The town
Hi guys - we just went to La Isabella last week and yes, I would consider it a town, but not a tourist town in my opinion. There are a number of colmados, small homes, some nicer large homes down near the beach, etc.. Not much else that we saw. The locals around there are so friendly!
It took us about 2 hours from Cabarete. The drive is a straight shot (at one point I believe it was Rocky who posted great directions where you turn at the sugar cane fields or, if you miss that turn, turn at the Texaco station near Imbert).
The ride shouldn't be as long as two hours - the road is fine and although there are cars, not much traffic - however, the cows in the middle of the road definitely slow the trip down! BE CAREFUL! We came upon this at least 4-5 times in each direction. You have to be careful going around the curves as you never know what will be in the middle of the road.
It's a nice ride, through small towns, sugar cane fields, etc... After Luperon it's also a straight shot.
You'll start to see the ocean in front of you and then, all of a sudden the road heads down hill and you'll be able to see a fantastic view of the coast. There's a restaurant on your left that looks like it's built from an actual boat (not sure if it really is, but it's neat), and down below that you can see the replica of the church built for the 500th anniversary (El Templo de las Americas).
At the end of the road when you pass through the town of La Isabella, make a left into the state park. We were the only ones in the whole park. We paid a few pesos to park, they opened the museum for us, gave us a tour of it, and then locked it back up. (The security guards were all sound asleep the whole time). We then walked through the ruins/excavation site. The whole thing took about 1-1/2 hours and it was pretty interesting. The replica of the church (El Templo de las Americas) is 2 minutes away, back out of the park, and on a road just above the park. There is a statue in the church from 1490, that was made in Genoa and brought over by Columbus to protect the sailors. The church also houses original paintings from the original church and they've all been restored - very neat. Bricks from the original church were excavated and laid on the floor of the new church, depicting the size of the original church. There is an older gentleman sitting in the church who will explain everything to you at no charge (although well worth a nice tip). He speaks no English though.
Back down the road is a quiet little beach - there were 10-12 people on the beach so it was nice. You drive your car right onto the beach and park in the shade - great place for a picnic/BBQ.
We did not get a chance to cross the river and go up to see the ruins up there, but heard it's beautiful - next time we will.
