El Conde street, the Colonial district’s commercial center is a paved street that encompasses from Parque Colón (Columbus Park) to Parque Independencia (Independence Park). The only pedestrian street in the city, it was named in honor of the Conde de Peñalva, Governor of Hispaniola, who in 1655 helped defend the city against the English.

Upon arriving at Parque Independencia, you can visit the mausoleum, where the remains of the Founding Fathers (Duarte, Sánchez and Mella) lie. Under the frontispiece of the Puerta del Conde there is a votive lamp that burns in their honor, as a sign of the Dominican people’s respect and veneration for their heroic deed.

To the north you can see the remains of the wall that protected the colonial city and the Fuerte de la Concepción (Conception Fort), a 17th-century military watchtower.

To the south, on Palo Hincado street, stands the Puerta de la Misericordia (Door of Mercy), the place where Ramón Matías Mella fired the shot that proclaimed the national independence on February 27, 1844.

If you rent a car, review the map that guides you from the city to Autopista Duarte.

In addition, modern, comfortable buses run on fixed schedules from the terminals located in the cities covered by their routes.

This highway, considered an ecological highway, offers a magnificent panoramic view of the Dominican countryside. Maximum speed allowed, and controlled by radar, is 80 kph.

You are now heading north through the Cibao valley, meaning “many peaks or mountains” in the Taíno language. Christopher Columbus named it Vega Real and for Dominicans it is “la tierra de María Santísima” (the land of the Most Holy Mary).

In this region, the fertile land is good for cultivating any grain, and this exceptional condition is explains its obviously high population density.

The roadside is a great market of seasonal fruits that cooperatives and country-folk sell.