Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic - day 2

 We had arrived in Santo Domingo on the evening and had an overnight stop. The next day I went back into town to continue sightseeing. But before I left, I took some photos from the top deck. Looking out to the river mouth, Rio Ozama, and the sand spit with the naval base -

I then took the shuttle bus into the old town. An ice cream man -

I wanted to see parts of the town I hadn't seen yesterday. My first objective was Ruinas de San Francisco, or The Monastery of San Francisco, which is one of the most important ruins in the Dominican Republic. It was built for the first religious order to arrive, a Franciscan Order, and the monastery which was completed in 1560 is the oldest in all America. The area is all fenced off, apparently protected by law and by the National Permanent Commission of Patriotic Anniversaries of the Dominican Republic (Wikipedia).

There were no other tourists here at all. I liked the fossils in the floor -

San Miguel Church -

San Lazaro Church. The Church and Hospital of San Lázaro is a chapel built in the Gothic style at the end of the 16th century in order to care for people suffering from leprosy and at the same time have a place to strengthen their faith.

I hadn't seen any tourists at all, but then headed down into the main tourist area of the old town, and on to Independence Park. I had to wait to get in as a school group were having photos taken at the main entrance, The Count's Gate, named after the Count of Peñalba, former captain general of Santo Domingo, who successfully defended the city from a British invasion in 1655 -

Statues of national heroes -

Altar de la Patria, an imposing marble mausoleum housing the nation's founding fathers -

From left to right - Juan Pablo Duarte, Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, and Ramón Matías Mella, collectively known as Los Trinitarios.

Some street scenes as I headed back -

Colon Park -

Bank Reservas -

And a final photo of the tourist police -

Looking downriver from the floating bridge -

People fishing and selling fish by the river -

Back at the cruise terminal, these characters were waiting to say goodbye -

Final view of the Santo Domingo skyline as we sailed away -