Santo Domingo Malecon — Attraction in Santo Domingo

A street bordering the sea in a Caribean Island? you automatically visualize palm trees and blue skies. Yes there are both but also trees that look drawing by a japanese master, but then again with flowers in indendary colors. The whole effect is Haruki Murakami meets Junot Diaz!

A stroll for the malecón also gives you a good idea of the city and the groups that live there. Groups of men leisury playing dominoes -always men, looks like Dominican women don´t like it, or have something better to do...- loving couples, locals and travelers just walking around, urban fisherman trying to catch something, restaurants specialize in seafood and surprise! in Italian food, teens in skates or bikes. Several Dominican friends and a guard told me it could be dangerous and instructed me to hide my cell phone, but I was not disturbed in any way and just love to walk the thhree kilometers around the bay.

A warning though, the traffic rules in Santo Domingo, are not observed, sometimes at all. It could be very difficult and risky to cross the Washington Av. from and into the city. Actually a guard came to help me to cross the street after a noisy altercation with a motorbike driver. We are talking a crossing with red light and pedestrian crossing!

Nevertheless I am eager to repeat the experience and to see more of...

We just arrived today and they already have 2 strikes. First of all we paid more for the privilege luxury benefit which include "allegedly" a private check in and upon arrival they told us that due to Covid-19 the check in politics changed, so now they pack up everyone together. Second strike at the Thalassa restaurant I ordered for a picanha steak and they served a NY strip steak instad; the big big problem was they tried to convince me this was a picanha. I let you the pictures here to judge...

Currently, Santo Domingo’s seafront is a speedway for heavy truck traffic, noisy, and unsafe for pedestrians. Derelict buildings, unfinished high rises, poorly-lit areas and a sewage smell from the sea gives it an unsafe vibe. The sites of once-iconic Santo Domingo destinations, Restaurante Vesuvio, La Ceniza, Hotel Hispaniola, Teatro Agua y Luz, are now ruins of an ancient past when the district was a must-see tourist destination. Santo Domingo is now a city that turns its back to...