Photos

The Monasterio de San Francisco. Dating back from 1508, it is the first Monastery of the New World, like Santo Domingo has many 'first of the New World' architecture. It's unbelievable, isn't it, in 1492 Columbus landed on the Antilles thinking he discovered Japan, and just 16 years later the Spaniards had built whole monasteries there. They started work on the a full-scale cathedral in 1514. Emphasises that not just the quest for gold and greed, but also the spread of catholicism and the defense of that religion in a time of wars against protestants back home in Europe really was a priority too. Not surprisingly then that it was the protestant Englishman Drake and his pirates who devastated the city and this monastery. It was later finished of by a hurricane to the ruins that remain today. Seems the tree in front has suffered from that hurricane too....