Ponce: Pearl of the South

The first four of our six nights in Puerto Rico were focused on water sports and beaches (three nights in Fajardo and a night on Vieques with a day trip from Fajardo to Culebra), but our fourth and fifth nights were more focused on the two largest cities in Puerto Rico. We spent our second-to-last night in Puerto Rico in the second largest city (Ponce in the south) and spent our last night in the largest city (San Juan in the north).

Our prelimiarily planned activities in Ponce were more affected by COVID-19 and recent natural disasters than in other locations of Puerto Rico we visited. Several of Ponce's well-known attractions were closed temporarily or closed early for the day we were in the area. We were particularly disappointed that the La Guancha Boardwalk was closed (hurricanes and earthquakes) while we were in Ponce.

We spent the night at Meliá Century Hotel, the oldest hotel in Puerto Rico (described in this post).

This hotel is situated in the heart of historical downtown next to Plaza Las Delicias (Ponce's town square).

The square provides a beautiful setting with the Parque de Bombas (above photograph), the Lion fountain (daytime photographs earlier and nightime photograph later in this post), and Catedral de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (next photographs).

The Ponce City Hall (Casa Alcaldía de Ponce) is located on the square.

The square also features a statue of Juan Morel Campos that is, fittingly enough, called Juan Morel Campos.

This is a photograph of a building across from the cathedral.

We seek out views of the cities we visit and found a great view after driving up Vigia Hill in Ponce to Cruceta del Vigia de Ponce (Crow's Nest Cross).

We parked in the street parking near Meliá Century Hotel and were invited to visit Centro Cultural Carmen Solá de Pereira de Ponce.

There were many paintings to look at in addition to a small selection of other artistic mediums.

Some of the exhibits included a dress worn by a famous Puerto Rican woman and this coins presentation.

The house in which the Centro Cultural Carmen Sola de Pereira de Ponce is located features a beautiful open courtyard.

The man who was running the center while we were there and who showed us around pulled these ylang-ylang flowers from the cananga odorata (cananga tree) tree in the courtyard and we could smell the perfume from them.

We ate dinner at Rincon Argentino and enjoyed the Picadera Caminito with several Argentinia meats.

We sat outdoors in front of the restaurant and enjoyed eating outdoors.

There was a lot of interesting art painted on the outdoor walls.

As we left dinner, night was falling and that area of Ponce shows off a different beauty at night.

We ordered small cups of icecream from nearby King's Cream and enjoyed the fruity ice cream flavors while looking at the fountains and other attractions of Plaza Las Delicias at night.

We did not have a lot of time in Ponce, but are glad that we were able to at least spend enough time to see some of Ponce's most well-known attractions.