Destination: Punta Cana - Bavaro
Length: A day
Days: Tuesdays (Eng), Wednesday (Fran, Eng) and Thursdays (Eng, Spa)
Product Code:

US$50.00
by persons
(Children)

US$95.00
by persons
(Adults)

Briefly:

• Discover Santo Domingo, the First City of the Americas.  Travel across its most important roads and boulevards, all leading towards ancient edifices and monuments of an invaluable cultural heritage in a modern-day city.  A sense of pomp and circumstance overcomes all your being as we pass across the first university established in the New World.
• a delicious typical lunch, a fascinating culinary experience.  Feast on an outburst of ambrosial flavors.Enjoy
• Strolling through yesterday’s narrow lanes, we will set out to unveil the humble beginnings of the New World.  Tour the oldest colonial city, erected in the fifteenth century, and scour the first colonial epoch residences.
• As we head back to our hotel, we will make a stop at a large shopping plaza in the city of La Romana.  Buy souvenirs for your loved ones back home.

Get ready to board a comfortable air-conditioned bus at the crack of dawn.  Side by side an expert tourist guide you will soon take over the First City of the Americas, learning historically-relevant facts of this modern-day metropolitan city.

As we enter the city of Santo Domingo, the first capital established in the Western hemisphere, we cut across its boardwalk.  Set your sight on unsurpassable seascapes of a tranquil Caribbean Sea. 
Drive through the streets of this metropolis aboard comfortable buses, beholding the most notable attractions of a modern city.
Real estate wrought in accents underscored by delicate French neoclassical designs.  Close detail was given to its facade, bringing together stuccoed accents and decorative elements around its doors and windows. 

Encounter the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD, for its initials in Spanish), the first institution of higher learning in America, and the most antique colonial-era building of the New World.  Once considered the insignia of a medieval world’s burgeoning ideas and thoughts.
Visit the Palace of Fine Arts, the sublimity of this architectural masterpiece leaves visitors awe-struck. 
Get a glimpse of  Eduardo Brito National Theatre, witness to most of the country’s greatest cultural movements and theatrical enactments.  Its walls safeguard towering sculptures of important figures part of the country’s cultural heritage; Mexican playwright Juan Ruíz de Alarcón and Spanish writer Lope de Vega being chief amongst them.

The somberness of the National Palace is exemplified by its well-crafted formal equilibrium and historical commemorations.  An eclectic work of art, from a subliminally stylistic perspective.   A masterpiece spotlighting the cultural heritage of the Caribbean, a reflection of a historic and political past inherited from the island’s European forebears. 
We will get off the bus for a brief moment in order to take photographs in front of the presidential palace.   Take advantage of this rare opportunity to trace your hands over the name of the nation’s ex-Presidents, engraved on the sidewalks in front of the Palace.

The portable stove, the bonfire, the wood-burning oven, clay jars and the güira – all elements defining Dominican culture- take center stage at our next stop.  We will have lunch at a typical restaurant reminiscent of a small farm, where your senses will drift away with the pleasant scents of cinnamon and ginger.  
Upon your arrival, you will be greeted to the rhythm of Merengue, in an atmosphere where flavor and camaraderie come to life. 
You will be treated to the traditional Dominican dish, known as “la bandera dominicana”, consisting of moro (rice with beans), meat or fish and salad.  And, may we suggest, a sampling of traditional deserts.

An unsurpassable cultural experience; step back in time and relive the most significant periods of the heritage of mankind.  Come and join us as we rediscover the first city of the New World.

Cut across Columbus Park, a large bricked esplanade. 
Careening trees and towering water fountains add to its allure, and it’s the reason this park is frequented by locals and visitors alike.  Gaze as children innocently play, passers-by take the opportunity to snap a treasured keepsake, hungry flocks of birds are fed, and lovers holding hands as they sit on the benches nestled under the large shade trees.

A stately statue of Christopher Columbus rests at the center of the park.   This bronze statue dates back to 1897, and is the work of a French sculptor by the name of Gilbert.  Depicted is a native Taino lady by the name of Anacaona reaching to Columbus standing atop the pillar in his arrogant glory.

