Impossible! I said when I was commissioned to recommend 5 preferential places to enjoy the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, our most Caribbean city. Because Santiago is too much and under each small stone on the road there is hidden a treasure, an attractive proposal, an interesting story... But there is no choice but to try that synthesis, starting from the very center of the former town of Santiago Apóstol, presumably founded in terms of date: July 25, 1514 by Adelantado Diego Velázquez, during the process of Spanish colonization.
And from that motley and colorful historic center we cannot fail to mention the House of Diego Velázquez himself, who established the island's governorship there, with the rank of capital that he had for a short time. The old stone building still survives with a style that, due to its sobriety and cleanliness, is much more reminiscent of a building with a Romanesque air than a Baroque one, a style that was yet to come. The authenticity has been verified and today the house has become a museum, decorated inside, not with the furniture that belonged to the caudillo, but with pieces whose style corresponds to that time.
So, to visit the Casa del Adelantado, closely linked to Hernán Cortés, the future Conqueror of Mexico-Tenochtitlán, is to receive a pleasant lesson in patriarchal history and the intricacies of events of the Spanish Conquest, very sacrosanct, but also devastating. The old mansion and museum is in front of the central Park Céspedes, a very populous and cosmopolitan area of Santiago, also surrounded by the beautiful Cathedral of the city, with its neoclassical architectural style, where very valuable scores of the first Cuban author of sacred or classical music, the priest Esteban Salas, are kept.
Walking through this environment, you can't miss the very Creole and very rooted Casa de la Trova in Santiago, a place where, at the blow of Creole or Spanish guitars, claves and maracas, the most genuine cultists born in that city of music that went around the world in their time and still has for a while are honored and enjoyed. We are talking about genres such as the bolero, the Cuban son, the guarachas and montunos and a lot of other creations that together with legendary authors and performers Pepe Sánchez, the Matamoros, Ñico Saquito and Son 14, for example, make the Cuban soul dance.
Between sip and sip of Cuban rum, preferably taken without ice, scratching your throat and igniting passions even more, the Casa de la Trova is culture, fun, a Cuban-style bohemian spirit and an almost telluric message from that land where the most hospitable and courageous natives live.
For lovers of the sun and the beach in Santiago there is the seductive offer of the Baconao Tourist Complex, outside the city, obviously, which is another dose of the benefits of that region of Cuba, very close to the most important mountain range in the country, the Sierra Maestra. In that place you can enjoy a stay with comfortable accommodation, entertainment, history, legends and nature. Sea baths and diving. A package of wonders. If you are one of those who highly values history and traditions, we will give you this item as a single offer, although with the trick that we will propose several places. Something like three in one.
To learn about the fascinating history of Cuban coffee production, you can visit the La Isabelica tourist complex, a bucolic site where there are vestiges of a beautiful 19th century coffee plantation, with ruins and very interesting objects. Very set in the time of the manor house, cradle of a beautiful legend. There is a restaurant, shop and bar service.
You can also go to the Casa Dranguet, already in the city of Santiago de Cuba, where you will find an excellent Museum very well decorated and documented on everything related to coffee. And continuing within topics of history, although already on important events of the 20th century, you can reach the Siboney Farm, another museum linked to the revolutionary events of July 26, 1953, led by leader Fidel Castro.
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