I?ve had a problem writing this report due to the fact that it wasn?t as anticipated and I do not wish to offend anyone. However, these reports are for the purpose of information, good or bad.
This is a bit long, but let me start by saying that the beach at Las Galeras is beautiful and surprisingly clean. The little town, and I do mean little, is tidy with a couple of nice restaurants. There is one, located in a two story square mini mall like space, that is owned and operated by an Italian lady. The pasta was freshly made and very good. Five of us had dinner, drinks and coffee for less than RD 2,000, including the tip. Can?t remember the name, but it?s the only one in town. The Casa Marina Resort is also located within walking distance. A nice long stroll along the beach will get you there. The luncheon buffet isn?t bad and the prices are on the low side.
Danny, myself, Chris and Isabel left for Samana from Sousa on December 26th. Took us a little longer than expected to get there as we made a wrong turn in Nagua and ended up in San Francisco de Marcus (sp?). At least, the fellow who pointed us in the right direction had a good laugh. Typical bunch of dumb gringos roaming around the countryside!
Earlier in the month, I had looked at accommodations in Las Galeras and asked a couple of folks about the El Marinique. Seemed to be a pretty good deal, so after talking to Chris, we made our reservations and paid the deposit. We arrived at the hotel, after our detour, around 5:30. Andy B and Nicole had errands and were in Samana. No problem, so we ordered drinks.
Danny had a scotch and water, silly me asked for lemonade with a side of rum and almost choked to death when I took a swallow of what seemed to be pure concentrated lemon juice. The waitress worked on it to no avail, so I gave that one up and ordered a pina colada. That was another mistake. Finally I settled for a bottle of water. We ordered a ?picadera? and settled in to enjoy the view while waiting on our hosts and dinner.
Andy and Nichole arrived about 45 minutes later, introduced themselves, and then Andy asked us to register and ?get settled up?. We thought that was a bit odd since, at this point, we haven?t even seem the rooms. There was a minor hassle over dollars versus pesos, and Chris was getting somewhat perturbed. It?s a very small hotel, only one actual room, but we opted for cottages because we were told they had hot water showers. So now our two day stay is all prepaid and we get to look at the rooms. At a glance, not too bad looking, clean, neat with two double beds. Also looked at one of the two apartments. Nicely laid out, but incomplete and sparse looking. By then, we?re hungry, so we just threw our bags on the bed in the cottages and went back to the dining area.
We asked a couple of questions and found out that the advertised pizza is no longer available, so we skipped the appetizer and went straight to dinner. All of us had salad with vinaigrette, only dressing available. Danny and Chris had a Fisherman?s Platter and Isabel and I had Mahi Mahi. The food was served with a good home-made bread, but aside from the baby lobster that the guys had on their platters, all the other items were mediocre at best. A dessert of Apple Surprise was served, but it wasn?t as tasty as described, we barely touched it. We?re all tired and ready for bed, so we asked for the bill and were shocked to learn that our combined tab was well over $100. We asked for a bottle of water to take to the room, and learned that one 16 ounce bottle cost $1.00.
We say goodnight to Chris and Isabel, retire to our cottage, #5 and start to get ready for bed. Since the beds are doubles, Danny chose the one with the light (not very good illumination, but a light) as he wanted to read for awhile. Can?t take a shower because the hot water won?t be turned on until the morning. The bathrooms are tiny with a curtain for a door. That didn?t bother us as much as it did Chris in #3, as we found out the next day. I finish in the bathroom and lay down on my bed ready for a good nights? sleep. I?m a little weird, so I always bring my own pillow, but even that couldn?t do anything about the springs coming through the mattress. Danny?s wasn?t so bad, but I figured it was only for two nights, so I said where I was.
The next morning, after a fitful night dodging springs, I?m ready for a good hot shower. Wrong! I?m not a large person, well, not very large, but that shower stall was extremely small and dark. No hot water or even luke warm. The shower head was pretty bad and the salty water was squirting all over the place. Suck it up, it?s only one more day. We had coffee and toast while we waited for Isabel and Chris, then decided to try another place for breakfast. We ended up in a little Dominican restaurant across from the Italian place. Not bad. Then we did the tourist number around town, which took all of 15 minutes and walked to the Casa Marina Resort and stayed there for lunch before heading back to the hotel.
The only other guest was a young woman at a table by herself, so we asked her to join us. Angela is delightful. Speaks Spanish like a native, well traveled and an all around interesting person. Turns out, she was less that enthralled by our accommodations as well. A little later, the five of us decided on the Italian restaurant for dinner. That turned out to be a good decision.
The next morning, we didn?t see Andy or Nicole. We all had toast and coffee, and said our good byes to Angela. Chris and Isabel invited her to stay with them in Sosua, in case she was bored, which she later did.
Even with the hotel situation, we had a great time and enjoyed the company of friends. On the way back, we found a terrific little restaurant, on the right hand side of the road, 3 km from Nagua (headed in from Samana). Looks new, all yellow and white, right on the beach with very good and inexpensive food.
If you do plan to go to Las Galeras, you may want to check some of the other bed and breakfasts in the area. It is a beautiful drive and the beach is well worth seeing.
