Puerto Plata, Colonial port city in northern Dominican Republic
Puerto Plata is a coastal town in northern Dominican Republic between the Atlantic and Isabel de Torres mountain. The streets downtown show houses with iron balconies and wooden shutters in Victorian style from around 1900.
Columbus founded the settlement in 1503 as a trading harbor for sugar and other goods heading to Europe. The town went through several cycles of decline and growth during Spanish colonial times and developed again as a major export harbor in the 19th century.
The name means silver port and comes from the way Spanish explorers saw the ocean shimmer at dawn. Visitors today walk through the old quarter and stop at amber workshops where craftsmen shape and polish stones into jewelry right in front of passersby.
The international airport sits about 25 minutes east of downtown and handles flights from North America and Europe. Most hotels and apartments line the coast outside the core town with regular bus connections into the city center.
A cable car from the 1970s takes visitors to the top of Isabel de Torres in about ten minutes. At the summit stands a smaller version of the Christ statue from Rio de Janeiro surrounded by tropical plants and viewpoints over town and ocean.
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