Take a stroll across a colonial neighborhood and examine its monuments and museums.  Pay homage to the First Cathedral of the Americas, birthplace of a fervent Catholic faith. 
Formally known as the Catedral Metropolitana Santa María de la Encarnación, it was originally built in 1914. 
This former hut made of royal palms nowadays takes up an entire block.  Diego Columbus set the first stone and since then many additions and changes have been made to the original structure.  At the end of 1537 the roof was rebuilt the way we see it today.

There are Roman style arches and Gothic style vaults and a number of Baroque ornaments thrown in for good measure.  This augments the building's acumen and powerfully dominating look. It is built with the coralline blocks, as with many of the Colonial era structures, this building has been able to withstand the ravishings of time and humans both. 
Setting your sight on its interior for the first time is an authentic sensorial experience. It is so quiet, relaxing, and overpowering and yet it has such a reverent feeling.  Look up toward the heavens and feast your eyes on its vaulted ceiling resembling the palm branches that once stood as the original roof of the original church.

Contrasting chapels atone its vast interiors. The stained glass is magnificent. The mahogany altar, the carved animals, the statues, the high-hammered silver altar, it is all so beautiful.  It holds the mausoleums of many archbishops including Geraldini Bastidas, and is the final resting place of Simón Bolivar.

Roam around El Conde freely, a busy pedestrian street named after the Count of Peñalva.  A 10 block cobblestones walk chuock-full of shops, restaurants and an eclectic mix of people.
Come across the most notable and stately edifices built in a colonial period.  Don’t be surprised if an impromptu street performer appears from nowhere; an act that forever will be etched in your memory.

Stroll down Las Damas Street, the oldest back street not only in the Dominican Republic, but in all of the Americas.  It preserves the largest amount of monuments in its surrounding areas.  This street is a nice walk with not many cars passing along its stone path.  Beset by alluringly-renovated buildings on both sides, it is a must see street.

The Museo de la Casas Reales, formerly the Governmental Palace, has a bewitching display of colonial era artifacts.  Its ochre color bare rock façade exhibits three shields, Carlos V’s Imperial insignia; and the Hispaniola Island’s and the City of Santo Domingo’s seal.

Monument of historic significance once a Jesuit church, the National Pantheon became the final resting place of many illustrious Dominicans after its restoration in 1538.
Its Neoclassic-Renaissance architectural style breaks with the classic Baroque style of the era. 
Its exterior was carved in siliceous-calcareous stone, divided by two overhanging baroque planes.  A huge copper lamp looms over its dome, emanating a perpetual flame forever keeping the memory of national heroes alive.
Andalusian style interiors morph into a cross, its walls covered by a mural created by the Spanish painter Rafael Pellicer, symbolizing the “Ascension to Heaven” and the “Final Judgment”.
Sheltered by a vault, a flawless polychrome marble wind rose rests in the middle.
An elegant gemstone shield bearing the symbol of the Dominican Republic extoles it.

A walk across the Alcázar de Colón enraptures visitors back to the era of the first Spanish conquistadors.
The pedestrian only street known as Atarazanas was the first commercial street in the Americas.
Take a walk around the outside edge of the wall on the Bateria del Almirante, a cat walk type path overlooking the Ozama river.

Upon our return to Punta Cana, we will make a stop at Columbus Plaza in La Romana.  Take the opportunity to do some last minute shopping for souvenirs and to unwind

• 
  Santo Domingo's Boardwal, located in George Washington Avenue.
• 
  A portable stove, bonfire, firewood, the traditional pitcher and "güira", are all elements which define Dominican culture. 
• 
  Roman-style archways and gothic-style vaults ornated with Baroque accents as a measure of equilibrium.
• 
  Go back to the epoch where the first Spanish conquistadors once lived.  Alcázar de Colón houses artifacts once belonging to the family of Christopher Columbus.
• 
  Two Sixteenth Century palaces of important historical relevance. 

Exit Point:
Most major hotels in Punta Cana - Bavaro.

Departure Time:
8:00 A.M.

Does it include?
Lunch accompanied by soda, water and coffee; ground transportation in a comfortable air-conditioned bus; official tourist guide and entrance fee to the monuments we will be visiting.

Recommendations:
Wear comfortable clothes and shoes, bring a camera and enough money to purchase souveneirs.