We were nominated by fellow blogger, projectrelish, for a seven-day photo challenge, so we will be posting one of our nature pictures every day for the next seven days.
For our first post, we’ve decided to use a picture of a Betel Nut Palm Tree (Arecacatechu) with its red ripe fruit from our trip to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. We took the picture of the fruit while we were walking through the resort, but it actually took us a while to find out what type of tree it was. The bright red fruit just jumped out against the lush green tropical fauna. Although it is called an areca nut, it is really a fruit and apparently in some parts of the world, the fruit is chewed along with a betel leaf. We’re not sure that it looked that appetizing, but it was definitely beautiful.
Ripe Fruit on Betel Nut Palm Tree
Rules: Post one nature photo and nominate someone else for seven days.
Nominating setmeravelles for the challenge, who has a wonderful site about travelling across Spain.
A year ago at this time, we were spending a week at the Paradisus Palma Real in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. If you get the chance to travel to the “DR” as it is often called, you should definitely do so. The beaches were amazing and the resorts are spectacular. The only downside to our visit was that it wasn’t really close to any local towns, so it was a rare trip where we didn’t get out of the resort. Needless to say, that didn’t stop us from having a very relaxing and enjoyable stay.
Paradisus Palma Real in Punta CanaView of the Beach from the ResortView of the Resort from the BeachThe Resort
The resort offered royal service, which apparently is quite common in Caribbean resorts. It entailed us getting a beach front room in a private, all adult, area of the resort, with a private concierge. We were able to eat at any of the restaurants on the vast compound, which is really three different resorts in different areas of the overall property. We were given a cell phone with a direct dial number to our concierge who would make reservations for us to any of the restaurants or various shows. We were quite spoiled. It was an all-inclusive resort, but based upon the research that we had done prior to choosing this resort, it seems that pretty much all of the resorts in the Caribbean are all-inclusive.
Cell Phone for the ConciergeMain Resort AreaNo Kids Allowed 🙂Royal Service Area
Probably the best part of getting the royal service was the staff in our private area. On our first day, we picked out a cabana on the beach where we could sit in the shade and they brought us a couple of lounge chairs for sitting in the sun. That became “our” cabana and chairs and every morning Pedro would put towels and magazines out so that our spot was reserved. No reason for us to rush to get a prime spot on the beach. We had a private, secluded pool and we also had our own pool bar where they took very good care of us.
Cabanas on the BeachSecluded BoardwalkSitting on the BeachDos Mai Tai’s at the Pool Bar
We will definitely try some other resorts in the Caribbean, but Punta Cana, with beaches that face both the Atlantic and Caribbean, is definitely worth a visit. We would also recommend the royal service to anyone who has the opportunity. It is a bit of a splurge, but truly worth the extra expense, especially if you’re not travelling with children.
Fountain at the ResortBeautiful BeachesOur Room at the ResortTropical Fruit
