CABLE CAR AND LOMA ISABEL DE TORRES

A cable car, inaugurated in 1975, facilitates the ascent of this high hill - the Loma Isabel de Torres, with the status of national park - which stands like a sentinel above Puerto Plata. It is because of its height (the hill culminates at about 900 meters of altitude) and the wide panorama to which it gives access that Trujillo decided to build a fortress here. By posting sentries here, the city was protected, or at least able to retaliate if an attack from the sea took place. In fact, although the summit (where there is a cafeteria) is often trapped in the clouds, the viewpoint has now become a tourist attraction in its own right: the panorama over the city and the entire bay is breathtaking! Throned above the dome of this fortress, the statue of a Christ the Redeemer, more modest than its counterpart of the Sugar Loaf in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, watches over the city. The other interest of the Loma Isabel de Torres is its botanical garden. It is to the engineer Benjamín Paewonsky that we owe this complete creation, dating from 1973. You can follow the paths lined with more than 600 local plant species (594 trees and flowers to be exact) while discovering the reconstruction of a traditional Taino habitat. A recommended visit, which will also allow you to refresh yourself when the heat in the heart of the city becomes stifling.