The Cayman Islands are a British Overseas Territory located south of Cuba in the western Caribbean Sea. This territory, consisting of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, was first discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1503 (during his 4th and final voyage to the New World) – naming the islands Las Tortugas (The Turtles), due […]
The British Virgin Islands (BVI), located east of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, consist of the four main islands (Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada, and Jost Van Dyke), as well as over 50 smaller islands and cays. The most populous of the major islands is Tortola (whose population is 23,908 – out of BVI’s […]
Barbados is an island in the eastern Caribbean (covering an area of 431 square kilometers) which was initially discovered by Spanish colonists toward the early 1500s, but was never officially claimed by any of the European powers until the British took possession of it in 1624. Unlike some of the other Caribbean islands (which was […]
Bermuda, despite travelers referring to this destination in the singular, is actually a chain of 181 islands with a total area of 53 sq. kilometers (20.6 sq. miles). Despite longtime international perception of its location within the Caribbean, Bermuda is actually located further up in the North Atlantic Ocean – some 1,000 km east of […]
Poland is best known for its place in history as being a country under constant occupation from one foreign force or another. A large Eastern European country that was wedged between two powerful countries during the 20th century (Germany and Russia), Poland was ruled by local monarchs (the Jagiellonian dynasty) for much of the Middle […]
The other thing that Puerto Plata is known for is rum. The city is home to the major Dominican rum label “Brugal” (started there by Catalonian Spanish immigrant Andrés Brugal in 1888). Even though the Brugal label was bought by the Scottish distilling firm, The Edrington Group, in 2008, the rum is still produced in […]
Aside from the Spanish colonial fortress and nearby beach resorts, Puerto Plata was known for two distinct things: one was the “Teleférico”. This Italian-made tram car, built in 1975 and carries 17 passengers, offering them a panoramic view of the Puerto Plata region. The Teleférico climbs over 2,500 feet to the top of a mountain […]
During the 1980s, Puerto Plata, which had its own airport, used it to attract budget tourists from Canada and Western Europe who stayed at the all-inclusive resorts in that area. Puerto Plata Airport also served the provincial city of Santiago, which was a one-hour drive away (but didn’t have its own large international airport at […]
The gateway to the northern coast of the Dominican Republic is the provincial town of Puerto Plata, whose population is less than 300,000 residents. One tourist-friendly site in that town is the Spanish colonial Fortaleza San Felipe, which was built in the 16th century and was used as a prison under Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship during […]
For all intents and purposes, “Casa de Campo” is the major attraction in this part of the island. A must see destination here is” Altos de Chavón”. This “village” was done replicating the 15th century colonial architectural style. It has many restaurants, a museum with Taino artifacts, and breath-taking view of the Chavon River. This […]