Sights in Cuba
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Club Habana
This fabulously eclectic mansion in Flores dating from 1928 once housed the Havana Biltmore Yacht & Country Club. In the 1950s the establishment gained brief notoriety when it famously denied entry to Cuban president Fulgencio Batista on the grounds that he was ‘black’ (Batista was in fact of mixed blood with a black mother and a part-Chinese father). Castro had better luck when he dropped by for dinner some 30 years later and the club remains one of the few places where he has dined in public. These days the history of the establishment seems to have swung full circle and it is again a popular hangout for foreign correspondents and diplomats. The club has its own beach, …
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Real Fábrica de Tabacos Partagás
One of Havana’s oldest and most famous cigar factories, the landmark neoclassical Real Fábrica de Tabacos Partagás was founded in 1845 by a Spaniard named Jaime Partagás. Today some 400 workers toil for up to 12 hours a day in here rolling such famous cigars as Montecristos and Cohibas. As far as tours go, Partagás is the most popular and reliable factory to visit. Tour groups check out the ground floor first, where the leaves are unbundled and sorted, before proceeding to the upper floors to watch the tobacco get rolled, pressed, adorned with a band and boxed. Though interesting in an educational sense, the tours here are often rushed and a little robotic and some vi…
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Parque Almendares
Running along the banks of the Río Almendares below the bridge on Calle 23 (La Rampa), this wonderful oasis of greenery and negative-air ions in the heart of chaotic Habana is sometimes referred to as the lungs of the city. The park was restored in 2003 and a beautiful job has been done: benches line the river promenade, plants grow profusely in the shade and there are many facilities here, including an antiquated miniature golf course, the Anfiteatro Parque Almendares and a children’s playground. There are also several good places to eat. Take a 20-minute stroll through old-growth trees in the Bosque de la Habana and you’ll feel transported (take a friend, though: thi…
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Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña
An 18th-century colossus, the FortalezadeSan Carlosde la Cabaña was built between 1763 and 1774 on a long, exposed ridge on the east side of Havana harbor to fill a weakness in the city’s defenses. In 1762 the British had taken Havana by gaining control of this strategically important ridge and it was from here that they shelled the city mercilessly into submission. In order to prevent a repeat performance, the Spanish King Carlos III ordered the construction of a massive fort that would repel future invaders. Measuring 700m from end to end and covering a whopping 10 hectares, it is the largest Spanish colonial fortress in the Americas.
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Artisan Market
If art and history are your thing you've come to the wrong place. Varadero's reputation as a font of cultural interaction is not exactly legendary. Nevertheless there are a few sights worth pondering over if the beach banality starts to wear a bit thin.
The Parque Central and adjacent Parque de las 8000 Taquillas host the biggest Artisan Market in town and nestled among the uva caleta (sea grape) trees it's a pretty part of the public beach.
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Iglesia de Santo Tomás
North of the historic center, Santiago de Cuba turns residential. Tracking up Calle Felix Peña, you can orientate yourself by the baroque bell tower of Iglesia de Santo Tomás, one in a trio of notable, if dilapidated, 18th-century churches in this neighborhood.
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Museo de la Lucha Clandestina
This gorgeous colonial-style building houses the Museo de la Lucha Clandestina, detailing the underground struggle against Batista in the 1950s. It’s a fascinating, if macabre, story enhanced by far-reaching views from the balcony.
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El Morro
From El Morro you also get a good look at the hamlets of La Socapa and Cayo Granma across the bay, both accessible by ferry from Punta Gorda or Ciudamar. In La Socapa you can hike uphill to the ruins of an old Spanish battery where five cannons, designed to create crossfire with the castle, still stand guard. The only shooting nowadays is by photographers taking in the excellent castle views; for some private beach time, you can explore west along the deserted coast.
