Ciudad de ponce puerto rico: Visit Ponce — Ciudad Ideal
Ponce, Puerto Rico Travel Guide- Top Hotels, Restaurants, Vacations, Sightseeing in Ponce- Hotel Search by Hotel & Travel Index: Travel Weekly
Overview
Ponce, Puerto Rico’s fourth-largest city, is the birthplace of a long roster of Puerto Rican writers, statesmen, singers and poets.
Known as the Ciudad Senorial (the Noble City) or La Perla del Sur (the Pearl of the South), Ponce has taken equal pride in its architecture. In the mid-1800s, Ponceno leaders used the profits from their vast sugarcane and coffee crops to construct ornate buildings for various civic, cultural and artistic institutions—turning the downtown into a showplace. When Ponce’s city economy waned in the 1930s, however, the buildings slid into disrepair.
Ponce has undergone a revival in the past decade or so, receiving hundreds of millions of dollars to revitalize its wooden and plaster buildings (increasing the number of historically significant protected ones to more than 1,000), many of which are adorned with pillars, balconies and intricate latticework. The refurbishment campaign, known locally as Ponce en Marcha (Ponce on the Move), has had impressive results.
In addition to its architecture, Ponce also offers visitors a standout art museum and a picturesque boardwalk.
Ponce has made great strides in its recovery from Hurricane Maria in September 2017, especially in tourist areas. Central Ponce around Plaza Las Delicias appears fully restored, although some individual museums may still be undergoing renovations. Further from city center, expect to see rougher roads, downed utility lines and ongoing repairs.
Geography
The southern city of Ponce is at the foothills of the Cordillera Central mountain range. You will definitely know when you’re entering the city because five monumental letters spell out «Ponce» in alternating black and red colors, positioned at the highway entrance to the city.
Look out for the lions, too—concrete figures of lions representing Ponce’s pride, history and tradition. The neoclassical architecture and European touches distinguish Ponce from other Puerto Rican cities.
History
Ponce was founded in 1692 by Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de Leon’s great-grandson Loiza Ponce de Leon. Ponce was Spain’s capital city of the southern region until 1898, when Puerto Rico fell to the U.S.
In addition to being known as the Ciudad Senorial or La Perla del Sur, Ponce is also called the Ciudad de los Leones (City of the Lions), and there are many freestanding lion figures and sculptures throughout the city, especially in the downtown plaza and entrances to the city.
The firehouse in Ponce, known locally as the Parque de Bombas, holds much history for the southern city, as do the firefighters of the station. While on duty in 1883, the firefighters put out a fire that nearly destroyed much of the southern coast. Today, many tourists flock to visit the red- and black-striped (the city’s colors) station, which is now a main visitor attraction in the central plaza of the city; the station operated until 1990 before becoming a public museum.
The Ponce Museum of Art, another historical gem, houses the largest art collection in the Caribbean and holds a sentimental place in the hearts of Puerto Ricans and Poncenos. It was founded by the island’s late Gov. Luis A. Ferre, a highly regarded political figure and humanitarian. Ponce’s history is also evidenced by the main plaza, which includes city hall, the oldest colonial building in the city, dating to the 1840s. Poncenos hold a great pride for their city.
Sightseeing
Visitors to Ponce have no problem exploring the historic downtown by foot or by taking the regularly scheduled free trolley service that whisks you by the historical sites.
Nightlife
Evening activities center on the hotels, especially the casino at Hilton Ponce Golf & Casino Resort, which has live music on the weekends.
But you should visit the downtown plaza briefly to view the Fountain of the Lions all lit up—it’s worth the trip. Downtown is pleasant and safe after dark.
On weekends, La Guancha is the place to be—a local band is usually playing on the open-air stage, and the boardwalk is full of dancers and strollers.
Dining
Ponce has several excellent restaurants serving Continental cuisine. You’ll also find local eateries serving filling plates of comida criolla (local food) for little money. Fast-food restaurants abound, as do food carts and stalls where you can buy local favorites such as empanadillas (chicken- or beef-stuffed turnovers), rellenos de papa (fried potato balls stuffed with meat) and alcapurrias (plantain wraps filled with meat and seafood) for a dollar or two.
