Manatí & Around

Introducing Manatí & Around

Despite its title as the ‘Athens of Puerto Rico, ’ you won’t find anything resembling an acropolis in Manatí. In fact, the closest you’re likely to get to budding Hellenic culture in this thoroughly metropolitan town is the classical 18th-century Catedral Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria and the neo-Grecian Salon de los Poetas, a posthumous nod to poets past.

Modern Manatí, which was named for the endangered manatee (sea cow) that once prospered in these waters, is an industrial hub for workers in local pharmaceutical factories and a nearby pineapple canning plant. But, body-swerve the industrial eyesores and you’ll quietly uncover some little-heralded beaches along with two inland forest reserves, Bosque Estatal de Cambalache and Bosque Estatal de Vega, set among the sinkholes and limestone mogotes of karst country.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009