Saint Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands

13 December 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  12 minutes

Downtown Christiansted © flickr.com - Prayitno/cc-by-2.0

Downtown Christiansted © flickr.com – Prayitno/cc-by-2.0

Saint Croix (Spanish: Santa Cruz; Dutch: Sint-Kruis; French: Sainte-Croix; Danish; Norwegian: Sankt Croix; Taino: Ay Ay) is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States.   read more…

Theme Week Dominican Republic – Santiago de los Caballeros

30 November 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

Monument to the Heroes of the Restoration © panoramio.com - Luis A. González Hde…/cc-by-sa-3.0

Monument to the Heroes of the Restoration © panoramio.com – Luis A. González Hde…/cc-by-sa-3.0

Santiago de los Caballeros (English: Saint James of the Knights), often shortened to Santiago, is the second-largest city in the Dominican Republic and the fourth-largest city in the Caribbean by population. It is the capital of Santiago Province and the largest major metropolis in the Cibao region of the country. Santiago is the largest Caribbean city that is not a capital city, and it is also the largest non-coastal metropolis in the Caribbean islands. The city has a total population of 771,748 inhabitants (2022). Santiago is located approximately 155 km (96 mi) northwest of the capital Santo Domingo with an average altitude of 178 m (584 ft).   read more…

Theme Week Dominican Republic – La Vega

29 November 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

© Veganazo99

© Veganazo99

La Vega, is the fourth largest city and municipality of the Dominican Republic. It is in La Vega Province. The city is known as the Carnaval epicenter of the Dominican Republic for its tradition and culture, its large agricultural production methods throughout its province. La Vega is bounded on the north by the Camú River. This river flows about 100 kilometers before emptying into Yuna River. South of the city is the Cordillera Central, the largest mountain system of the Dominican Republic. El Ponton Field, a local airport, bounds the city on the east. To La Vega’s west are the Camú River again and Montellano.   read more…

Theme Week Dominican Republic – Puerto Plata

28 November 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

© flickr.com - Ronald Saunders/cc-by-sa-2.0

© flickr.com – Ronald Saunders/cc-by-sa-2.0

Puerto Plata, officially known as San Felipe de Puerto Plata; (French: Port-de-Plate) is a major coastal city in the Dominican Republic, and capital of the province of Puerto Plata. The city is a major trading port. Puerto Plata has resorts such as Playa Dorada and Costa Dorada, which are located east of the city proper. There are 100,000 hotel beds in the city. The first aerial tramway of the Caribbean is located in Puerto Plata, in which visitors can ride up to the Pico Isabel de Torres, a 793-meter (2600-foot) high mountain within the city.   read more…

Theme Week Dominican Republic – Higüey

27 November 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Basilica-Cathedral of Our Lady of Altagracia © MRDU08/cc-by-sa-3.0

Basilica-Cathedral of Our Lady of Altagracia © MRDU08/cc-by-sa-3.0

Higüey, or in full Salvaleón de Higüey, is the capital city of the eastern La Altagracia Province, in the Dominican Republic, and has 415,084 inhabitants, according to the 2022 census. The Yuma River flows through the urban areas of Higüey.   read more…

Theme Week Dominican Republic – Santo Domingo

26 November 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Calle Arzobispo Meriño © Mario Roberto Durán Ortiz/cc-by-sa-4.0

Calle Arzobispo Meriño © Mario Roberto Durán Ortiz/cc-by-sa-4.0

Santo Domingo (meaning “Saint Dominic” but verbatim “Holy Sunday”), once known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, known as Ciudad Trujillo between 1936 and 1961, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. As of 2022, the city and immediate surrounding area (the Distrito Nacional) had a population of 1,029,110 while the total population is 3,798,699 when including Greater Santo Domingo (the “metropolitan area“). The city is coterminous with the boundaries of the Distrito Nacional (“D.N.”, “National District”), itself bordered on three sides by Santo Domingo Province.   read more…

Theme Week Dominican Republic

25 November 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  9 minutes

Cabeza de Toro beach in Punta Cana © Danu Widjajanto/cc-by-sa-4.0

Cabeza de Toro beach in Punta Cana © Danu Widjajanto/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Dominican Republic is a North American country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and a land border with Haiti to the west, occupying the eastern five-eighths of Hispaniola which, along with Saint Martin, is one of only two islands in the Caribbean shared by two sovereign states. In the Antilles, the country is the second-largest nation by area after Cuba at 48,671 square kilometers (18,792 sq mi) and second-largest by population after Haiti with approximately 11.4 million people in 2024, of whom 3.6 million reside in the metropolitan area of Santo Domingo, the capital city.   read more…

Saint Thomas in the Caribbean

17 June 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Lindquist Beach - Smith Bay Beach Park © Gruepig/cc-by-sa-4.0

Lindquist Beach – Smith Bay Beach Park © Gruepig/cc-by-sa-4.0

Saint Thomas (Danish: Sankt Thomas, Spanish: Santo Tomás, French: Saint-Thomas) is one of the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea, and a constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States. Along with surrounding minor islands, it is one of three county-equivalents in the USVI. Together with Saint John, it forms one of the districts of the USVI. The territorial capital and port of Charlotte Amalie is located on the island.   read more…

Holguín in Cuba

11 May 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Parque Calixto García © panoramio.com - R01k/cc-by-3.0

Parque Calixto García © panoramio.com – R01k/cc-by-3.0

Holguín is a municipality-city in Cuba. After Havana, Santiago de Cuba, and Camagüey, it is the fourth largest city in Cuba. The brewery Cervecería Bucanero is based in the city. It makes three brands of beer: Bucanero, Cristal and Mayabe.   read more…

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