After leaving the public beach, we headed for Ponce one of the two main cities in Puerto Rico.  The people of Ponce have a diverse heritage; the original inhabitants, Spanish, slaves from Africa, Italian, German, United States at least.  This is a much more diverse group than other cities, like San Juan.  Ponce was an industrial, commercial and farming leader in Puerto Rico over the years.  Each group brought their own customs and architecture with them.  This makes Ponce a very interesting city to visit.

We arrived fairly late in the day and needed to find a place to stay.  We drove into the center of the city and drove around the central square.  On the square was the Melia Hotel, the best known of the Ponce hotels.  We were able to get a nice room for the night.   I still wonder about this hotel, I feel that I stayed in one with almost the exact design. It felt almost like home.  I just wish that I could remember where the other hotel was.

After checking inn we found a trolley stop.  Since there was going to be a 30 minutes wait for the free trolley we walked around the area.  A beautiful cathedral was right there and there was a service in progress.  There were shops and plenty of sights to keep us occupied.  The trolley driver had us sit near him and after he gave a message in Spanish, he gave us an abbreviated version in English.  He did well.  We ate and went back to the hotel walking through a very nice park with sculptures, water fountains and pretty flowers.

The next morning we took a walk through a shopping area looking for the History Museum.   We got there via a circuitous route that involved several stores,  In one store we were talking to the manager while we were shopping.  His son had gone to Ohio State.  He was helpful as far as what to see and gave suggestions on what to buy.  We did not really buy very much, but when we went to pay, we paid for the general merchandise, but he refused payment for the eight postcards.  He gave  us his card and told us to call him if we had any problems.

The History Museum was not crowded when we arrived.  One man took us to the theater so see the history movie,  We were the only patrons.  After the movie we were given a personal guide who gave us a tour/lecture of the museum.  We told him how much time we had, and he tailored the tour to our needs.  The museum experience was excellent.

There was a major fire in 1899, and these homes were later	A distant view of the Castle
painted red to honor the valor of the firefighters.	This was taken from our hotel during our rooftop breakfast.
Many retired or active fire fighters still live in these homes.
Cathedral on the Square	The old firestation, now a popular tourist spot.
A very nice park was nearby this Cathedral
Cathedral on the Square	Street scene - We shopped along this street.

After the History Museum, we wandered back to the hotel taking in the scenery.  We then checked out and headed for the thermal baths.

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Last revised: 15 July 2002