Back to Puerto Plata

Among all of the places R and I have visited in our short time in the Dominican Republic, I feel a little guilty about choosing a favorite. Realistically, how could I choose the Bahía de las Águilas over Constanza? Could I really say the Zona Colonial is more beautiful than Samaná? And what about Lago Enriquillo and Cabarete?

But the heart wants what the heart wants. I'm just a little bit in love with Puerto Plata.

R and I spent the last week there; I was working at the consular agency temporarily. We stayed at a magnificent place about 25 minutes from the city - down a rough road (thank you for your service, trusty Rav4) and up in to the mountains. The Charming Countryside Chalet was a tranquil slice of heaven, complete with breakfast. Our hosts were from Austria originally, and they offered to make an Austrian dinner for us one night, an invitation we gladly accepted (it was wonderful). For lunch and our other dinners, we ate at four different restaurants in town (one was so good we ate there twice), all of which were exceptional (especially Kaffe and Los Tres Cocos - OMG).

I was working each day so we didn't do much site seeing and I didn't have the chance to take many photos. I did take the camera out and snap a few shots around the grounds of the bed and breakfast, though:

One of the "common" rooms of the Chalet available for guest use.

The owners have a lot of property surrounding the Chalet, complete with ornamental donkeys.

And the view! The mountain to the left is the Pico Isabel de Torres.

Gorgeous, really.

The city of Puerto Plata is much less frenzied than Santo Domingo. There's a lot of old world charm, and the dramatic coastline is breathtaking. Read about our last stay there here and here.

Call me unfaithful to the other amazingly beautiful places in the Dominican Republic, but my heart remains in Puerto Plata.