Dominican Experience...

So about a month ago, I had the great pleasure of traveling. Took some time to unwind and relax. I took a week off to check out the Dominican Republic and to put into place some travel & food thoughts I shared recently.

As some of you may know, the Dominican Republic is the second-largest Caribbean nation by area, right after Cuba. There is a lot of places to visit inside the country. This is one of the reasons I wanted to visit this country.

The country is full of culture, specially since it is considered the 1st colonized area after Cristopher Columbus arrived to the American Continent. The Dominican Republic has the first cathedral, castle, monastery, and fortress built in the Continent. All these historical places being located in Santo Domingo's Colonial Zone - which has been proclaimed a World Heritage Site selected by UNESCO. This is another reason I wanted to visit this place - it's wide historical & cultural vibe.

Having friends in Santo Domingo, I made this my main site to visit in the country. Although there are other great cities to visit in this country, I wanted to focus my attention to Santo Domingo and grasp as much knowledge and vibe as possible from this area.

Calle Las Damas - a broad, famous, and
very historical street in the Colonial
Zone of Santo Domingo

I located myself in a very central area inside the Colonial Zone. I booked a hotel room at the Hodelpa Caribe Colonial hotel (very much recommended, by the way). By doing this detail, I was able to be close to a lot of historical places and awesome museums. I must admit I went out every morning to take a tour and learned some many things. It was also a time to soak up a lot of the Dominican Culture. I just loved it!

Typical Dominican food at La Mimosa restaurant

I also asked friends and some of the natives to give me a couple of heads-up in regards to restaurants and other places to visit. My research really paid off. I visited great restaurants, like Ki Restaurant (International food) and La Mimosa (typical Dominican food), and I had a very amazing time at a wonderful beach called Bocachica (about 30mins away from Santo Domingo).

Overall, I was able to pick a few unusual places to visit and enjoy, I ate awesome food (including fresh fish & seafood plus typical Dominican food), and I was able to visit many places without overloading my agenda. This last detail has motivated me to go back to the Dominican Republic to visit another city and experience other sites and activities.

I was really satisfied and overall happy with this trip. My Foodie heart was extremely happy and my curious travel side was really satisfied, too. As I mentioned before, it has motivated me to plan future trips to this culturally rich Caribbean Island.