Sightseeing, Route 3: Beyond the Garden
of Eden
The Escambray Mountains, which rise just south of Cienfuegos,
look as if they were covered with green wool. Here in the rainforest everything
is green and seems to be untouched. You expect the smell of coffee everywhere,
since Cuba's best coffee is cultivated on the "back" of the
crocodile. The city of Trinidad, a colonial jewel like no other, is located
beyond the mountains. Splendor and misery, however, lie close to each
other. Little children with big eyes beg tourists for money. As beautiful
as Trinidad may be, one does not feel like being in the Garden of Eden.
>> Sierra
del Escambray
>> Topes
de Collantes
>> Santa
Clara
>> Sancti
Spiritus
>> Remedios
>> Trinidad
>> Valle
de los Ingenios
>> Camaguey
>> Hotels,
restaurants, shopping
Sierra del Escambray
Some parts of the mountains of the Sierra del Escambray are completely
covered with marabu brushwood. The bushes protect the ground from erosion,
but for the farmers, these prickly, impenetrable bushes growing like
weeds are a real plague. The roads in the Sierra can be traveled without
difficulty, which makes daytrips possible from Trinidad to nearby towns
such as Santa Clara or Sancti Spiritus.
The Jardin Botanico Soledad - the botanical garden - is located 10 miles
east of Cienfuegos. This nature reserve was founded by the Harvard University
in 1912, which managed it up to the Cuban revolution. In the greenhouse,
one can admire almost 200 different cacti. Outside, on an area of 100ha,
you will find Cuba's largest collection of flora with a variety of 2,000
different plants and trees from all over the world, including 23 different
types of bamboo and 250 palms.
Topes de Collantes
The village of Topes de Collantes, at an altitude of 770 meters, is
the highest settlement in the Escambray Mountains.
It is located in the mountainous hinterland beyond Trinidad and is both
famous for its recovery and rehabilitation facilities and its sanatoriums.
You can also find a heated swimming pool (Los Helechos), steam baths,
saunas, gyms and therapy rooms. The village is an ideal departing point
for all kinds of hiking tours into the foggy coniferous forests. These
forests, located in the mountains, which are around 1000 meters, are
overgrown with ferns and moss. The conditions are ideal for hiking but
it is not recommended to start out without a guide, as paths are not
signposted. Local agencies organize day trips. Hotels and the Carpeta
Central Information Office, located at the entrance to the village,
will provide you with further information.
Thousands of crabs head out into the open country during the mating
season in April. They cross streets and many of them are run over by
cars and then eaten by vultures.
Santa Clara
Santa Clara is the capital of the province Villa Clara and has a population
of 170,000 inhabitants. The city was founded in 1689 by 18 families
who had originally come from Remedios, a city further east and not too
far away from the coast. These families started up the settlement in
search of shelter from continual pirate attacks.
When revolutionary troops were trying to occupy the city in 1958, it
was the scene of fierce battles. The troops finally succeeded and the
result can be seen today in the form of various bullet holes in the
Santa Clara Libre Hotel.
Santa Clara is a city of education. The local university is on of the
largest in Cuba. The students of the department for Sugar Technology
are running a small, university-owned sugar factory. About 130 other
educational institutions make Santa Clara Cuba's intellectual center.
The city life revolves around Parque Vidal, especially after work.
Sancti Spiritus
Sancti Spiritus was founded in 1514 and is therefore one of the oldest
colonial cities in Cuba. The inhabitants of today's provincial center
make a living mainly with livestock farming, the cultivation of tobacco
and its processing as well as with dairy and cattle farming.
The rural seclusion may have contributed to the fact that superstition,
spiritualist practices and a mistrust of everything new have endured
for centuries.
The colonial city center is worth a visit and we recommend that you
also see the Parroquial Mayor, a parish church near the Plaza Central.
It is one of the oldest churches in Cuba and in its interior you will
find an artistic and elaborately carved ceiling.
The route continues in a wide curve around the eastern foothills of
the Escambray Mountains, which are up to 842 m high; Subsequently, you
will drive through the towns of Banao, La Guira, La Pedrera, Caracusey
and Iznaga and a fertile plain which stretches deep into the mountains
and finally you will reach the south coast near Trinidad.
Remedios
This sleepy little colonial town is one of the most charming places
in all of Cuba. Although it had already been settled in the middle of
the 16th century, the buildings mainly date back to the early 19th century
when the destroyed city was being rebuilt after a fire. Horses and carriages
are still the only means of transport here. As there are neither comfortable
hotels nor inviting restaurants, it could well be that you are the only
tourist in town.
