Monuments to visit Puerto Plata

The handicraft market, the Mercado Nuevo, is housed in a concrete structure with a resolutely modern and aggressive architecture. Stands offer all local production in the fields of sculpture, painting, basket, textiles and consumables, cigars, rum… Apart from this, the traditional market is held with its coloured stalls and amply supplied in fruit and vegetables, sheltered under umbrellas or large sheets of plastic. We weigh the products on scales of fortune, the small restaurants make room.

The lighthouse is emblematic of the area. This imposing monument was made from cast iron by Robert Hills and Sons, at the request of the provisional government of Gregorio Luperón. It was lit for the first time on September 9, 1879. It is 24 meters high and rises about 50 meters above sea level. A spiral staircase runs inside. Its visit is of little interest today except for the beautiful panorama that is offered to our eyes... At its feet lies the new Anfiteatro de Puerto Plata, an open-air theatre inaugurated in 2016.

A square and imposing building, composed of a wall framing a central round and crenellated tower. Its strategic position allowed it to effectively defend the entrance to the port against pirate attacks. It is the only building in Puerto Plata dating from the 16th century. The fortress was used as a court of justice and then as a military prison on several occasions, notably from 1930 to 1961, under the Trujillo dictatorship. Inside there is a small military museum; you can see the cell of Juan Pablo Duarte, father of the country, who was detained there in August 1844.