Cathedral of Rum in Cataño

19 November 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  6 minutes

The Cathedral of Rum © panoramio.com - Jose L. Dominguez/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Cathedral of Rum © panoramio.com – Jose L. Dominguez/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Cathedral of Rum in Cataño, Puerto Rico, is the world’s largest rum distillery. The Bacardi Distillery is located on 137 acres and consists of forty-four buildings and structures, twenty-four of which contribute to its historical character. It can be accessed from and is located at the intersection of PR-165 and PR-888. For visitors, the most important buildings are the Casa BACARDI, the Bacardi Family Museum, the Bacardi Distillery and the Bacardi Pavilion.   read more…

Theme Week Puerto Rico – San Juan

28 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  12 minutes

Calle de la Virtud © G. Edward Johnson/cc-by-4.0

Calle de la Virtud © G. Edward Johnson/cc-by-4.0

San Juan (Spanish for “Saint John“) is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jurisdiction of the United States, with a population of 342,259. San Juan was founded by Spanish colonists in 1521, who called it Ciudad de Puerto Rico (“City of Puerto Rico”, Spanish for rich port city).   read more…

Theme Week Puerto Rico – Desecheo Island

27 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Environment Reading Time:  8 minutes

© US Fish & Wildlife Service

© US Fish & Wildlife Service

Desecheo (Spanish: Isla Desecheo) is a small uninhabited island of the archipelago of Puerto Rico located in the northeast of the Mona Passage; 13 mi (21 km) from Rincón on the west coast (Punta Higüero) of the main island of Puerto Rico and 31 mi (50 km) northeast of Mona Island. It has a land area of 0.589 sq mi (377 acres; 153 ha; 1.53 km²). Politically, the island is administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as the Desecheo National Wildlife Refuge, but part of Barrio Sabanetas of Mayaguez.   read more…

Theme Week Puerto Rico – Mona Island

26 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Environment Reading Time:  6 minutes

Pajaros Beach © Serge Aucoin/cc-by-sa-4.0

Pajaros Beach © Serge Aucoin/cc-by-sa-4.0

Mona (Spanish: Isla de Mona) is the third-largest island of the Puerto Rican archipelago, after the main island of Puerto Rico and Vieques. It is the largest of three islands in the Mona Passage, a strait between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, the others being Monito Island and Desecheo Island. It measures about 7 miles by 4 miles (11 km by 7 km), and lies 41 mi (66 km) west of Puerto Rico, of which it is administratively a part. It is one of two islands that make up the Isla de Mona e Islote Monito barrio in the municipality of Mayagüez.   read more…

Theme Week Puerto Rico – Culebra Island

25 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Dewey © Steven595/cc-by-sa-4.0

Dewey © Steven595/cc-by-sa-4.0

Isla Culebra (Snake Island) is an island, town and municipality of Puerto Rico and geographically part of the Spanish Virgin Islands. It is located approximately 17 miles (27 km) east of the Puerto Rican mainland, 12 miles (19 km) west of St. Thomas and 9 miles (14 km) north of Vieques. Culebra is spread over 5 barrios and Culebra Pueblo (Dewey), the main town and the administrative center of the island. Residents of the island are known as culebrenses. With a population of 1,792 as of the 2020 Census, it is Puerto Rico’s least populous municipality.   read more…

Theme Week Puerto Rico – Vieques Island

24 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Shoreline at Esperanza © Rar285/cc-by-sa-3.0

Shoreline at Esperanza © Rar285/cc-by-sa-3.0

Vieques, officially Isla de Vieques, is an island and municipality of Puerto Rico, in the northeastern Caribbean, part of an island grouping sometimes known as the Spanish Virgin Islands. Vieques is part of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and retains strong influences from 400 years of Spanish presence in the island.   read more…

Theme Week Puerto Rico

23 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  12 minutes

Old San Juan with the Luquillo Mountain Range in the background © U.S. National Park Service

Old San Juan with the Luquillo Mountain Range in the background © U.S. National Park Service

Puerto Rico (Spanish for rich port), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated territory of the United States with official Commonwealth status. It is located in the northeast Caribbean Sea, approximately 1,000 miles (1,600 km) southeast of Miami, Florida, between the Dominican Republic and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and includes the eponymous main island and several smaller islands, such as Mona, Culebra, and Vieques. It has roughly 3.2 million residents, and its capital and most populous city is San Juan. Spanish and English are the official languages of the executive branch of government, though Spanish predominates.   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…

The Spanish Virgin Islands

9 November 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Vieques - Shoreline at Esperanza © Rar285/cc-by-sa-3.0

Vieques – Shoreline at Esperanza © Rar285/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Spanish Virgin Islands, formerly called the Passage Islands and also known as the Puerto Rican Virgin Islands, primarily consisting of the islands of Culebra and Vieques, are part of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and are located east of the main island of Puerto Rico.   read more…

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