CubaPLUS Magazine

All of eastern Cuba is an explosion of colors that the traveler receives all at once, which is a pleasant surprise, especially in Bayamo, a city that has much to show. This city is particularly attractive this Thursday because it marks 156 years since the beginning of the wars of independence against Spanish colonialism, and the moment of the emergence of Cuban nationality.

Bayamo is the capital of the province of Granma, in the southeast of Cuba, whose fame rises with the blow of nature, sea, mountains and a history that contributes to original sites of revolutions, to the point of constituting the epicenter of Cuban nationality.

The axis starts from Bayamo, the main city, founded in the 16th century, one of the first villages on the Island, a city burned by its inhabitants in 1869 before the advance of the Spanish colonial troops and one of the most contributing to national culture.

The entire province has 8,372 square kilometers, almost eight percent of the Cuban territory, with a very dispersed population of over 700 thousand inhabitants. The Spanish Governor Diego Velázquez founded Bayamo in 1513 and in its historical part there are the city cathedral, the Plaza del Himno, the birthplace of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, the Casa de la Trova and other points of interest.

As Bayamo is the cradle of Cuban nationality, it is full of history and places worth visiting, and which travelers actually frequent. Let's start with the Casa de la Trova La Bayamesa, an infrastructure of very old architecture that dates back to the end of the 18th century, which survived the city fire.

Next is the Wax Museum, where transcendental figures from all areas of Cuban society and their customs are exhibited. The first exponent to be sculpted was that of singer Polo Montañez, but other great figures of Cuban culture such as Benny Moré also remain.

A visit to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception is a must, ideal for photos. Our tour then takes us along the Paseo Bayamés, full of culture, beauty, art, commerce and all kinds of attractions for the enjoyment of visitors. Another popular tourist spot is the Cupaynicú Botanical Garden, which was opened in the early 1980s for scientific purposes, but it soon aroused the curiosity of tourists.

Most visitors arrive at the Square of the National Hymn, the site that has remained largely unchanged since its construction. It houses the Iglesia Parroquial Mayor de San Salvador, heir to an ancient temple from 1514. The square is famous for being the place where the Cuban National Anthem was sung for the first time, in 1868.

These are the essential places in Bayamo, to which its hotels can be added. The second founded town in Cuba has much to show in terms of intimate hotels, as is the case of the Hotel Royalton. This facility is in a privileged location, very central. It has 33 rooms, all equipped with amenities to make your stay comfortable, as well as enviable cuisine, and a very professional staff.

But there is much more, such as the Hotel Islazul Sierra Maestra, with 114 traditional rooms, or the Villa Islazul Bayamo, or the Hotel Escuela Telégrafo, all central places that allow you to begin an unforgettable tour of an equally unforgettable city.

(Taken from Prensa Latina)