We are visiting the capital city of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo. The nice part of the city and not such a good part of the city are mixed together strangely enough. This is the first Cathedral in America and Columbus was buried in this Cathedral for 200 years and was moved to Seville, Spain later. Some say he was still here in this Cathedral and those remains are now in the giant lighthouse “Faro a Colon”. They are still arguing over his bones!
The city has a lot of Historical sites and Museums. This is Columbus’s House Museum and the Gate to the old city and the wall is still remaining here. The Columbus house has all the furnitures and Art Objects influenced by Spanish cultures.
The three caves with the clear water in the middle of city, are amazingly beautiful. There are a lot of fish in the in the Cave and outside of lakes. To go to second lake, we had an underground boat ride in total darkness. It was so humid and hard to step up and down that one feels like in a Sauna. When we arrived at the lake, we wanted to jump into the lake due to the heat and humidity.
The exhibition in the National Gallery is so beautiful. The interior of the building is exquisite as well as the wooden sculptures. The Sculpture, is done by Juan Trinidad, has organic forms like the face and the bodies in one piece of wood.
I am very curious about his later works which will be evolved to a simple Master pieces.
This Fort protects the Santo Domingo Harbor. Interesting different view of the world. Peter comes from Plymouth UK home of Sir Francis Drake. He is a hero, first captain to circumnavigate the world (Magellan’s crew were first but Magellan did not, he got himself killed in the Philippines) and saved the English from the Spanish Armada. Here in Santo Domingo he is described as a pirate and a wolf of the sea. He features a lot in the Museums, burning and pillaging.
He had Letters of Marque from Queen Elizabeth so that makes it OK and not Piracy😂. A Letter of Marque is issued to a Captain to say they can attack, murder and steal and keep the profits from an enemy (Spain in this case) and it not piracy but an act of patriotism. Edward Teach, aka Black Beard had such a letter but did not stop when England made peace with Spain. So he moved from patriot to pirate and was eventually killed by the English themselves at Ocracoke, see our Blog from October. We seem to be following the pirates.
The Iron gate has beautiful Sculptures of suffering faces. The individual faces have expressed different feelings inside. It is quite original pieces.
Lee and Peter Sailing Trip was for Four not Two Years. Now an Italian adventure 