Fortress sights in Cuba
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A
Museo de la Cerámica Artística Cubana
On the square’s seaward side is the Castillo de la Real Fuerza, the oldest existing fort in the Americas, 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 Havana 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. Imposing and indomitable, the castle is ringed by an impressive moat and today shelters the Museo de la Cer…
reviewed
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B
Castillo del Príncipe
The Castillo del Principe (1767–79) is an irregularly shaped fortress constructed to protect nearby valleys. It is said to contain moats, underground passageways, vaulted galleries, cisterns and all sorts of other intriguing stuff, but today it serves as a police headquarters and is off-limits to tourists.
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C
El Castillo de Seboruco
Baracoa's third fort, El Castillo de Seboruco, begun by the Spanish in 1739 and finished by the Americans in 1900, is now Hotel El Castillo. There's an excellent view of El Yunque's flat top from the swimming pool. A stairway at the southwest end of Frank País climbs directly to the castle.
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D
Torreón de Cojímar
Overlooking the harbor, this old Spanish fort dating from 1649 is presently occupied by the Cuban coast guard. It was the first fortification taken by the British when they attacked Habana from the rear in 1762.
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E
Balcón de Velázquez
The airy Balcón de Velázquez is the site of an old Spanish fort which offers ethereal views over the terra-cotta-tiled roofs of the Tivolí neighborhood toward the harbor.
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F
Fuerte de la Punta
The Spanish Fuerte de la Punta has watched over the harbor entrance at the northern end of town since 1803. Today it's a restaurant serving ice-cold beers and killer views.
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