3 Best Sights in Ponce and the Porta Caribe, Puerto Rico

Designed by Edward Durell Stone, who also designed the original Museum of Modern Art in New York City and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Ponce's art museum is easily identified by the hexagonal galleries on its second story. It has one of the best art collections in Puerto Rico, which is why residents of San Juan frequently make the trip. The 4,500-piece collection includes works by famous Puerto Rican artists such as Francisco Oller, represented by a lovely landscape called Hacienda Aurora. European works include paintings by Peter Paul Rubens and Thomas Gainsborough, as well as pre-Raphaelite paintings, particularly the mesmerizing Flaming June, by Frederick Leighton, which has become the museum's unofficial symbol. The museum also offers special exhibits, three sculpture gardens, and a café.

In a city filled with neoclassical confections, this is one of the most elaborate. Alfredo B. Wiechers, who returned to his native Ponce after studying architecture in Paris, designed the house. Though small in scale compared with some of its neighbors, it makes a big impression with details like huge arched windows and a massive rooftop gazebo. No wonder that soon after it was completed in 1911 the Villaronga-Mercado family decided to make it their own. Check out the stained-glass windows and other fanciful touches. The house, restored by the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, now operates as the Museum of Puerto Rican Architecture, so, in addition to original furnishings, you'll find exhibits on Wiechers and other Ponce architects of his era.

At this museum you'll learn how Puerto Rican music has been influenced by African, Spanish, and Native American cultures. On display are dozens of instruments, such as the tres (a small string instrument resembling a banjo), as well as memorabilia of local composers and musicians. The small museum takes up several rooms of a neoclassical former residence, which alone is worth the trip.