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Santiago de Cuba
Its historical-cultural values and the proverbial hospitality of its people, of cheerful and bustling temperament, constitute two of the features that more distinguish to the south-oriental province of Santiago de Cuba, considered by its geographical position and ethnic origins as authentic Capital of the Caribbean.
At 1514, the foundation -next to an enormous bag bay, well preserved and surrounded of mountains - of its original urban nucleus that was adjusting perfectly to the conditions imposed by the irregular soil of the area in its ulterior expansion process.
The exploitation of the gold and the copper, initially, and the cultivation of the coffee, introduced then by French emigrants' waves, were, in times of the colony, the main economic items of a city that, besieged by corsairs, pirates and enemies of the Spanish metropolis, it required of intense fortification works whose higher exponent, the San Pedro de la Roca Castle, was declared World Heritage by the UNESCO in 1997.
The people from Santiago identifies it simply as the Morro and they know that next to The Castle of the Star and the battery of La Socapa are part of the biggest and more complex example of military engineering in the European Renaissance applied to the Caribbean conditions in a colonial power. |
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To the help of similar fortifications Santiago de Cuba grew in which historical center maintains it valuable splendorous exponents of the colonial architecture of strong Andalusia and Moorish tradition, standing out the house of Diego Velázquez, considered the oldest in the Island, and the Metropolitan Cathedral, both very near constructions to the two more popular arteries of that city: the Enramada Street and Padre Pico street.
Cespedes Park is, without doubts, the heart of the only City Hero of the Republic of Cuba, scenario in July 26, 1953 of the assault to the Moncada Headquarter, action that pointed out the beginning of the last fighting stage for the national liberation, and where the rests of José Martí, in an impressive funeral monument of the Santa Iphigenia Graveyard remains.
Around 15 museums, among them the Bacardí, first existent in the country; the paternity of two popular and transcendent musical genres: the "Son" and the "Bolero"; an institution of the prestige of the Orfeon de Santiago; the fidelity to artistic expressions as the “quadrille” (that makes sure it arrived French and it became Cuban), and the best carnivals in the Island, are cultural treasures that here are preserved with zeal, but that they are also shared with pleasure with the recently arrived one. Because Santiago is, above all the things, an opened and cordial people's town.
The gentle Granma Key, amid the bay, is another of the attractiveness that goes winning the preference of the habitual visitors of this city, transformed into important commercial square from the region when organizing the" Encounter of Businessmen" and the annually fair "Expo-Caribbean", an appointment that precedes to the Fire Party, in which shines in all its splendor the beautiful hearth of the Caribbean culture.
Beyond the limits of the city, the visitor can find numerous attractiveness, among those which the sanctuary of the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, Patron Saint of Cuba, erected in 1927, figures among the good known ones.
The Protected Natural Landscape The Great Stone is one of the places of more beauty in the province. An enormous rock placed to more than 1 100 meters on the level of the sea, and whose dear weight is of around 70 000 tons, exceptional observatory becomes from where to enjoy the splendid landscape that the Sierra Maestra offers. For addition, very near there, important ruins of Franc-Haitian coffee establishments are located and they were declared World Heritage recently by the UNESCO.
A little later on, the Baconao Great Natural Park, in the Reservation of Biosphere of the equal names, worths a while a journey for the Sidewalk of the Sculptures, the Prehistoric Valley -a true Caribbean Jurassic Park - and the dolphins tank, or to enjoy good part of the beaches of the province, fed by the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea and protected by the elevations of the most important mountainous system in the archipelago.
For the diving four areas, defined in 150 kilometers of the existent coasts: Sigua, Daiquiri, Buccaneer and Sierra-Mar that total more than 70 immersion points in those in their group that, besides among the intact natural beauties of their marine funds, it is possible to dive in the remains of sunken ships at the end of the XIX century. The fact that each one of these four spaces has their own attractiveness, it transforms Santiago de Cuba into an excellent alternative square to dive in the Caribbean domains of Neptune.
Those who visit the capital of the Caribbean has, also, the possibility to visit the Turquino National Park, where the most important heights in the Island are located: the own Turquino Peak (1 974 meters), the Cuba Peak (1 872) and the Sweden Peak (1 734); and of knowing an ideal place for the practice of the eco-tourism, El Salton, very near of which also exist important reservations of appropriate miner-medicinal waters to treat the neuralgias, rheumatism, dermatitis, traumatisms, allergies and breathing affections, among others.
Santiago de Cuba is, for its own right, rebellious yesterday, hospital today and heroic always. |