Expect to pay within these guidelines for a meal for one, not including drinks, tax or tip: $ = less than US$10; $$ = US$10-$20; $$$ = US$21-$50; and $$$$ = more than US$50.
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Step back into Spanish history in Ponce, Puerto Rico
Last updated on February 9th, 2022
One of the greatest joys of travel is the chance to experience the past, unvarnished and unaltered by time and decay. Such a place is Ponce. Located on the southern coast of Puerto Rico, Ponce is often referred to as La Perla del Sur (The Pearl of the South) or La Ciudad de los Leones (City of Lions). It was first discovered in 1692, and is named for Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the great-grandson of Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce De León. Today, it is the most populous city outside of San Juan.
Carolyn stands in the plaza of El Parque de Bombas / Photo credit: Carolyn Ray
The storied history and architectural beauty of this colonial city may be best seen in its red and black museum of firefighting history (El Parque de Bombas). Built in the town square in 1882, it was Puerto Rico’s first fire station, a symbol of prosperity at a time when Ponce was experiencing an influx of entrepreneurs and industrialists from around the world, incentivized by the government’s desire to make it an industrial hub for coffee, sugarcane and shipping.
Melina Aguilar Colón’s company Isla Caribe offers historical tours of Ponce. “Ponce is a cultural tourism gem that has not been polished,” she said. “There are so many opportunities for growth and real impact, especially in creating jobs and economic growth.”
She started her business after Hurricane Maria motivated to do something for her community and Puerto Rico to help develop the island using cultural tourism.
Red buildings in Ponce, Puerto Rico / Photo credit: Carolyn Ray
Street art in Ponce, Puerto Rico / Photo credit: Carolyn Ray
“My family moved to Ponce when I was two to start a family business in the historic area,” she said. “After Maria, I felt I had responsibility to come back after working overseas for 10 years and help the city’s tourism rise again. I had just graduated with a Masters in Political Science and International Relations from the Graduate Institute of Geneva, but I knew I wanted to come back and help develop my island. I knew my city was the perfect place to start.”
There is much to discover here, and I wish I could have stayed longer. From the heart of the city, at Plaza Las Delicias, where El Parque de Bombas and La Catedral Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe are located, you can easily walk to aristocratic homes, stunning fountains and open-air museums and art galleries, most of which are meticulously well-preserved.
Street art in Ponce, Puerto Rico / Photo credit: Carolyn Ray
There is also a revival happening, with cruise ships, new art galleries and hotels like the 1950s-themed Fabulous Fox. Once an art deco movie theatre built in 1934, the Fox re-opened in December 2019, welcoming you with pink flamingoes in a circular fountain near the entrance.
I left Ponce feeling that I hadn’t given it enough time; and sadly, many of the colonial structures that I would have like to visit were damaged in the earthquake that happened days later. I’m planning to return and spend more time walking its cobbled streets and learning more about its music, creativity, and culture
- To plan your trip, visit: visitponce.com
- Isla Caribe Tours: www.islacaribepr.com
- Review our Earthquake Tips on how to plan and prepare for an earthquake
- El Parque de Bombas: located at Plaza Las Delicias, the city square
- El Castillo de Serrallés: Built in 1926, the family home of the Serrallés family (Don Q Rum), is now a museum offering a glimpse into the history of the sugar cane and rum industry
- The Tibes Indigenous Ceremonial Centre: one of the most important archaeological discoveries made in the Antilles, providing insight into how the indigenous tribes of the Igneri and Tainos lived before the arrival of Christopher Columbus.
