dominican road trip.