Santo Domingo – Day 1

The alarm clock hit us square in the face at 2:30 am.  We got up, and got around to catch our 6:30 am flight, getting to the airport early enough to grab some breakfast and Starbucks before boarding the flight to Miami.  I was able to grab some good sleep on the plane. 

In Miami, we had a fairly tight connection, and a long walk between gates, but we arrived just as they were boarding our group for the 2 hour flight to Santo Domingo.

The transition into the country was pretty smooth, and we got a taxi to our hotel, the Hodelpa Nicolas De Ovando.  The hotel is very nice, right in the heart of the colonial zone of Santo Domingo.

After getting settled and cleaning up from our travel, we went out to explore our new neighborhood.  The Colonial zone hosts several great old buildings, with plazas and courtyards sprinkled around.  Since it was a Sunday afternoon, the courtyard was filled with people enjoying their Sunday with their family.  

We are not sure if this was a special event, or just a normal Sunday, but there were several young ladies dressed up, apparently celebrating their quinceañera.

The first order of business, was to acquire some cigars, then we found a nice pizzaria where we could sit and watch the people, and dogs.

After dinner, we got up to explore around the plaza, and made our way to another large plaza where a large Christmas tree was setup, and lit up after dark.  We decided to get a table, and have a drink to enjoy the view.

We got back to the hotel fairly early to rest after a very long day.