zona colonial - santo domingo

well, it has been a while since we blogged. we're still here! we just got back from a quick overnight trip to santo domingo. veronica needed to renew her passport at the dutch embassy. we hadn't been to the zona colonial since october, so we were both looking forward to being there again. it's fun to just walk around there, peak into the various homes, and eat in some good restaurants.

the picture of veronica above was taken at this great place that we stayed at - casa dona elvira. as is typical in many places within the zona colonial, this place had a lot of atmosphere. we both love the architecture in the zona colonial and especially that of this hotel. this was the 2006 lonely planet author's pick for a hotel in santo domingo and boy did they hit the mark on this!

many of the buildings in the zona colonial are getting bought up and renovated by foreigners. casa dona elvira was bought by a belgian/american couple 3 years ago and renovated by them. (they also have a house in perla marina in cabarete.) i think in like 5-10 years time, people will look back and kick themselves for not having bought one of these buildings. i mean where in the world can you buy a building that was built like 500 years ago, designed by a spanish colonist, that has walls that are like 3 feet wide, and with gorgeous inner courtyards where you can hang out and not get wet in the rain?

here are some more shots taken while we strolled through the streets yesterday. doors really show off the different architectural styles.









we also took a tip from my brother and visited the museo de las casas reales, which was a great museum with all sorts of maps, weapons, paintings, explanations of who conquered and ruled the island of hispaniola, and details on the types of items imported and exported from the island during the days of spanish rule.

all in all it was a great break from the beach and real estate life in cabarete!