You will find the main attractions in or near the Parque Marti, the
beautiful main square. You could easily mistake it for a reproduced
film set as it is built in accomplished colonial style. In its center,
you will see a music pavilion but the square's major sights are the
two churches. We recommend that you to pay the larger one a visit, the
Parroquial de San Juan Bautista (open Sun-Fr from 9 am to 5 pm, on Sat
from 9 am - 12 pm). The outstanding treasures inside are a cedar altar,
glimmering with 24-carat gold leaf, the mahogany ceiling and a statue
of the Immaculate Virgin heavy with child.
Trinidad
Currently, Trinidad's primary income is from tourism as the town is
rightly considered as being one of Cuba's main attractions. The colonial
quarter with its houses painted in light and friendly colors and the
old and massive cobblestones, is located in the elevated northern part
of the town. The central streets are closed to traffic by stone pillars
and cannons buried nose-first in the ground during colonial days. The
cannons served to protect pedestrians when carriages turned the corners).
When strolling around in the streets near the Plaza Mayor, you can discover
many architectonic details of the colonial way of life. Famous are the
high windows with their artistically made wooden bars, which were being
partly replaced in the last century by elaborate wrought iron ones.
The purpose of these so-called rejas is not to separate life inside
the houses from street life but to connect the two. The fact that the
Trinitanos have always been very sociable is illustrated by the windows
in their front doors. These windows are easier to open than the whole
door, making it possible to have a neighborly chat.
Nowhere else on the island has the profit made from sugar left such
splendid traces: palaces and residences, boulevards and market squares.
The landscape around Trinidad is full of contrasts: shallow waters,
palms, sand and beyond?the tree-covered Escambray Mountains.
In the southern part of Trinidad: Several comfortable hotels on the
coast are a good alternative to sightseeing tours. You should consider
making a day trip to the amusement park Marina Cayo Blanco, diagonally
opposite the Hotel Ancón. Scuba diving, cruising, deep-sea fishing…
prices are a matter of negotiation. It is possible to ask a yacht owner
to take you on a trip to the black coral reef, Las Mulatas.
The Cienega de Zapata national park, situated 140 km west of Trinidad,
includes one of the largest swamplands of the Carribean: humming birds,
flamingoes and crocodiles as well as thousands of mosquitos (be prepared!)
live in the mangroves.
On your way to the park, you will pass the Bahía de Cochinos,
better known as Bay of Pigs.
Nearby is the town of Boca de Guamá, a resort built to resemble
an Indian village. In the Laguna del Tesoro, tourists have the chance
to fish and visit a crocodile farm. Demonstrations show how to catch
a crocodile, and after its jaws have been tied up, you can put it around
your neck and have a picture taken. Around the restaurant there are
several signs saying "Eat crocodile!" Also offered: fishing
tackles and boat tours in the lagoon.
In the city of Trinidad, in particular around the Plaza Mayor, you can
still see the purported "sugar palaces" which look as if they
had slumbered in a cocoon for more than a hundred years. Even bourgeois
town houses with the antique-style furniture and delicate china seem
to be museums, which is what most of them actually have become, and
thus they are open to visitors.
Places Worth Visiting
Museo de la Lucha contra los Bandidos Echerri 59, Trinidad; open Tuesdays
and Fridays from 9am to 7pm; admission fee $1; extraordinary provincial
museum grandiloquently named "Museo de la Lucha contra los Bandidos"
(an exhibition about the struggle against the various counter-revolutionary
bands that operated in the Sierra de Escambray between 1960 and 1965).
Cabildo de los Congos Reales San Antonio Isidro Armenteros 168, Trinidad;
no admission fee; no fixed opening hours, simply knock on the door and
ask. For those interested in Afro-Cuba: Saint Antonio is identical to
the Afro-Cuban god Orisha, patron saint of iron (and railroads). Upon
request, visitors can attend a religious ceremony. At the end of the
ceremony, visitors are welcome to donate money.
The city of Trinidad, a hidden jewel, takes you back into colonial time.
There are a number of private accommodations that can be recommended.
Simply ask local people for addresses.
Valle de los Ingenios
The Valle de los Ingenios is located northeast of the city of Trinidad.
In order to get there, visitors should take a left immediately after
leaving the city, at the point where the road leads to Sancti Spíritus.
The UNESCO included the valley, the source of Trinidad's prosperity,
in the World Cultural Heritage List. At the beginning of the nineteenth
century, about 11,000 slaves worked for sugar barons who owned more
than 50 trapiches (sugar mills) in this valley. Its main attraction
is the nicely restored hacienda Iznaga from the early nineteenth century,
which illustrates what life was like on the plantations. It can be found
10 kilometers outside the village. Next to a well with a depth of about
52 meters, there is a watchtower with a height of 52 meters. According
to an old story, both sons of the old Iznaga fell in love with the same
mulatto woman. She was promised to the one who could build the highest
tower or dig the deepest well. The competition ended in a draw. On the
site of the hacienda, there is a small information center. Trains for
Iznaga leave Trinidad about every two hours. The train station is situated
on the right-hand side of the road to Casilda, south of Trinidad.
