<< Beyond the Tourist Zone || Jewelry >>
Santo Domingo offers by far the greatest selection of shopping opportunities in the country. Among the items to look for here are jewelry made from amber (fossilized tree sap that produces a yellow or golden gem, shown on next page) and larimar (a blue semiprecious stone found only in the DR, shown below), as well as local handicrafts and artworks, Latin music CDs, and, if you smoke them, cigars. The oldest shopping street in the city is Calle El Conde, the lively pedestrian-only street in the Colonial Zone, lined on both sides with jewelry, music, cigar, and other types of shops. The shopping experience not to miss is El Mercado Modelo on Avenida Mella just north of the Colonial Zone; it’s open daily and filled with stalls where you can bargain for handicrafts and many other items. You can find more upscale shopping at La Ataranzas, the row of converted Colonial-era warehouses in the Old City. (See Zona Colonial Walking Tour, above.)
Larimar.