- Calle 25 de Enero: the 25 tiny red and black houses that were awarded to the firefighters who saved their city from an enormous blaze in 1899
- Hotel Belgica: Right on the town square; ask for a room with a balcony www.hotelbelgica.com
- The 100-foot Watchman Cross, or Cruceta del Vigía marks the original wooden cross where residents were alerted to merchant ships and invaders arriving at its port through a series of flags on top of a hill
- The Fabulous Fox Hotel: just re-opened with a retro-1950s theme www.thefoxponce.com
- Places to eat: Vistas Restaurant, Lola’s
Carolyn Ray
A passionate traveller, Carolyn believes anything is possible when we follow our heart and trust our intuition. Raised in Florida, Carolyn loves all things Latin, margaritas, the ocean and music. She’s a board member of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW), a member of the Travel Media Association of Canada (TMAC) and the North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA).
«The Sedition of the Independent Powers in Latin America»
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Slide in a whiten in the widespread. discrimination, high tributes, which tampered with the economic development of the colonies. The beginning of the war was also taken by the awakening of national self-confidence, injecting the War for the independence of the United States, the Great French Revolution, the rebellion of the slaves at St. Domingue (1791-1803). Until the beginning of the war, they served as a postal service in Spain in 1808, which followed the invasions of Napoleon’s troops and brought the borders of France to the fallow land. They stunned the rush for the independence of the crews of Creoles — the first European settlers, as they considered themselves Americans and started to choose the share of their fatherland. Created by the revolutionaries of the taєmnі spilka and masonic lodges, they thrashed and expanded books and hour-paintings with novelties from Europe and calls to independence from the metropolis.
Slide number 4
As a result of the national and voluntary struggle of the peoples of Latin America, INDEPENDENT POWERS settled in this region: Haiti (1804), Paraguay (1811), Argentina (1816), Chile (1818), (18) Great Colombia (1821), Mexico (1821), Federation of Republics of Central America (1821), Bolivia (1825), Uruguay (1830). Settlement of Independent Powers in Latin America. Lesson plan: Latin America in the 18th century — on the cob of the 19th century. Rise up on the island of Gaiti. Change your mind about the fight of Latin Americans against the Spanish panuvannya. War for the independence of the Spanish colonies in Latin America (1810-1826).
Slide number 5
The name «Latin America» was introduced by the French Emperor Napoleon III as a political term; Vіn looking at Latin America and Indo-China as a territory, on yakі France tried to expand its influx with a stretch of its rule. This term added to you to add vimogi to the specified territories and is guilty of including those parts of America, which are called Roman language, so that the territories are populated by people from the Iberian Pivostrov and France for a period of 15-16 centuries. In the Successful States, the term did not win until 1890s, and becoming wider only on the cob of the 20th century. Before that, the term «Spanish America» was often used.
Slide number 6
The Spanish colonization of America (1492–1898, conquista, conquista in Spanish La Conquista) began with the discovery of the first islands of the Caribbean Sea by the Spanish navigator Columbus in 1492, as the Spanish part of Asia. Produced in different regions in different ways. More colonies were able to conquer independence at the beginning of the 19th century, if Spain itself was going through a period of deep social and economic stagnation. However, a number of island regions (Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic) were ruled by Spain until 1898, if the USA let Spain have its colonies after the war.
Slide number 7
The Spanish Empire (Isp. Imperio Español) was formed from territories and colonies controlled by Spain in Europe, Northern and Western America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. At the peak of its power, it was one of the largest empires in world history. Tse became the next hour Doby great geographic vіdkrittіv. The Spanish Empire has become one of the first global empires. Vaughn established independence from the 15th century until the independence of the 20th century by the African Volodya.
Number Slide 8
Pislya completed the reconnicity of all Mauritanic land Buli Buli soon, I was in the region of the same, the young people, Yaki, did not renounce the rods, All these groups far away laid the foundation for the class of conquistadores. On the other hand, Spain planned to continue the victory of the Muslims from the peninsula of Africa; The respect of the conquistadors quickly passed to the roots of the vast and often sparsely populated expanses of the New World. 9-1830 — President of Great Colombia, settled in the territory of these lands. In 1824, the king of Peru and becoming a ceramics worker established on the territory of Upper Peru of the Republic — Bolivia (1825 r_k), yak was named after him. The National Congress of Venezuela voted in 1813 the fate of the «Pleasant». National hero of six countries of Pivdennoy America.
