Puerto Plata
| Puerto Plata | ||
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Coordinates: 19 ° 47 ′ N , 70 ° 42 ′ W Puerto Plata on the map of Dominican Republic
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| Basic data | ||
| Country |
 Dominican Republic
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| province | Puerto Plata | |
| City foundation | 1502 | |
| Residents | 158,756 (2016) | |
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| Detailed data | ||
| surface | 509.01 km 2 | |
| Population density | 312 inhabitants / km 2 | |
| height | 8 m | |
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Puerto Plata ( Silver Harbor ; official name San Felipe de Puerto Plata ) is a city and the administrative seat of the province of Puerto Plata in the north of the Dominican Republic . The city has around 158,000 inhabitants and is one of the most important port cities in the Dominican Republic. Its name goes back to Christopher Columbus .
geography
The area is covered by thick vegetation and very hilly. In the east, sugar cane is grown for local rum production.
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Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Puerto Plata
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Attractions
In addition to the port, Puerto Plata is known for the hotel settlements of Playa Dorada and Costa Dorada to the east of the city . In total, the city of Puerto Plata offers over 10,000 hotel beds.
Puerto Plata has a cable car that goes up to Pico Isabel de Torres , Puerto Plata's 793 meter high local mountain. The lower station is in the southwest of the city center, not far from the road to Santiago de los Caballeros . Above is a botanical garden with a small replica of the Christ statue Cristo Redentor in Rio de Janeiro .
Just before the port is the small fortress Fortaleza San Felipe , built in the 16th century , which served as a prison until the Trujillo dictatorship and is now a museum. There is also an amber museum . In the city center is the Parque Central with the church and a wooden pagoda. East of the city center on the road to the airport is the Brugal family's rum factory, which produces one of the three major rum brands in the country.
The cityscape in the center is characterized by some streets with colored Caribbean wooden houses - some with a covered veranda. Calle Beller has a particularly large number of houses that are worth seeing. The city's oldest hotel is also one of the city's attractions. On the seashore there is a three kilometer long and wide beach promenade, the so-called Malecón, which is shaded by palm trees. At the western end of the Malecón, below the fort, there is a memorial to the people who died of the plane that crashed off the coast in 1996 . The city is primarily a shopping center for the population of the region and therefore still has its original character and is not dominated by tourist facilities.
traffic
The Puerto Plata airport is located east of the city towards Sosúa / Cabarete and 15 km from Puerto Plata in the town of La Unión .
Puerto Plata is connected to all major cities in the country via the bus station south of the center and the buses from Caribe-Tours and Javilla. A dense network of inexpensive minibuses ( guaguas ) operates in and around Puerto Plata . Their stops are near the national bus station.
Surroundings
In the northwest lies the La Isabela settlement , which Columbus had built around the turn of the year 1493/1494 as the first permanently inhabited settlement in the New World . A few kilometers to the east are the small town of Sosúa and Cabarete, a place known for surfing.
Typical street scene in the city center
Ascent with the cable car to the Pico Isabel de Torres
Personalities
sons and daughters of the town
- Eduardo Brito (1905-1946), opera and tzarzuela singer (baritone)
- Ramón Francisco (* 1929), poet and essayist
- Vinicio Franco (born 1933), singer
- Ramón Díaz Freeman (1901–1976), composer, organist and bassoonist
- Vicente Grisolía (1924-2011), pianist
- Al Horford (born 1986), basketball player
- Juan Lockward (1915-2006), singer and composer
- Félix López (1917–1969), songwriter
- José de Jesús Lora (1923–2013), violinist
- Emilio Noelting (1851-1922), chemist
- Manuel Plá Cocco (1910–1989), flautist, violinist, cellist, music teacher and composer
- Rafael Solano (* 1931), composer and pianist
Honorary citizen
- Otto Retzer (* 1945), Austrian actor and director, who shot 12 films in the Dominican Republic
deceased
- Falco (1957–1998), Austrian pop singer and musician, had a fatal accident in Montellano (near Puerto Plata) in a car accident
Web links
- Homepage (Ministry of Tourism)