Santiago de los Caballeros Things to Do

The Tabacalera is a company that makes cigars and I believe cigarettes. They give free tours or at least used to. I found it very interesting to hear where the tobacco came from, see how it is dried and rolled.

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Monument a los Héroes de la Restauración (Monument to the Restoration) is located on a hill in the middle of Santiago. The monument is 67 meters and was built in 1940 by Dictator Rafael Trujillo to honour himself, but after his death it was renamed to honour those who lost their lives in the War of Restoration.

The Monument has been renovated recently and the monument and the surrounding park is really nice.

You can climb the stairs of the monument and get an amazing view of Santiago and the surrounding area and this is absolute recommendable. Inside you’ll find a small museum with costumes, masks and much more.

I think this is a must in Santiago.

The Chapel Santa Ana which was built in Santiago between The Portals Street(calle de los portales) (today Benito Monción) and Holy Ana street(Santa Ana Street) (today Salvador Cucurrullo) and also the Church of San Antonio were destroyed by the earthquake of May 7, 1842- during the Haitian Occupation.
The elderly Tomás Aquino Rodriguez initiated the reconstruction of the temple, which later was remodeled without doubts. That said mister Rodriguez was better known as Siño Tomás the Saint. It was said, that he never touched carnally his faithful wife, the people followed him fervently while he headed the processions, always Rosary in hands and the murmur of a prayer in the lips, never fixed his eyes in none particular nearby place.
Siño Tomás the Saint had predicted that "something big would happen, as a sign, the day of his death. After his death the sorrowful day, when the funeral entourage left the funeral house: a thunderbolt struck a tree in the bakyard of the house of Siño Tomás Aquino Rodriguez.
Mr. Nicanor was a priest that was opposed to the reconstruction of the temple but the will of the Town that, en masse and frightened by the earthquake and sign that took place during his funeral, continued to reconstruct as Siño Tomás the Saint insisted. Later, on the initiative of Father Eliseo Bornia it was built with concrete. Before such event initiated by Siño Tomás the Holy, the temple - according to blue prints before the fire that destroyed the city of Santiago de Los Caballeros- was oriented as the others "from east to West"". After the construction of the plans by Tomás Aquino Rodriguez its orientation is North to South.
The Church of the Altagracia was originaly beeing built where today exists Las Tres Cruces, in the birth of the Beller Street, it was transfered to where it's found today "built with a partial wall, with a stretch sheltered with zinc and the remainder of yagua

It was blessed in April of 1874 by Father Luciano of the Conception Santana who by political causes was expelled of the country, replacing him Pbro Lic. Juan Luís Pérez who finished it. In consequence of the aftershocks of the earthquake of Lilis -1897-98 it suffered damages. A thunderbolt struck it's bell tower in 1924 during a night without clouds, and full of stars: causing appreciable damages. The Father Fortín was the physical, moral, and spiritual power for the existence of the present Temple of Our Lady of the Altagracia.
It's without a doubt one of the most traditonal temples of Santiago, since it's blessing it has never failed to impart mass, nor has it seen it's doors closed by any political or civil disruptions. It's bell tolls as a tradition of Santiago de Los 30 Caballeros, one that shows the people's simplicity on it's own architecture and the humility of the interior decoration, a temple where the rich and poor sit together, without prejudice or preferences.
It's Bell's towers can be seen from a distance, as Santiagueros are reluctant to built a skyscraper dominated landscape, one that brings in the raw speed and inpersonal feel of most heavely populated cities, like Santo Domingo, yet one can see that change it's all around, as many stores remodel and fit themselves for the new market and styles that technology brings about.