Slide number 12
José Francisco de San Martín y Matorras France) — hero of the Argentine revolution, general, national hero of Argentina and Peru. Through the Kilka, the Dnies of the Pilot of Yogo in the Buenos Aires in Oblodnani Provinziy (Ofіni called the Argentineyo Republiko in 1826 Rotsi), the perishable Triumvіat recognized San Martin with the cavalier of the cavalier of the part, the deprivation of the part of the unit I started to organize a regiment of girsky grenadiers. There were no professional military leaders in Buenos Aires;
Slide number 13
Republic of Venezuela. Simon Bolívar took an active part in the fight against the Spanish Panuvannya in Venezuela (due to the end of 1810) and voted by the independent republic (1811). After defeating the rest of the Spanish troops, in 1812 he settled in New Granada (now Colombia), and on the cob of 1813 he turned to Batkivshchyna. In the early 1813 year, Caracas was buried; The friend of the Venezuelan Republic was voted in favor of Bolívar. However, having failed to carry out reforms for the lower versts of the population, they could not enlist their support and in 1814 recognized the blows. Bolivar knew the pylons in Jamaican, at the spring of 1815, publishing a leaflet there, declaring that the soon-to-be-sung Spanish America was famous. The decision of the Colombian Bolіvar recognized the necessary permission of the slaves and the resolution of other social problems. After reconquering the President of Haiti, Alexander Petion, to give the rebels military help, in 1816 he landed on the shores of Venezuela. The discussion of slavery (1816) and the publication of the 1817 decree on the allocation of land to soldiers of the free army gave you the opportunity to expand the social base of your support.
After the success of Venezuelan Bolívar in 1819roci shaped New Granada. At the end of 1819, the President of the Republic of Colombia, voted by the President of the National Congress in Angosturi (the current Ciudad Bolívar), had passed before Venezuela and Nova Granada. In 1822, the Colombian troops drove the Spanish forces from the province of Quito (modern Ecuador), as they came to Colombia.
Slide number 14
Simon Bolivar is a political fiend of Pivdennoy America, having poured in the authority of someone in the first half of the 19th century, they urged the ice not to be born on him. Yogo was seriously afraid of the creation of the not long before the last Success of the States of Pivnіchnі America, even if sideways they have an axis-axis small winknuti new and dosit vplivov power — the Received of the States of PіvdennoїAmerica, otherwise Great Colombia, like not over the area, attacked the potentialities of the possibilities b USA. The central squares of all, the most critical, places of Venezuela are named after Simon Bolivar. On them, in obov’yazkovom order, there is a yoga monument. The erection of monuments is carried out by the sovereignty of the state with obov’yazkovym low minds: as if Bolіvar won the battle without a middle in the outskirts of this place, this bronze statue can sit on top of a horse with bare armor. Those are the places, through yaki or a series of yakami vins, once having passed, it is only the hero’s breasts that are guilty of interfacing. True, the sculptors from various provinces of Venezuela depict Bolívar in a different way, and it is also impossible to believe in those that all these monuments are dedicated to one and the same people.
Slide number 15
The Mexican War of Independence (1810–1821) was a bitter conflict between the people of Mexico and the Spanish colonial power, part of the war for the independence of the Spanish colonies in America. The conflict arose on the 16th of spring 1810 due to the turmoil of the villagers and in the course of time turned into a global national revolution for independence from Spain. The anti-colonial war broke out in Mexico after the fact that Napoleon’s war in the process of the Spanish-French war (1808-1814) paid for Spain. The first struggle for the independence of Mexico developed behind the butts of the Great French Revolution (1789-1794 years) and Wars for the independence of the United States (1775-1783 years).
Slide number 16
The following lands traditionally reach Central America: Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama may go all the way to the Pacific Ocean, so to the Caribbean Sea, El Salvador — only to the Pacific Ocean, Belize — up to Caribbean sea.
