Amber Cove and Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

 

“Everyone knew that all islands were worlds unto themselves, that to come to an island was to come to another world.”

Guy Gavriel Kay

After our ship, the Carnival Freedom docked at Amber Cove, we exited the ship as soon as we could to get to our fun excursion for the day. We had booked with Shore Excursioneer so we needed to get to our bus within 45 minutes after docking. As we walked off the dock into Amber Cove, there was what appeared to be a fort wall and there on top were three men playing instruments. One playing a maracas, another an accordion, and the last one a drum. They happily entertained all those walking off the ship. That brought a smile to many people as we walked off the pier to Amber Cove. We had to walk through the cruise port at Amber Cove, past all the vendors, past the fountain, and our the gate to the port. Then we turned and walked down a main road for about a quarter of a mile till we met up with our group and our tour guide, Tony.

Tony lead us to a small bus that was air conditioned and dolled up with adorable tasseled curtains on all the windows. Tony was a nice man with a thick Spanish accent who looked just like a close friend of ours named Willie that we lost a few years ago to cancer. It was remarkable how much he looked and acted like him. That made our day. After our group of 16 showed up, we took off. We were thrilled that our new friends, we met on the cruise, Todd and Shelley were on at least part of our excursion.

We started off traveling towards the town of Puerto Plata down a busy highway. I was first struck by the beauty of the mountains and how green this island was but then was saddened by the shape many of the buildings were in. There seemed to be a lot of poverty here. It was also crazy busy and the drivers all seemed reckless with mopeds skirting in and out of traffic nearing running into each other. Tony explained many of these mopeds were actually taxi’s taking people around the town.

Our first stop of the day was at Fortaleza San Felipe. This is a Spanish Fort, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, is located in the province of Puerto Plata and is known by many as El Morro de San Felipe. It was used to protect the city of Puerto Plata from pirates and privateers. They built this fort in a perfect place to protect the entrance of the seaport to this city. We only had about fifteen minutes here, so we didn’t go inside except to look in from the doorway.

King Felipe II of Spain commissioned this fort to be built in 1564 and was completed in 1577 by Don Rengifo de Angula, the forts mayor. The fort was used in a land battle in the Quasi War against the United States in May 1800. American Forces dominated the French and Spanish Forces and took control. It is used now as a museum. This fortress is the only remnant of the 16th century in Puerto Plata as everything else was destroyed in battles or fires during the War of Restoration. The location is spectacular with amazing views of the ocean. I could have spent much more time here just looking at the views. Many locals where on the grounds relaxing with their families and pets. When we went to get back on the bus, there were vendors selling handmade items like necklaces and other local crafts.

We boarded the bus and headed towards town. What a busy place. Our next stop was downtown Puerto Plata at Independence Park. The people of Puerto Plata feel this is a symbol of the city and has great historical value. For the people, it is a place to congregate and enjoy family and friends. They have concerts, theatrical presentations, and many important speeches are given here. The park was built by a military man and president, Gregorio Luperon in 1879. It is surrounded by palm trees and had beautiful pastel colored Victorian houses surrounding it as well as municipal buildings. The centerpiece of the park is a stunning Victorian gazebo. It was restored in 1982 to its original condition by engineers Carlos Camilo Hurtad and Humerto Mera and was financed by the World Bank. There are two statues near the gazebo. The first is of Juan Pablo Duarte who bears the title of Father of the Nation. He was a National hero and revolutionary visionary that helped to get the Dominican Republic independence from Haiti. The second is of General Gregorio Luperon who was the Dominican president, military general, businessman, and liberal politician.

Next we walked over to the impressive Catedral San Felipe Apostal which is also known as Puerta Plata Cathedral. It is a nice looking Catholic church. This majestic church was originally founded in 1502 and was originally built of wood. It was destroyed by an intentional fire in 1863 during the Dominican War of Restoration. The new church construction began in 1870 and was built in a modern Victorian style featuring gorgeous twin spirals. Reconstruction of the church was done in 1929 but not completed until 1956. Reconstruction took a lot longer than expected since it got delayed as there was an earthquake in 1946 which did a lot of damage. Then this church got hit by another earthquake in 2003 and was not fully repaired till 2008.

Then we walked down to Umbrella Street, only a couple streets away. This street is only a block long but with the beautiful vines of pink flowers draped over the road and the rainbow colored umbrellas hung high. It was quite a sight. It was so beautiful with the bright blue sky as a backdrop. Along this road, they had an Empanada store that sold many varieties including chicken, cheese, beef, ham and cheese and pizza. Yum. The food smelled wonderful but we ran out of time to grab one. There was also a chocolate shop where they let you try their amazing hot chocolate. So good and rich. Next thing I know, the police are blowing whistles and telling everyone to move out of the way for cars. I felt that was odd since I thought it was pedestrian only. But when I turned around and saw the gorgeous antique cars. The ladies sitting in the back seat of one of them were thrilled and giggling when they got out. I’m sure they really felt special riding in this amazing ride. As we waited for our group, we spent time watching these gorgeous parrots that a lady was holding.

