Sights in Central Cuba
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Monumento Ernesto Che Guevara
The site of many a Che ‘pilgrimage, ’ this monument, mausoleum & museum complex, 2km west of Parque Vidal via Rafael Tristá, is in a vast square guarded by a bronze statue of ‘El Che.’ The statue was erected in 1987 to mark the 20th anniversary of Guevara’s murder in Bolivia, and the sublime mausoleum below (entry from the rear) contains 38 stone-carved niches dedicated to the other guerillas killed in that failed revolutionary attempt. In 1997 the remains of 17 of them, including Guevara, were recovered from a secret mass grave in Bolivia and reburied in this memorial. Fidel Castro lit the eternal flame on October 17, 1997. The adjacent museum collects the details an…
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Museo Histórico Municipal
The showpiece museum here is the grandiose Museo Histórico Municipal, just off Plaza Mayor, housed in a mansion that belonged to the Borrell family from 1827 to 1830. Later the building passed to a German planter named Kanter or Cantero, and it’s still called Casa Cantero. Reputedly Dr Justo Cantero acquired vast sugar estates by poisoning an old slave trader and marrying his widow, who also suffered an untimely death. Cantero’s ill-gotten wealth is well displayed in the stylish neoclassical decoration of the rooms. The view of Trinidad from the top of the tower alone is worth the price of admission. Visit before 11am, when the tour buses start rolling in.
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Parroquia de San Juan Bautista de Remedios
The Parroquia de San Juan Bautista de Remedios is one of the island’s finest ecclesial buildings. Though a church was founded here in 1545, this building dates from the late 18th century; the campanile was erected between 1848 and 1858 and its famous gilded high altar and mahogany ceiling are thanks to a restoration project (1944–46) financed by millionaire philanthropist Eutimio Falla Bonet. The pregnant Inmaculada Concepción on the first side altar to the left of the entrance is said to be the only one of its kind in Cuba. If the front doors are closed, go around to the rear or attend 7:30pm mass.
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San Francisco de Asís
Perhaps the most recognizable building in Trinidad is the quaint yellow bell-tower of the former convent of San Francisco de Asís. Since 1986 the building has housed the Museo Nacional de la Lucha Contra Bandidos (tel:4121, open from 09:00 to 18:00 Tuesday to Sunday).
The displays are mostly photos, maps, weapons and other objects relating to the struggle against the various counterrevolutionary bands that operated in Sierra del Escambray between 1960 and 1965. The fuselage of a US U-2 spy plane shot down over Cuba is also on display. Here, too, you can climb the tower for good views. It's on the corner of Piro Guinart.
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Museo Nacional de la Lucha Contra Bandidos
Perhaps the most recognizable building in Trinidad is the withered pastel-yellow bell-tower of the former convent of San Francisco de Asís. Since 1986 the building has housed the Museo Nacional de la Lucha Contra Bandidos. The displays are mostly photos, maps, weapons and other objects relating to the struggle against the various counterrevolutionary bands that took a leaf out of Fidel’s book and operated illicitly out of the Sierra del Escambray between 1960 and 1965. The fuselage of a US U-2 spy plane shot down over Cuba is also on display. You can climb the tower for good views.
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Fábrica de Tabacos Constantino Pérez Carrodegua
Santa Clara’s tobacco factory is one of the best in Cuba and makes a quality range of Montecristos, Partagás and Romeo y Julieta cigars. Tours here are lower key than in Havana and, as a result, the experience is a lot more interesting and less rushed. Rather than turn up you should book tickets through the Cubatur office. Across the street you’ll find La Veguita, the factory’s diminutive sales outlet that is staffed by a friendly team of cigar experts. You can also buy cheap rum here and the bar out the back brews good coffee.
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Boxcar Museum
History was made here on December 29, 1958, when Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara and a band of 18 rifle-wielding revolutionaries barely out of their teens derailed an armored train using a borrowed bulldozer and some homemade Molotov cocktails. The battle lasted 90 minutes, and it effectively sealed the fate of the Batista dictatorship and ushered in 50 years of Fidel Castro. The event is remembered with a boxcar museum east on Independencia, just over the river, which marks the spot where the train derailed and ejected its 350 heavily armed government troops.
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Iglesia Parroquial de la Santísima Trinidad
Despite its rather unremarkable outer facade, the Iglesia Parroquial de la Santísima Trinidad, on the northeastern side of Plaza Mayor, graces countless Trinidad postcard views. Rebuilt in 1892 on the site of an earlier church destroyed in a storm, the church mixes 20th-century touch-ups with older artifacts from as far back as the 18th century, such as the venerated Christ of the True Cross (1713), which occupies the second altar from the front to the left. Your best chance of seeing it is during Mass at 8pm weekdays, 4pm Saturday, and 9am and 5pm Sunday.
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Casa Templo de Santería Yemayá
No Santería museum can replicate the ethereal spiritual experience of Regla de Ocha, though the Casa Templo de Santería Yemayá has a try. Containing a Santería altar to Yemayá, Goddess of the Sea with myriad offerings of fruit, water and stones, the house is presided over by santeros (priests of the Afro-Cuban religion Santería) who’ll emerge from the back patio and surprise you with some well-rehearsed tourist spiel. On the saint’s anniversary, March 19, ceremonies are performed day and night.
