Havana
The
best thing about Havana is the city
itself - its architecture, streets and
famous promenades. Especially famed
is the historical centre of the city
that was declared part of the world's
cultural heritage. This vibrant city
is a scientific and cultural centre.
Within its 47 km of coastline, you will
find 20 km of beaches as well as places
to go diving and deep-sea fishing.
Trinidad
This city is considered to be one
of Cuba’s main attractions.
The traffic free, colonial district
with its colourful houses and old,
massive cobblestone crowns the rest
of the city as its highest point.
You can admire interesting details
of colonial architecture when walking
through the streets around Plaza
Mayor. Especially famous are the
high windows with their skilfully
carved wooden bars that were replaced
last century by iron bars. These
so-called rejas invite the energetic
street life into the house, rather
than excluding it. Around Plaza
Mayor, the most elegant square in
Cuba, stand the city palaces of
Trinidad’s richest families:
Iznagas, Ortiz and Brunete, whose
palaces are nowadays museums.
Camagüey
The
birth of Camagüey as a capital in
Punta de Guincho, facing the Bay
of Nuevitas, dates back to February
2 of the year 1514. Camagüey was
one of the first seven villas founded
by the Spanish colonizers in the
Island and baptized as Santa María
del Puerto del Príncipe.
Nevertheless,
it was only on January 6, 1528 that
the captial was definite and paradoxically
moved to its current location, between
the Tínima and Hatibonico
rivers and well away from the coasts,
to escape from the frequent attacks
of pirates and corsairs according
to some historians or to avoid the
plagues, the infertility of the
soils and the lack of water, according
to the opinion of others.
Holguín
Such
a beautiful thing has never been
seen, were the words -according
to historical testimonies- said
by the great admiral of the oceans,
Christopher Columbus, on October
27 of 1492 after setting foot on
Cuban soil for the first time; in
a far place of the eastern waterside,
Bariay, located today within the
territorial limits of the province
of Holguín. Holguín is widely
known as the city of parks, because
of the large number of these green,
open spaces that serve decorate
the area. Holguín is easily
identified by Loma de la Cruz (Hill
of the Cross), a hill marking the
geographic north and whose top is
crowned with a gigantic wooden cross.
Santiago
de Cuba
For
over 5 centuries Parque Cespedes has been
Santiago´s centre and everyone's favourite
meeting point. The pompous yellow cathedral
watches majestically over life and events
on the square. The cathedral was built in
its present form in 1922. Directly opposite
the cathedral is situated the town hall, from
which on 1rst January 1959 Fidel Castro declared
the revolution. To the left of the town hall
is Cuba 's oldest house - Casa Diego Velásquez.
The first Cuban governor's house, which was
built in 1516, nowadays features a museum
for colonial art. On the right from the cathedral
one can see the wonderful recently renovated
colonial hotel Casa Granda.
Cienfuegos
The city Cienfuegos stretches over the Jagua Bay, located at the entrance to the Caribbean sea. Due to its strategically favorable position, Cienfuegos was a long time strategical position used by pirates in their attacks on Spanish ships. Only in the middle 18.
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