Hotel Casa Santo Domingo

Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Sun 15 Jul 2012 22:56
 
 
 
 
 
 
BB Sunday bimble 032  BB Sunday bimble 031  BB Sunday bimble 033
 
We entered through a fairly humble gate and knew immediately this hotel was going to be something very different. A water feature to our right and a very long covered walkway.
 
 
BB Sunday bimble 034  BB Sunday bimble 035  BB Sunday bimble 036
 
BB Sunday bimble 037  BB Sunday bimble 039  BB Sunday bimble 040
 
Indeed something very different
 
 
BB Sunday bimble 041  BB Sunday bimble 044  BB Sunday bimble 042
 
All this and we haven’t made it ‘inside’ yet
 
 
BB Sunday bimble 049
 
The area to the right of the courtyard was vast
 
 
BB Sunday bimble 048
 
To the left, the hotel swimming pool just visible in the distance
 

Santo Domingo Convent, the biggest and richest convent in Antigua and considered very grand in the Americas, can be traced back to 1538 when the Dominicans arrived in Guatemala. Founded in 1542, it had two towers with ten bells and was filled with treasures. Its large church was completed in 1666.

 

BB Sunday bimble 047  BB Sunday bimble 045  BB Sunday bimble 052

BB Sunday bimble 051  BB Sunday bimble 046  BB Sunday bimble 050

 

The monastery was destroyed in 1773 and today parts of the ruins have been transformed into a hotel with public spaces. The Hotel Casa Santo Domingo, is a five star hotel and museum which opened in 1989. I checked on line to see what the rates were to stay in one of the one hundred and twenty nine rooms, randomly choosing Monday night - the only availability was a Junior Suite or a large double (price range 185 – 250 for the night).

 

BB Sunday bimble 055

BB Sunday bimble 056

BB Sunday bimble 059  BB Sunday bimble 060

We bimbled around the public areas of the hotel and stopped to look at the expensive menu before making our way back to the first courtyard. Apparently there is a museum here on the grounds that is the best in Antigua – perhaps next Sunday it would make an interesting perambulate.

 

BB Sunday bimble 062  BB Sunday bimble 064  BB Sunday bimble 063

We watched a macaw watching his friend on the ground, deciding whether to chance the jump, but after a few minutes dangling he returned to his perch.

 

BB Sunday bimble 068  BB Sunday bimble 069  BB Sunday bimble 070

BB Sunday bimble 061  BB Sunday bimble 071

A final look at some water features, a room with a cute balcony and off we went.

 

 

 

 

ALL IN ALL A STUNNING HOTEL