The sea side road will be shut down to traffic between Calle José Heredia and Máximo Gómez from 6AM Holy Wednesday/ Miércoles Santo (April/abril 4) to Sunday (April/ abril 8). This is the section where Plaza Guibia is located near Adrian Tropical Restaurant and Malecon Center.

The entire stretch of highway will be shut down, covered with sand and converted to a big beach/ playa. Most people leave the city to return to their home towns or to visit many or our beautiful beaches and rivers. This project bring the beach to those that cannot leave the capital for whatever reason, especially the lower income families. Mayor Roberto Salcedo says that the space will become a sort of terrace with 12 pools, sand, lounge chairs and other attractions. There will be sand, palm trees, 12 portable swimming pools for the children, sun loungers, basketball and beach volleyball courts. There will also be sporting competitions including beach volley ball with the participation of 200 teams from various colleges and schools of the National District. There will be areas for skating and cycling. There will be tables for playing dominoes, chess and aerobics sessions for the adults. There will be something for everyone including special entertainment for the children.

All the Dominican Republics Police and many military personnel will be present to ensure all runs smoothly and without incident.

Click poster to enlarge

On the Day of National Heritage/ Patrimonio Nacional, the Cultural Center of Spain/ Centro Cultural de España in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture/ Ministerio de Cultura and the Archbishop of Santo Domingo/ Arzobispado Metropolitano de Santo Domingo there will be a group ringing of the bells. This is a worldwide activity which will take place in Dominican Republic for the first time this year. Llorenç Barber who is a composer, instrumentalist and musicologist will direct the concert. He will be accompanied by the band of Monserrat Palacios who will be ringing the bells throughout the Colonial City.

The organizers offered local musicians, art students, choir members, and just people who wanted to participate to join in. They have been practicing all week. I have been hearing the bells ringing at different intervals throughout this week. They sound wonderful and I cannot wait to hear the real event.

During this ringing of the bells or after they will light the Columbus Lighthouse/ Faro de Colón which usually only happens once or twice a year. So keep you eyes to the sky to see the illuminated cross high above the city.

The 12 bells will be synchronized starting at 8PM. To avoid interfering with the concert, vehicular traffic will be detoured from 7 to 10 pm on the following streets:
Las Mercedes and Padre Billini, from Santomé to Calle Las Damas. The streets Santomé, Sánchez, José Reyes, 19 de marzo, Duarte, Hostos, Arzobispo Meriño and Las Damas, from Las Mercedes and Padre Billini; Arz. Noel, El Conde, Salomé Ureña and General Luperón.

They posted tips on how to hear the best sounds of the bells:
1. Try and find a centrally located spot between all the churches in the Colonial Zone.
2. Try and get a spot that is quiet.
3. Find an open space, the higher the better.
4. Listen closely for all the different sounds both large and small.
5. Abrir de par en par las puertas de la sensibilidad y la memoria.

I will try and put the live Colonial Zone Web Cam out the window and see if I can pick up the sound. The web cam will also be archived in case you cannot watch in real time. I will also try and record it with my digital camera to share. Lets hope one of these will work so we can share this event with the world.

The Mayor of the National District, Roberto Salcedo, The Minister of Tourism, Francisco Javier Garcia, The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Jaime David Fernandez Mirabal, the General Coordinator of the Clúster Turístico of Santo Domingo, Freddy Ginebra and many of the cities mayors all got together to find a good way to promote Santo Domingo as a brand. After three years of work and research Santo Domingo has its own logo. It was designed by Dominican Rafael Holguin and was inaugurated on August 10, 2011 at the Hilton Hotel.

The new promotion planned is to market Santo Domingo through many different means to make this great city, the oldest in the Americas, more attractive to tourism. This will promote Santo Domingo’s diverse culture including the music, food, sun, sea, history, arts, crafts, history and the friendly Dominican people. They want to increase the flow of tourists to the city by getting the community to participate in making tourists feel at home. They are starting educational activities called “Hosts in Santo Domingo” / “Anfitriones en Santo Domingo” to raise awareness of fair treatment to tourists and to teach the importance of tourism in the city.

When the new Coral Highway is completed next year there should be a large number of tourists coming to the city, especially the Colonial Zone. This road will cut the traveling time from Punta Cana to the city in half. It now takes a little over 4 hours to make the road trip on a good day. When the highway is complete the trip will take less than 2 hours on the road. This is a big difference when you only have a week for a vacation and want to make the most of every minute.

There is also the official song and video “Santo Domingo Es Alegría” by Pavel Nuñez.

This video is the entire recording and video of the song Santo Domingo es Alegria,la Marca Ciudad de Santo Domingo, by Pavel Nunez. He speaks about how he loves Santo Domingo in the beginning. This is a great video.

Common everyone and visit Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. See why “Santo Domingo es Alegría”!

There will be between 250 to 300 police working around the clock in three 8 hour shifts. All will be getting special training. This new security team includes the Policía Nacional/ National Police, la Autoridad Metropolitana de Transporte (Amet)/ The Metropolitan Transport Authority, la Policía Turística/ the Tourist Police and la Policía Municipal/ the Municipal Police.

Mayor Salcedo said that “se aúnan esfuerzos para consolidar una estructura de seguridad que garantice, tanto al turista, como al visitante, que nada habrá de ocurrirle, que podrán transitar libremente”. / “joining forces to build a security structure that ensures both the tourist and visitors that nothing will happen, they can move freely.”

They also said that they will be repairing the lighting that is out of service, stop parking on sidewalks and where it is prohibited and limit access for heavy vehicles. They will be enforcing a plan to make the Colonial City safe for tourists and residents alike. After this new plan is implemented they are going to take this to other parts of the country as well. Trying to make the country safer for all.

Lets hope this happens fast and that the much needed security for the Zona Colonial is finally a real happening. That all can go out whether it be day or night and feel safe in this historic city.