Adventure to Santo Domingo, DR

Spring semester let out and we took off on our honeymoon to Punta Cana, in the Dominican Republic. It was two long months after our beautiful wedding. It was hard to wait, but I had to finish my semester, plus I found us a better deal that way.




Dominican Republic has amazing beaches. They have white sandy beaches and beautiful blue water. I love the beach, I can do that for days at a time, but that is not the only thing I do on vacation. I want to see the real country we are in. Learn some history, of course take thousands of pictures and meet locals.

We tried the tours through our hotel, but after disappointed experiences we decided to venture on our own. When we travel, I go prepared with a list of must see places. My number one place on my list for Dominican Republic was Santo Domingo. Well lucky me, it was only 4 hours away. Of course I am being sarcastic. We didn't know what to expect at all when we went to Dominican Republic. I assumed people would be friendlier and it would be easy to move around. So I was very wrong and Punta Cana is far away from any attractions. Either you go to the beach, Punta Cana or you decide to see culture and history and you stay in Santo Domingo. I know this now for next time and now you do too.

It was 3 days before we had to go back home, so I looked at my husband and told him we were going to save the money that they were charging us for the tour (that we did not trust anymore) and go to Santo Domingo on our own. I got on my laptop, did a little research and found out that there was an express bus (like grey hound) that took us straight to Santo Domingo. $20 took both of us there with no stops in a comfortable bus. If you want to go cheaper there is the bus the locals use to get around but it takes a longer time since it makes many stops. I just was not that adventurous.







The next morning, we woke up super early, made our exit out of our huge resort and waited for a taxi to take us to the central location for the bus. None came, and one of their popular moped "taxis" came by, charging the same as the taxi would $5. I was doubtful but I also didn't want to miss our bus. So off we went the driver, me and my husband behind me. Yup all 3 of us on that tiny bike! It must have been a sight and I wish we had a picture. We had to experience it. People were already at the bus station, and we must look like tourists because they kept staring at us. The guy that dropped us off on the bike came back and told us to please be careful that Santo Domingo was not as safe as I thought. I thanked him for the warning, and promised we would be careful. I started to get worried because of the warning. We only carried a small backpack for my camera, and some water. We wore very casual clothing and comfortable shoes. We met a Swedish man waiting there too. Yet he looked more confident about the trip because this was not his first trip to DR. We kind of attached ourselves with him, and asked him questions and he eased our mind. He told us it was simple, the bus would drop us off at a central location, which was the same place we would come back for the return trip. He made me feel so much better. 

 



Four hours later we made it to Santo Domingo, and it is not such a pretty sight. Very dirty and over crowded at least the entrance of it. Some people get off, it is not our stop though, and some vendors hop on the bus. We were sitting closer to the middle of the bus, yet one of the vendors comes directly to us, and looks straight at my husband and tells him that he can take us to the Colonial Zone for a good price (which is where we were going). Yet how did he know?! The Swedish man that was sitting on the next seat, looked more of a tourist than us and no one approached him. We looked around and figured it out, all the other men in the bus were locals and had curly hair. My husband, although has a Latin look, has straight hair. Tip: wear a hat

We arrived at the bus station in the middle of the city, and decided to go into their office and purchase our return tickets ahead of time. No lines and we had our tickets. There are only a number of departing times, so we picked the last one which was 4 pm. We had a couple of hours, and felt confident that we could see all the attractions and make it back. Tip: Buy return tickets ahead to avoid the lines later




There were plenty of taxis there waiting for business. So we took one, $10 to the Colonial Zone. (That is what they all charge no matter the distance). We get dropped off and realize that walking in the Colonial Zone was easy. All the attractions are close by and there are signs pointing them out for you. The best way to explain it is that it reminds me of New Orleans French Quarters. It is very cute streets, boutique hotels and a lot of history all in walking distance.

We had a map and we had already marked all the places we wanted to see. This made it so much easier to get around. You will have to make a few stops for some drinks, since it is so hot and there are many souvenir shops. I asked prices to compare when we got to the Mercado. Everyone on reviews made it sound like it was somewhere we HAD to go, I do not understand why. Every shop had the exact same thing, no lies. Finally I got tired of being bombarded with people asking me to come into their shop that I asked one lady for the item I wanted which was a cross, she took me to the only vendor that had something different. That is where we spend all our money, different pays off people! Tip: You can skip this it is not worth the walk or taxi ride to there.

We visited every place on our must see in Santo Domingo with time to spare. So we stopped at one of the boutique bars in the main plaza. Just enjoyed people watching and realizing that we did everything we wanted to do in a few hours. Overall it was the best part of the trip besides our time on the gorgeous beach.