Camaguey
Cuba's third largest city with almost 300,000 inhabitants was originally
founded on the North coast, near the current site of Nuevitas, in the
year 1514. When pirates continuously attacked the settlement, which
was called Santa Maria del Puerto Principe, its inhabitants were forced
to move further inland. They selected the present site and finally settled
down in 1528. The pirates, however, did not stop their attacks. Thus,
the settlers rebuilt the city according to a labyrinthine plan to confuse
and disorientate unwanted visitors. Unlike most other Cuban conurbations,
with streets laid out like a grid around a large square, the center
of Camaguey still is a maze of narrow streets meeting at numerous little
squares. The easiest way to explore the city is on foot or by bicitaxi,
the Cuban equivalent of the trishaw.
With the exception of the splendid colonial-style Plaza San Juan de
Dios, there are no particular sights. In some of the numerous churches,
one can find magnificent interior decorations. Camaguey is noticeably
more catholic than all the other settlements on the island. There are
25 churches, and in eight of them mass is still said.
Hotels
Hotel Ancón
Peninsula Ancón, Playa Ancón, phone: 0419-4011, fax: 667424,
double room, all-inclusive about $120 per night. Palm trees and a beautiful
sandy beach compensate for the rather drab architecture.
Hotel Costasur
Peninsula Ancón, three kilometers west of the Hotel Ancón,
phone: 0419-6100, fax: 3194, double room without breakfast $50, bungalows
starting at $65. Club, tennis court, beach right outside the door. It
is a half hour walk to the marina.
Villa Guamá
near Boca de Guamá, phone: 05-592979, double room without breakfast
$35. The beautiful hotel, which is built like a Taíno village,
is spread out over six different islands. From Boca de Guamá,
it can only be reached by water.
Hotel Las Cuevas
One kilometer northeast of the city of Trinidad, below the Santa Ana
church, phone: 0419-4013, fax: 2302, double room without breakfast $52.
Situated high above the city, the bungalow-motel offers a great panorama
view. Even the peninsula Ancón and the Caribbean Sea can be seen.
Excursions on horseback or motorbikes as well as drumming, dancing,
and Spanish courses are being offered.
Finca María Dolores
Three kilometers outside the city of Trinidad, off the road to Cienfuegos,
phone: 0419-3581, double room without breakfast $22. One third of the
20-hectare estate can be used by the guests. Excursions on horseback
take you to the river, the mountains, and the waterfalls.
Los Helechos Hotel
Topes de Collantes, phone: 05-668002, double room $31. The hotel has
a thermal bath, a sauna and a vapour bath. The rooms are quite plain.
It is more a hotel than a health resort but healthy people will enjoy
their stay here, too.
Restaurants
Casa Bastida
Maceo 537, Trinidad, phone: 0419-2151 or -3186. You will dine in your
landlord's livingroom (excellent pork steaks, for example).
Trinidad Colonial
Maceo 402, Trinidad, open daily from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. The Steak á
la Trinidad Colonial (steak filled with vegetables), for example, is
served in the 300 years old house built in colonial style.
Santa Ana
Calle Cienfuegos opposite the Plaza Santa Ana, open daily from 9 a.m.
to 10.45 p.m. Live shows on some evenings. You would not believe that
the spacious patio built in colonial style was used as a jail during
the 19th century. Excellent pork steaks.
Mesón del Regidor
Bolívar 242/Colón, Trinidad, open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Pork knuckles and fish straight from the sea are served at reasonable
prices in the former livingroom of the Royal Chief of Staff.
Nightlife
Nightclub Las Cuevas
Located at the back of the ruins of the Ermita de la Popa Church above
Trinidad. The admission fee is normally high but negotiable. Dance in
the picturesque grotto until morning. As in nearly all nightclubs, mostly
tourists and Cuban women who want more than just dance frequent this
place.
Casa Fischer
Pérez/Cadahía, Trinidad, open 24 hours. One of Trinidad's
showpieces, bought by a Mr Fischer from Germany in 1870. Many exhibitions,
they often have live bands.
Daiqurí
Situated directly opposite Casa Fischer, Trinidad, open 24 hours. Favourite
meeting place of Trinidad's youth.
Casa de la Musica
To be found to the right behind Trinidad's Santísima Trinidad
Cathedral at the end of the Plaza Mayor (The Casa de la Musica is the
lime-green building at the end of the stairs), open from 10 p.m., admission
fee $2.00. The Casa de la Musica is shop and stage in one: Local bands
play live music (even in the morning from 9 to 12 noon; great selection
of LPs, CDs and drums.
Casa del Campesino
Located in the Finca María Dolores, Trinidad. After dinner Campesino
Songs and Dances are shown, which could be compared to Bavarian folk
dances. A traditional dish of pork, rice, beans, yucca and other vegetables
is served here.
History
