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Ponce Review

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Ponce

Category: Towns
Location: Southern Puerto Rico

Fodor's Review:

The island's second-largest urban area, Ponce shines in 19th-century style with pink-marble-bordered sidewalks, painted trolleys, and horse-drawn carriages. Stroll around the main square, the Plaza las Delicias, with its perfectly pruned India-laurel fig trees, graceful fountains, gardens, and park benches. View the Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral), perhaps even attend the 6 AM mass, and walk down Calles Isabel and Cristina to see turn-of-the-20th-century wooden houses with wrought-iron balconies.

The Castillo Serrallés is a splendid Spanish Revival mansion on Vigía Hill. This former residence of the owners of the Don Q rum distillery has been restored with a mix of original furnishings and antiques that recalls the era of the sugar barons. A short film details the history of the sugar and rum industries; tours are given every half hour in English and Spanish. You can also just stroll through the lovely gardens for a reduced admission fee. The 100-foot-tall concrete cross (La Cruceta del Vigía) behind the museum has a windowed elevator, which you can ascend for views of Ponce. 17 El Vigía, El Vigía, 00730. 787/259-1774. www.castilloserralles.org. $6.50, $9.50 includes admission to Cruceta El Vigía. Daily 9:30-6:30.

At the Centro Ceremonial Indígena de Tibes, you can find pre-Taíno ruins and burials dating from AD 300 to 700. Some archaeologists, noting the symmetrical arrangement of stone pillars, surmise the cemetery may have been of great religious significance. Be sure to visit the small museum before taking a walking tour of the site. Rte. 503, Km 2.8, Barrio Tibes, 00732. 787/840-2255. ponce.inter.edu/tibes/tibes.html. $3. Tues.-Sun. 9-noon and 1-4.

Just outside Ponce, Hacienda Buena Vista is a 19th-century coffee plantation. It's a technological marvel—water from the nearby Río Canas was funneled into narrow brick channels that could be diverted to perform any number of tasks, including turning the waterwheel. (Seeing the two-story-tall wheel slowly begin to turn is thrilling, especially for kids.) Nearby is the two-story manor house, filled with furniture that gives a sense of what it was like to live on a coffee plantation nearly 150 years ago. Tours, which are by reservation only, are given at 8:30, 10:30, 1:30, and 3:30. Make sure to call several days ahead to reserve a space on an English-language tour. Rte. 123, Km 16.8, Sector Corral Viejo, 00731. 787/722-5882 weekdays; 787/284-7020 weekends. $5. Fri.-Sun., by reservation only.

The Museo de Arte de Ponce is easily identified by the hexagonal galleries on the second floor. The Ponce Museum of Art has one of the best art collections in Latin America, which is why residents of San Juan frequently make the trip down to Ponce. The 3,000-piece collection includes works by famous Puerto Rican artists such as Francisco Oller, represented by a lovely landscape called Hacienda Aurora. As of this writing, the museum is in the middle of a $20 million renovation, and is slated to reopen in early 2010. 2325 Av. Las Américas, Sector Santa María, 00732. 787/848-0505. www.museoarteponce.org.

Two superlative examples of early-20th-century architecture house the Museo de la Historia de Ponce, where 10 rooms of exhibits vividly re-create Ponce's golden years, providing fascinating glimpses into the worlds of culture, high finance, and journalism in the 19th century. The descriptions are mostly in Spanish, but displays of clothing from different eras still are interesting to see. 51-53 Calle Isabel, Ponce Centro, 00733. 787/844-7042. $3. Tues.-Sat. 9-5.

Your haven't seen a firehouse until you've seen the Parque de Bombas, a structure built in 1882 for an exposition and converted to a firehouse the following year. Today it's a museum tracing the history—and glorious feats—of Ponce's fire brigade. Plaza las Delicias, Ponce Centro, 00732. 787/284-3338. Free. Wed.-Mon. 9-5:30.

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