Zona Colonial (Cristobal Colon)

We finally made it to Zona Colonial, the oldest part of the city. Chrisopher Columbus (Cristobal Colon) actually did make it to this island, Hispaniola. There is a home here that is the Columbus house. I think his brother and then his sons lived there, and maybe he did for a time.

This is the first church built in the Americas, Cathedral Santo Domingo.

It was so beautiful when we entered the cathedral, the fragrance of the flowers totally engulfed us. Wil said the altar is always decorated with flowers. And, depending on the holy day or event, the colors are different.
The cathedral was the classic cross shape with the large center. The architecture was stunning. It's always amazing how 400 and 500 year old buildings survive.
Along the main center of the cathedral, there are smaller chapels and prayer rooms common in large cathedrals. Some are dedicated to certain saints. Some have mausoleums within.
At each chapel there was a placard in Spanish, English, French, and Italian describing the chapel and its significance from a religious standpoint and an architectural one. I loved the tile in this chapel, but without a flash it is difficult to see.
This chapel had pounded metal tiles on the altar. And there were large bouquets in several of the smaller chapels.
Each chapel had different ceiling and wall designs.


I absolutely loved the brick dome in this little chapel.

This is just a close-up of the old old old blocks.
This relief was just outside a side entrance to the cathedral in a little corner above the door.
Looking up at the exerior stone work.
Looking up above the entrance.

I just thought this statue in the church courtyard was cool. I love how the stone work almost has a wood grain to it.
The other side of the cathedral.
The old bell towers and old bells.

The plaque describing this cathedral as the first in the Americas.

Another entrance to the cathedral. This is looking at it as if you were going to walk up a center aisle from this entrance.

The streets in the Zona Colonial really reminded me of New Orleans, with Spanish architecture instead of French.This is the entrance to a monument honoring The DR's fatherlands, what we would call founding fathers. There are three larger than life statues inside the monument. The fatherlands lived in the 1800's when The Dominican Republic gained independence from Haiti.

This is a view of one of the more touristy streets in the Zona Colonial.

This is a 'little' church we found along our walk that day. It was much smaller than the cathedral but still quite grand and beautiful.

We walked along a street and came upon the ruins of the first hospital in the Americas.

It appears that it must have been quite an advanced hospital in its day, a few hundred years ago!!

This is a different old building that we walked by.

Wil in front of the Columbus house. We arrived too late that day to see any of the museums or the Columbus house. We´ll go back soon, I hope.

An old sundial!

Another cool building!

This was another monument to some of the heroes here. There are some presidents and other national heroes buried in crypts in this monument.

In the Zona Colonial I was approached as being Italian. And, I don´t think I´ve mentioned it, but that has happened a few times here. The one time it was after the person heard me speak Spanish. So, apparently, I have a bit of an Italian accent when I speak Spanish. Wil says that it is going away though. I don´t know if that´s true, or just amoré!!!