Cayo Granma is a little fantasy island of red-roofed dwellings tucked in a crook of the Bahía de Santiago de Cuba. A short uphill hike to its highest point brings you to the Iglesia de San Rafael. Alternative…
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Señora Amelia Goyri
After entering the neo-Romanesque northern gateway (1870), there’s the tomb of independence leader General Máximo Gómez (1905) on the right (look for the bronze face in a circular medallion). Further along past the first circle, and also on the right, are the monument to the firefighters (1890) and the neo-Romanesque Capilla Central (1886) in the center of the cemetery. Just northeast of this chapel is the graveyard’s most celebrated (and visited) tomb, that of Señora Amelia Goyri, better known as La Milagrosa (the miraculous one), who died while giving birth on May 3, 1901. The marble figure of a woman with a large cross and a baby in her arms is easy to find, due…
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Universidad de la Habana
Founded by Dominican monks in 1728 and secularized in 1842, Habana University began life in Habana Vieja before moving to its present site in 1902. The existing neoclassical complex dates from the second quarter of the 20th century, and today some 30,000 students (2000 of them foreigners), taught by 1700 professors, follow courses in the social sciences, humanities, natural sciences, mathematics and economics here. Perched on a hill at the top of the famous stairway, the university’s central quadrangle, the Plaza Ignacio Agramonte, displays a tank captured by Castro’s rebels in 1958. Directly in front is the biblioteca (library) and to the left the Edificio Felipe Poe…
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Museo de la Revolución
The Museo de la Revolución is housed in the former Presidential Palace, constructed between 1913 and 1920 and used by a string of cash-embezzling Cuban presidents, culminating in Fulgencio Batista. The world-famous Tiffany’s of New York decorated the interior, and the shimmering Salón de los Espejos (Room of Mirrors) was designed to resemble the room of the same name at the Palace of Versailles. In March 1957 the palace was the target of an unsuccessful assassination attempt against Batista led by revolutionary student leader José Antonio Echeverría. The museum itself descends chronologically from the top floor starting with Cuba’s pre-Columbian culture and extending to …
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Parque de la Fraternidad
Parque de la Fraternidad ‘Fraternity Park’ was established in 1892 to commemorate the fourth centenary of the Spanish landing in the Americas. A few decades later, it was remodeled and renamed to mark the 1927 Pan-American Conference. The name was meant to signify American brotherhood, hence the many busts of Latin and North American leaders that have been set up around the park – including one of US president Abraham Lincoln. The ceiba tree protected by a high iron fence in the center was planted in a mixture of soil from all the countries of the Americas. Ceiba trees, the giants of jungles and savannas, have been revered as life givers throughout Latin America for centu…
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Cementerio Santa Ifigenia
Nestled peacefully on the western edge of the city, the Cementerio Santa Ifigenia is second only to Havana’s Necrópolis Cristóbal Colón in its importance and grandiosity. Created in 1868 to accommodate the victims of the War of Independence and a simultaneous yellow-fever outbreak, the Santa Ifigenia includes many great historical figures among its 8000-plus tombs. Names to look out for include Tomás Estrada Palma (1835–1908), Cuba’s now disgraced first president; Emilio Bacardí y Moreau (1844–1922) of the famous rum dynasty; María Grajales, the widow of independence hero Antonio Maceo, and Mariana Grajales, Maceo’s mother; 11 of the 31 generals of the independence strugg…
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Cueva del Aguas
Cueva del Aguas is a cave with a sparkling, freshwater swimming hole inside. To get there, head past the Fuerte Matachín, hike southeast past the baseball stadium and along the beach for about 20 minutes to a rickety wooden bridge over the Río Miel.
From April to June, you'll have to take a skiff across the flooded river mouth before reaching the bridge, which costs a peso to cross and is open from sunrise to sunset. After the bridge, turn left until you come to a Gaviota hut, where you have to pay around to proceed further. Going right at the Gaviota hut and following the dirt road through coconut groves and past clapboard houses for 45 minutes, you'll come to the blue…
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Castillo de la Real Fuerza
The oldest existing fort in the Americas, the Castillo de Real Fuerza was built between 1558 and 1577 on the site of an earlier fort destroyed by French privateers in 1555. The west tower is crowned by a copy of a famous bronze weather vane called La Giraldilla; the original was cast in Habana in 1632 by Jerónimo Martínez Pinzón and is popularly believed to be of Doña Inés de Bobadilla, the wife of gold-explorer Hernando de Soto. It is now kept in the Museo de la Ciudad, and the figure also appears on the Havana Club rum label. For the first 200 years of its existence, the Castillo was the residence of the Spanish captains general, until they finally got around to co…
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Cueva de Los Portales
During the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara transferred the headquarters of the Western Army to this rather spectacular cave, 11km west of Parque La Güira and 16km north of Entronque de Herradura on the Carretera Central. The cave is set in a beautiful remote area among steep-sided vine-covered mogotes and was declared a national monument in the 1980s. A small outdoor museum contains a few of Che’s roughshod artifacts including his bed and the table where he played chess (while the rest of the world stood at the brink of nuclear Armageddon). Three other caves called El Espejo, El Salvador and Cueva Oscura are up on the hillside. This area is e…
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Palacio de Los Capitanes Generales
Filling the whole west side of the Plaza de Armas, this former palace is one of Cuba’s most majestic baroque buildings. It stands on the site of Habana’s original church, the Parroquial Mayor, which was established in 1574 but was damaged by the explosion of the Invencible in Habana harbor in 1741. Due to ongoing damage, the church was subsequently demolished in 1776. The current building dates from the late 1770s and it has served many purposes over the years. From 1791 until 1898, it was the residence of the Spanish captains general. From 1899 until 1902, the US military governors were based here, and during the first two decades of the 20th century the building bri…
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Bacardí Rum Factory
While it’s not as swanky as its modern Bahamas HQ, the original Bacardí Rum Factory, opened in 1868, oozes history. Spanish-born founder Don Facundo dreamt up the world-famous Bacardí bat symbol after finding a colony of the winged mammals living in the factory’s rafters. Although the family fled the island after the Revolution, the Cuban government has continued to make traditional rum here – the signature Ron Caney brand coupled with smaller amounts of Ron Santiago and Ron Varadero. In total, the factory knocks out nine million liters a year, 70% of which is exported. There are currently no factory tours, but the Barrita de Ron Caney, a tourist bar attached to t…
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Cuartel Moncada
With a trapezoid footprint from General Portuondo to Paseo de Martí and Av de los Libertadores to Av Moncada, is named for Guillermón Moncada, a prisoner here in 1874 who later fought for independence from Spain during the 'Little War' of 1879. The first barracks on this site were constructed by the Spanish in 1859, and in 1938 the present buildings were completed.
