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Cuba
is truly an unique and amazing country, while its beaches and
resorts are on a par with anywhere else in the world, it is
the culture, music, architecture and its people that really
make it a place worth visiting, and also make the difference
with others Caribbean countries. Cuba has some of biggest and
better conserved Spanish colonial architecture cores in America.
Don
Diego de Velazquez, the island’s governor, begun the conquer
and settle of Cuba during 1510’s and he was the founder
of the first Cuban townships.
Between
1512 and 1519 were founded Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion
de Baracoa, San Salvador de Bayamo, Santiago de Cuba, Santisima
Trinidad, Sancti Spiritus, Santa Maria del Puerto del Principe
(Camaguey today), San Juan de los Remedios and San Cristóbal
de La Habana. Today, they still preserve part of their charming
and hoary dignified antiquity. Havana and Trinidad are, without
any possible doubt, the ones that still maintain their historic
cores with the highest percentage of surviving antique buildings
and public squares, assembling architectonic, historic and cultural
compounds of great value. Both have been registered by UNESCO
as World Heritage.
Havana,
with the biggest colonial core in America, today work hardly
for preserve its heritage and it's a magnificent place to visit
and walk, the old part of town features buildings of superb
architectural value, a privileged array of plazas and squares,
and a mighty defensive system that combine all to make up the
most amazing historic urban core of the entire Caribbean and
the Americas.
Trinidad,
also called the Museum City in Caribbean, charming and beautiful
jewel of colonial treasure of Cuba also is worth a visit, it
conserve yet the atmosphere of past time and also is surrounding
for a beautiful beach, Playa Ancon, and for Escambray Range,
a natural paradise.
Nevertheless,
the rest are not less worthy in architectonic and historic monuments,
public squares, and palaces. Bayamo, for instance, was burnt
completely by its own inhabitants in the early days of the Ten
Years War of 1868, so it would not fall in enemy hands. But
it still treasures part of the original Parochial Church and
countless extremely important historic site, plus the local
color of its traditions, like the buggy rides along its aged
streets. Yesterday’s Puerto Principe, today’s Camaguey,
with a historic core as large as Havana’s and many times
larger than Trinidad’s, shows visitors it small streets
of peculiar outlines, its churches, squares and its mansions,
with homely courtyard presided by the large jar-shaped clay
tinajones, used locally as rain water collectors. San Juan de
los Remedios, a small and pretty town in the center of the island
also conserve a small colonial core and very funny local traditions,
in its surroundings are Caibarien, other interesting fishmen
town and Cayo Santa Maria, a tiny cay with a magnificent beach
and some of better hotels in Cuba.
Baracoa
and Santiago de Cuba are charmingly authentic. Placed by the
sea and surrounded by mountains, the Caribbean atmosphere in
their ways of life is particularly strong in Santiago de Cuba,
while in Baracoa yet are visible the consequences of geographic
isolation for many years in the past . Santiago’s San
Pedro de la Roca del Morro castle, Adelantado Velazquez’s
house, Santiagos’ Cathedral, Carnaval Museum, Parque Cespedes,
Bacardi Museum, all are worth visiting. The very first thing
that meets the eye is the burg's architecture, a peculiar blend
of colonial and eclectic styles harking back the Republic's
early going. Baracoa, the Primate City, Cuba’s first capital,
jealously guard the first Christian relic in the New World:
the Holy Cross of Parra, kept at Nuestra Señora de la
Asuncion Church, also an incredible natural surroundings revalue
the city.
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