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…

Theme Week Caribbean

23 January 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  9 minutes

Parliament building in Nassau, Bahamas © Crm18

Parliament building in Nassau, Bahamas © Crm18

The Caribbean is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean) and the surrounding coasts. The region is southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and the North American mainland, east of Central America, and north of South America.   read more…

Hispaniola in the Caribbean

10 July 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Haiti - Jacmel Seaside © Port-au-princien/cc-by-sa-3.0

Haiti – Jacmel Seaside © Port-au-princien/cc-by-sa-3.0

Hispaniola is an island in the Caribbean island group known as the Greater Antilles. It is the second largest island in the Caribbean after Cuba, and the most populous island in the Caribbean; it is also the eleventh most populous island in the world.   read more…

Tortuga in the Caribbean

3 June 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

Tortuga Island © NASA

Tortuga Island © NASA

Tortuga (French: Île de la Tortue, Englisch: Turtle Island) is a Caribbean island that forms part of Haiti, off the northwest coast of Hispaniola. It constitutes the commune of Île de la Tortue in the Port-de-Paix arrondissement of the Nord-Ouest Department of Haiti. Tortuga is 180 km² (69 mi²) in size and has a population of 30,000. In the 17th century, Tortuga was a major centre of Caribbean piracy. Its tourist industry and reference in many works has made it one of the most recognized regions of Haiti. Although Tortuga was already known by the native peoples, it was never used as a permanent settlement until European pirates made it into a launching ground for piracy activities. The first Europeans to land on Tortuga were the Spaniards in 1492 during the first voyage of Christopher Columbus into the New World. On December 6, 1492, three Spanish ships entered the Windward Passage that separates Cuba and Haiti. At sunrise, Columbus noticed an island whose contours emerged from the morning mist. Because the shape reminded him of a turtle’s shell, he chose the name of Tortuga.   read more…

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