On the morning of July 26, 1953, more than 100 revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro attacked Batista's troops here at what was at the time Cuba's second most important military garrison. The revolutionaries had hoped the assault would spark a general uprising throughout Cuba, but things went awry when the driv…
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Us Interests Office
Set up in 1977 during a brief thaw in Cuban-American relations under President Jimmy Carter, the US Interests Office remains a huge source of controversy between the two countries, with the Cubans accusing its US neighbor of sponsoring all kinds of political dissent across the island from behind its heavily guarded doors. Surrounded by billboards displaying hysterical graffiti that liken George W Bush to Adolf Hitler, the building is the site of some of the worst tit-for-tat finger wagging on the island. Facing the office on the Malecón is the Plaza Tribuna Anti-Imperialista, built during the Elián González affair to host major in-your-face protests (earning it the local…
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Parque Central
A small but scenic haven from the belching buses and roaring taxis that ply their way along Paseo de Martí, Parque Central has long been a microcosm of daily Habana life. The park was expanded to its present size in the late 19th century after the city walls were knocked down, and the marble statue of José Martí at its center was the first of thousands to be erected in Cuba. Raised in 1905 on the 10th anniversary of the poet’s death, the monument is ringed by 28 palm trees planted to signify Martí’s birth date, January 28. Hard to miss is the group of baseball fans who linger, seemingly 24 hours a day, within ball-pitching distance of the statue’s marble base at the fa…
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Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Regla
As important as it is diminutive, the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Regla, which lies just behind the boat dock in the municipality of Regla, has a long and colorful history. Inside on the main altar you’ll find La Santísima Virgen de Regla, a black Madonna venerated in the Catholic faith and associated in the Santería religion with Yemayá, the orisha (spirit) of the ocean and the patron of sailors (always represented in blue). Legend claims that this image was carved by St Augustine ‘The African’ in the 5th century, and that in the year AD 453 a disciple brought the statue to Spain to safeguard it from barbarians. The small vessel in which the image was traveling su…
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Old City Wall
At the southern end of Av de Bélgica, close to the train station, lies the longest remaining stretch of the old city wall. The wall, which was designed to deter attacks from pirates and buccaneers, was begun in 1674 and took over 60 years to build. On its completion, it measured 1.5m thick, 10m high and 5km long. A bronze map at the remnants of the wall shows the outline of the original layout. Among the defenses erected along its course were nine bastions and some 180 big guns aimed toward the sea. The only way in and out of the city from 1740 until the demolition of the wall began on August 8, 1863, was through 11 highly guarded gates that closed every night and opened …
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Loma de San Juan
Future American president Teddy Roosevelt forged his reputation on Loma de San Juan where, flanked by the immortal rough-riders, he supposedly led a fearless cavalry charge against the Spanish to seal a famous US victory. In reality, it is doubtful that Roosevelt even mounted his horse in Santiago, while the purportedly clueless Spanish garrison – outnumbered 10 to one – managed to hold off more than 6000 American troops for 24 hours. Protected on pleasantly manicured grounds adjacent to the modern-day Motel San Juan, the Loma deSan Juan marks the spot of the Spanish-Cuban-American War’s only land battle, which took place on July 1, 1898. Cannons, trenches and numerou…
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Iglesia Y Convento de Santa Clara
This huge construction - which covers four city blocks - was the first nunnery in Habana. Built from 1638 to 1643, it was founded by nuns from Cartagena de Indias. Look out for the marvelous beamed ceiling in the nave, and the handsome columns and pleasing arches in the main cloister. Among the many residences here is the Casa del Marino (Sailor’s House), in the second cloister. According to records, this house (the current residence of academics) was built by a pirate-turned-respectable-shipowner who gave the building to his devout daughter. Ceasing to be a convent in 1920, the Santa Clara became the Ministry of Public Works. Today the team in charge of the restoration o…
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