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La Casa de la Ciudad
The pulse of the city’s progressive cultural life is at La Casa de la Ciudad, northwest of Parque Vidal. If you want to see another side to Santa Clara aside from the obligatory Che memorabilia, get chatting to the young artists here. The historic building hosts art expositions (including an original Wilfredo Lam sketch), Noches del Danzón and a film museum; but the real buzz of this place is hanging out with the local culture vultures and finding out what makes this most unprepossessing of Cuban cities tick.
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Museo de las Parrandas Remedianas
Visiting the Museo de las Parrandas Remedianas, two blocks off Parque Martí, is probably a poor substitute for partying here on December 24, but what the hell? The downstairs photo gallery usually recaps the previous year’s shenanigans, while the upstairs rooms outline the history of this tradition, including scale models of floats and detailed depictions of how the fireworks are made. Another room is jammed with feathers, headdresses and tassels from celebrations past.
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Museo Provincial Abel Santamaría
Not actually a memorial to Señor Santamaría (Fidel’s right-hand man at Moncada), but rather a small provincial museum quartered in a former military barracks where Batista’s troops surrendered to Che Guevara on January 1, 1959. It contains a room on natural history and a room dedicated to Cuban women throughout history. The museum is situated on a hilltop at the north end of Esquerra, just across the Río Bélico in Reparto Osvaldo Herrera.
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Parque Vidal
Named for Colonel Leoncio Vidal y Caro, who was killed here on March 23, 1896, Parque Vidal was encircled by twin sidewalks during the colonial era, with a fence separating Blacks and Whites. Today it is one of Cuba's busiest and most vibrant parks with old men gossiping on the shaded benches and young kids getting pulled around in carriages led by goats. Since 1902, the municipal orchestra has played in the park bandstand at 20:00 every Thursday and Sunday.
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Museo Romántico
The Museo Romántico is in the glittering Palacio Brunet. The ground floor was built in 1740, and the upstairs was added in 1808. In 1974 the mansion was converted into a museum with 19th-century furnishings, a fine collection of china and various other period pieces. Pushy museum staff will materialize out of the shadows for a tip. The shop adjacent has a good selection of photos and books in English.
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Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Carmen
The city’s oldest and most interesting church, the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Carmen, four blocks north of Parque Vidal, was built in 1748, with a tower added in 1846. During the First War of Independence it was used as a jail for Cuban patriots. A modern cylindrical monument facing the church commemorates the spot where Santa Clara was founded in 1689 by 13 refugee families from Remedios.
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Monumento a la Toma del Tren Blindado
This boxcar museum, east on Independencia just over the river, marks the spot where 18 men under the command of Che Guevara, equipped with rifles and grenades, captured a 22-car armored train containing 350 heavily armed Batista troops. Amazingly, this battle, which took place on December 29, 1958, only lasted 90 minutes. The bulldozer that the guerrillas used to cut the railway line is on a pedestal nearby.
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Catedral de Las Santas Hermanas de Santa Clara de Asís
The Catedral de las Santas Hermanas de Santa Clara de Asís was constructed amid huge controversy in 1923 after the demolition of Santa Clara’s original church in Parque Vidal. It contains a fantastic collection of stained-glass windows and a mythical statue of Mother Mary known as La Virgen del Camino (Traveler’s Virgin).
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Museo de Arquitectura Trinitaria
A public display of wealth is in the Museo de Arquitectura Trinitaria, on the southeastern side of Plaza Mayor, showcasing upper-class domestic architecture of the 18th and 19th centuries. The museum is housed in buildings erected in 1738 and 1785 that were joined together in 1819. It was once the residence of the wealthy Iznaga family.
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Galería del Arte Carlos Enríquez
You can muse for a few minutes at the friendly Galería del Arte Carlos Enríquez, also in the main park. A gifted painter hailing from the small Villa Clara town of Zulueta, Enríquez called his studio ‘Hurón Azul, ’ a name later adopted by Uneac (Union of Cuban Writers and Artists).
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Galería de Arte
Admission is completely free at the 19th-century Palacio Ortiz, which today houses the Galería de Arte, on the southwestern side of Plaza Mayor. Worth a look for its quality local art, particularly the embroidery, pottery and jewelry; there’s also a pleasant courtyard.
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Iglesia de Santa Ana
Only the shell remains of the Iglesia de Santa Ana, but just across the square is a former Spanish prison (1844) that has been converted into a tourist center, the Plaza Santa Ana (Calle Camilo Cienfuegos). The complex includes an art gallery, handicraft market, ceramics shop, bar and restaurant.
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Palacio Ortíz
Admission is completely free at the 19th-century Palacio Ortíz, which today houses the Galería de Arte, on the southwestern side of Plaza Mayor. Worth a look for its quality local art, particularly the embroidery, pottery and jewelry, there's also a nice courtyard and spiffy bathroom.
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Estadio Sandino
The Estadio Sandino, is the venue for baseball games from October to April. Villa Clara (La Villa) plays a central role in the history of Cuban baseball, but they're like the Boston Red Sox of Cuba: they have rabid fans and are super fun to watch, though victory has tended to elude them.
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Casa de Los Mártires de Trinidad
It’s easy to miss the small Casa de los Mártires de Trinidad, dedicated to 72 Trinidad residents who died in the struggle against Fulgencio Batista, the campaign against the counterrevolutionaries, and the little-mentioned war in Angola.
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Museo de Arqueología Guamuhaya
On the northwestern side of Plaza Mayor is the Museo de Arqueología Guamuhaya, an odd mix of stuffed animals, native bones, and vaguely incongruous 19th-century kitchen furniture. Don’t make it your first priority.
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