Dianne
This is a bit long, but let me start by saying that the beach at Las Galeras is beautiful and surprisingly clean. The little town, and I do mean little, is tidy with a couple of nice restaurants. There is one, located in a two story square mini mall like space, that is owned and operated by an Italian lady. The pasta was freshly made and very good. Five of us had dinner, drinks and coffee for less than RD 2,000, including the tip. Can?t remember the name, but it?s the only one in town. The Casa Marina Resort is also located within walking distance. A nice long stroll along the beach will get you there. The luncheon buffet isn?t bad and the prices are on the low side.
Danny, myself, Chris and Isabel left for Samana from Sousa on December 26th. Took us a little longer than expected to get there as we made a wrong turn in Nagua and ended up in San Francisco de Marcus (sp?). At least, the fellow who pointed us in the right direction had a good laugh. Typical bunch of dumb gringos roaming around the countryside!
Earlier in the month, I had looked at accommodations in Las Galeras and asked a couple of folks about the El Marinique. Seemed to be a pretty good deal, so after talking to Chris, we made our reservations and paid the deposit. We arrived at the hotel, after our detour, around 5:30. Andy B and Nicole had errands and were in Samana. No problem, so we ordered drinks.
Danny had a scotch and water, silly me asked for lemonade with a side of rum and almost choked to death when I took a swallow of what seemed to be pure concentrated lemon juice. The waitress worked on it to no avail, so I gave that one up and ordered a pina colada. That was another mistake. Finally I settled for a bottle of water. We ordered a ?picadera? and settled in to enjoy the view while waiting on our hosts and dinner.
Andy and Nichole arrived about 45 minutes later, introduced themselves, and then Andy asked us to register and ?get settled up?. We thought that was a bit odd since, at this point, we haven?t even seem the rooms. There was a minor hassle over dollars versus pesos, and Chris was getting somewhat perturbed. It?s a very small hotel, only one actual room, but we opted for cottages because we were told they had hot water showers. So now our two day stay is all prepaid and we get to look at the rooms. At a glance, not too bad looking, clean, neat with two double beds. Also looked at one of the two apartments. Nicely laid out, but incomplete and sparse looking. By then, we?re hungry, so we just threw our bags on the bed in the cottages and went back to the dining area.
We asked a couple of questions and found out that the advertised pizza is no longer available, so we skipped the appetizer and went straight to dinner. All of us had salad with vinaigrette, only dressing available. Danny and Chris had a Fisherman?s Platter and Isabel and I had Mahi Mahi. The food was served with a good home-made bread, but aside from the baby lobster that the guys had on their platters, all the other items were mediocre at best. A dessert of Apple Surprise was served, but it wasn?t as tasty as described, we barely touched it. We?re all tired and ready for bed, so we asked for the bill and were shocked to learn that our combined tab was well over $100. We asked for a bottle of water to take to the room, and learned that one 16 ounce bottle cost $1.00.
We say goodnight to Chris and Isabel, retire to our cottage, #5 and start to get ready for bed. Since the beds are doubles, Danny chose the one with the light (not very good illumination, but a light) as he wanted to read for awhile. Can?t take a shower because the hot water won?t be turned on until the morning. The bathrooms are tiny with a curtain for a door. That didn?t bother us as much as it did Chris in #3, as we found out the next day. I finish in the bathroom and lay down on my bed ready for a good nights? sleep. I?m a little weird, so I always bring my own pillow, but even that couldn?t do anything about the springs coming through the mattress. Danny?s wasn?t so bad, but I figured it was only for two nights, so I said where I was.
The next morning, after a fitful night dodging springs, I?m ready for a good hot shower. Wrong! I?m not a large person, well, not very large, but that shower stall was extremely small and dark. No hot water or even luke warm. The shower head was pretty bad and the salty water was squirting all over the place. Suck it up, it?s only one more day. We had coffee and toast while we waited for Isabel and Chris, then decided to try another place for breakfast. We ended up in a little Dominican restaurant across from the Italian place. Not bad. Then we did the tourist number around town, which took all of 15 minutes and walked to the Casa Marina Resort and stayed there for lunch before heading back to the hotel.
The only other guest was a young woman at a table by herself, so we asked her to join us. Angela is delightful. Speaks Spanish like a native, well traveled and an all around interesting person. Turns out, she was less that enthralled by our accommodations as well. A little later, the five of us decided on the Italian restaurant for dinner. That turned out to be a good decision.
The next morning, we didn?t see Andy or Nicole. We all had toast and coffee, and said our good byes to Angela. Chris and Isabel invited her to stay with them in Sosua, in case she was bored, which she later did.
Even with the hotel situation, we had a great time and enjoyed the company of friends. On the way back, we found a terrific little restaurant, on the right hand side of the road, 3 km from Nagua (headed in from Samana). Looks new, all yellow and white, right on the beach with very good and inexpensive food.
If you do plan to go to Las Galeras, you may want to check some of the other bed and breakfasts in the area. It is a beautiful drive and the beach is well worth seeing.
Dianne