As we walked back to where our bus was to pick us up, we noticed the congestion on the streets was worse than earlier. There was quite a traffic jam waiting for various tours to drop off and pick up people near Independence Square. Tony pointed out Paseo de Dona Blanca which is a historic landmark. It is all painted a brilliant pink color from the floors to the walls to the ceilings in honor of Mrs. Bianca Franceschini. She was from Italy and was a pioneer in bringing tourism to the area. It is known by the locals as the pink alley.

We got back on the bus and at this point, half of our bus was going to the beach and half was going on the cable car. We dropped off eight people at the beach resort so they could spend a couple of hours of fun in the sun and the rest of us started our trek up the mountain to the cable car. This is the part of the excursion we liked the best as we passed many farms with beautiful views. The further we got up the mountain the more tropical and heavily forested it became. It was just stunning. At one point the mountain road was so steep that the bus had to turn off the air conditioner so we had enough power to make it up the mountain. This road called El Cupey was first built by the military to be able to get the machinery and equipment to the top of the mountain to build the cable car in 1971.

We made it to the top of the mountain and got dropped off in the botanical gardens. We were now on top of the Loma Isabel de Torres Mountain which stands tall at 2600 feet high. This mountain was named after Queen Isabel of Spain. The botanical gardens were designed by Benjamin Paiewonsjy and planted in 1973. The tropical fauna was amazing to see with so many different varieties of plants. There were beautiful fountains that were landscaped beautifully. We strolled through some of the colorful gardens in this 15 kilometer area. We were told you can sometimes see a wild parakeet sitting in a tree. This is one of the most visited parks in the Dominican Republic and I can understand why.

We walked a short walk up till we got to the Christ Statue which sits upon a large cement dome. This is a smaller version of the Christ the Redeemer statue located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His arms are outstretched as if welcoming all visitors. We got our picture taken with the statue by a local trying to get some extra money. What a beautiful statue and the people of Puerto Plata must be comforted that Christ is keeping watch over their fine city.

The views from the mountain top were incredible. Seeing all the buildings and homes from above made us realize why it was so congested in the city. We stood and took in the view. Most of the homes and buildings were white and built close together. The blue sea in the background was a lovely blue color.

Then we walked passed a colorful stand that sold ice cream, hot dogs, and specialty drinks and onward down the ramp toward the cable car. Christian Martinez, an architect had an idea of building a cable car to make it easy to get up and down the mountain for both locals and tourist. Up till then, there was only a trail which is still there for those who may want to get their exercise. The trail is going right through the tropical forest and is a steep uphill climb for those up to the challenge.

In 1972, President Dr. Joaquin Balaguer gave the okay for the construction of the cable car. An Italian company named Cerretti Tafani built this cable car in 1974. They ran test on it for six months until they were satisfied it was safe. Then on July 19, 1975, the cable car was opened to the public. This was an incredible feat of engineering to build. This is the only cable car in the Caribbean. It was only an 8 minute ride to get to the bottom but it was an incredible ride. If you go on your own, this cable car ride costs about 10 dollars.

At the bottom, we got back on the bus and made our way back to the beach to pick up the rest of our group. Then we headed back through the city of Puerto Plata. Tony had the bus stop outside a grocery store so he could run in. We all thought it was odd till he came back out with bananas that were just picked off a tree. He handed them out and said taste these. They were amazing. Much more flavor than the bananas at the grocery store. He said that is because they are picked green to be shipped whereas the ones he had were picked from the tree yellow. Afterwards he offered everyone who wanted to try his rum punch. Very tasty.

We arrived back at the port and said our goodbyes to Tony. He was great and we really enjoyed the tour. Now to get back into the Amber Cove cruise port, we showed our ship card. Amber Cove in itself is lovely. In the Aqua Zone there is a large pool where you can rent floats and umbrellas. There was a swim up bar that looked nice. Other things to do there are shop, do water slides, zip line, rent Aqua Boat cycles, kayaks, and stand up paddle boards. You could also rent a cabana for the day if you want to be extravagant. The shopping options offered there are many from local souvenirs and crafts to high end jewelry. There are also restaurants to visit. This whole area was like a botanical garden. It was very beautiful.

Just as a FYI - If you are just staying in Amber Cove for the day, we are told to get off the ship as soon as possible and go to the pool. That why you will be able to get a seat and it is more quiet. If you wait too long, it gets really crowded. When we came back from our excursion, we still had about an hour and a half before the all on board call, and we found it was very quiet at the pool at that time.

We had a great day on the Dominican Republic and saw some beautiful sights. I’m sure we will be back to explore more of the island. Till next time. Bye for now.