Slide number 17
Formerly Brazil was conquered by Pedro Alvaris Cabral in 1500 who came to the Portuguese colonial empire. Independence power voted in 1822 as the Brazilian Empire. Portugal made a significant contribution to the culture of the country. For faith, the majority of Brazilians are Catholics, to work for the country of Brazil with the largest Catholic population in the world.
Slide number 18
The first hour of the war for the independence of the Spanish colonies in America 1810-26 Argentines under the bricks of Brown, Belgrano and San Martin fought against the Spanish colonialists. In 1816, the congress of representatives of the provinces at the metro station Tucumani voted for the independence of the Union of the Provinces of Rio de La Plati in Spain. In 1826 the federal Republic of Argentina was created.
Slide number 19
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Isp. República Bolivariana de Venezuela) is a country on the Pivdeni America on the coast of the Caribbean Sea, between the exit from Gayana, on the way to Colombia — south Nearly forty islands also enter the warehouse of Venezuela, the largest is Margarita Island. The Republic of Colombia is a country in Pivdenny America, between Panama at the pivnichny entry, Venezuela at the pivnichny entry, Brazil at the pivdenny entry, Peru and Ecuador at the pivdenny entry, from the pivnich and entry by the Pacific Ocean. Colombia is the only pivdennoamerican country, which can go both to the Atlantic (through the Caribbean Sea), and to the Pacific Ocean.
Slide number 20
On April 19, 1810, the fate of the insurrection in Caracas broke out, and the Verkhovna Uryadova Junta came to power. On the 2nd of March, 1811, the National Congress voted the independence of Venezuela on the 5th of March, 1811, and on the 21st of December, 1811, it praised the republican constitution. In the wake of the onset of the Spanish military, in April 1812, Francisco de Miranda was recognized as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the republic, and after the low failures of the military capitulations. Mayzhe overnight with Venezuela, the revolutionary movement swamped New Granada (nine Colombia). On June 20, 1810, an insurrection began in the capital of Bogota, and on June 30, 1811, the “Power of Cundinamarca” was announced, and A. Nariño became president. In the fall of 1811, the other provinces were united by the Confederation of the Confederate Provinces of New Granadi with the center at Cartagena. For the support of the ranks of the confederation and Cundinamarca, a significant part of Venezuela was forged, and in 1813, a friend of the Republic of Venezuela was established in the country with Simon Bolívar. Until the end of 1814, the fate fell under the onslaught of the Spaniards, as if they were spiraling on the support of the spicy shepherds-llanero under the wire of Boves. Until May 1816, the Morilho expeditionary corps established the rule of Spain and New Granada.
Slide number 21
Chile — a country at the end of Pivdenny America. Borrow a lot of land between the Andes at the exit and the Pacific Ocean at the entrance. The country borrows an area of 756,096 km² and May 17.5 million people (the target for 2017 is [1]). The capital of that largest city is Santiago, and the national language is Spanish. Peru is a country in Northern America, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Mezhuє on pivnochi with Ecuador and Colombia, on the way — from Brazil and Bolivia, on pivdni — from Chile. The Bagatonic State of Bolivia is a power in the central part of Pivdenny America. At night and at the descent between Brazil, at the descent — from Paraguay, at the descent — from Argentina and at the entrance — from Chile and Peru.
Slide number 22
Paraguay — a country in Pivdenny America, bordering on the pivnichny descent from Brazil, pivdniy from Argentina; come from Bolivia. Area — 406752 km²; capital of Asuncion. Relief: swampy plains, divided by the Paraguay river, on the pied descent cordon to pass along the Parana river. The Republic of Uruguay is a power in the purest part of Northern America, on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Between Brazil and Argentina. Ecuador is a country in Pivdenny America, which intersects at night with Colombia, descends and pivdni from Peru, at sunset it is washed by the Pacific Ocean; area 270 670 km². Member of the UN (D 1945), OAD (since 1948), SOT (since 1996), OPEC (since 1973), IMF.
Slide Number 23
The per capita tax and labor duties of the indigenous population were waived, and slavery was abolished in most lands.