Puerto Plata City Tour Pics- Cigar, Brugal & Fort
I took the Mel Tours city tour of Puerto Plata today and thought I'd post the pictures in case anyone else is wondering what it includes. The cost was $32 and the van picked me up at the New Garden at 9 am.
Overall I was happy enough with the tour, although it was shorter than I expected. That may be due to either the weather (raining) or the fact that I was the only customer and we moved quickly. The guide did offer me an option to take a cable car ride up the mountain for an additional $10 but I declined.
Brugal Factory
At the Brugal plant we joined up with a couple other tour groups. My guide handed me off to a factory host who showed us a display of an antique cart, a press and some casks before taking us upstairs to watch a brief video. Although the room was comparable to a home theater, it had no chairs and we stood while the video played. The factory guide left after starting the video. After it ended we stook there in the dark until it started over, at which time we continue our tour, unguided, out onto a balcony that overlooked the factory floor. We made our way along the assembly line and followed the path to the tasting room for a sample of the rum before winding up in the souvenir shop wheremost people purchased bottles for $7-8 each. All the guides were waiting at the exit, I found mine and we left.
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Re: Puerto Plata City Tour Pics- Cigar, Brugal & Fort
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Cigar Factory
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Our next stop was a small cigar factory where we watched this guy turn leaves into cigars. He worked very quickly glueing and cutting the leaf and he turned it into a cigar in less than a minute. He can turn out over 200 cigars a day by himself. We were then offered the opportunity to smoke one. They were also available for purchase. We then went through a doorway and found ourselves in a souvenir shop/jewelery store combination.
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Re: Puerto Plata City Tour Pics- Cigar, Brugal & Fort
From there we went outside, walking by the historic Hotel Castilla.
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Amber Museum
We walked down the street until we arrived at the Amber museum, past the shotgun carrying guard and the amber dinosaur and inside where we were given an informative presentation about amber and watched them creating jewelery from amber and silver (and another cigar maker).
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Re: Puerto Plata City Tour Pics- Cigar, Brugal & Fort
Re: Puerto Plata City Tour Pics- Cigar, Brugal & Fort
Re: Puerto Plata City Tour Pics- Cigar, Brugal & Fort
Re: Puerto Plata City Tour Pics- Cigar, Brugal & Fort
Great job Ramair and 32.00 seems like a good deal since I hired a driver to take me one afternoon for about 50 bucks but we didn't stop at the rum & cigar factory or museum. He did have to wait while I took the cable car up and back down the mountain though.
Re: Puerto Plata City Tour Pics- Cigar, Brugal & Fort
Nice report. You got to see all that in only one day for only US$32?
Re: Puerto Plata City Tour Pics- Cigar, Brugal & Fort
nice. i remember goign to all those places on our first trip.
i wish you would have paid the 10 and went up the cable car to the top of mount isabel. its really a breathtaking view from up there. and hearing the story of how the grounds came to be up there.
Re: Puerto Plata City Tour Pics- Cigar, Brugal & Fort
Thanks for the report and pics. Though we all love the pics of the chicas, it's also nice to see what else DR has to offer:)
Re: Puerto Plata City Tour Pics- Cigar, Brugal & Fort
nice, not sure if you've seen my slideshow but it's in one of my trip reports...I managed to check out the Fort but I also want to take the Brugal tour and get on the cable car. Nice pictures!
Re: Puerto Plata City Tour Pics- Cigar, Brugal & Fort
Three years ago while at Brugal I asked how much a regular worker makes there a month and an answer was 9,000 peso. Just for a perspective.
Re: Puerto Plata City Tour Pics- Cigar, Brugal & Fort
Re: Puerto Plata City Tour Pics- Cigar, Brugal & Fort
Quote:
Originally Posted by
naptime
nice. i remember goign to all those places on our first trip.
i wish you would have paid the 10 and went up the cable car to the top of mount isabel. its really a breathtaking view from up there. and hearing the story of how the grounds came to be up there.
Now he tells me. :wink:
If I'd known the tour only took 3 hours I probably would have gone for it.
Re: Puerto Plata City Tour Pics- Cigar, Brugal & Fort
Quote:
Originally Posted by
imrealareyou
how long was the tour?
About 3 hours.
Re: Puerto Plata City Tour Pics- Cigar, Brugal & Fort
yeah up top of the mountain was once the presidential summer palace or something like that. back when they had some evil dictator iirc.
the whole top of the mountain is gardens and pools and stuff. there is a walkway all around the top. and you can look out and see for miles and miles.
Re: Puerto Plata City Tour Pics- Cigar, Brugal & Fort
Nice pics of some of the sights in PP. Love the smell of fresh tobacco leaves. On my next trip, I want to have a beer at Sam's bar and finally take that cable car to the top of the mountain. The problem is, is that for all my previous trips to Sosua, for what seemed like the majority of the time, the peak was shrouded in cloud cover.
