The day we planned to visit three cities had arrived. It was about 3 hours drive from Varadero to the fist city on our route → Santa Clara.
We made one stop for refreshment on the half way there and at the back of the café we visited was a small garden. That was my first time seeing the banana tree and I was sooo happy.
We continued our drive and soon arrived to our first city for that day. Santa Clara is a home to a museum of Che Guevara because it was the site of the last battle in the Cuban Revolution.
There is a huge bronze statue of Che Guevara above his monument and museum.
Inside the mausoleum taking photos is strictly prohibited.
After visiting the mausoleum of Che, we proceed to Tren Blindado (Armoured train) a national monument, memorial park and museum, located near Santa Clara station.
It consists of an open sculpture park, an obelisk dedicated to Che Guevara, and a monument to the bulldozer used by Guevara and his soldiers to derail the train.
Then we continued to our next stop and arrived in Trinidad. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is famous for its colonial streets and architecture.
In the heart of Trinidad there is Plaza Mayor where is Church of Holy Trinity located.
We visited the Municipal History Museum (Museo de Historia Municipal). At the entrance is a large courtyard.
You can get to know history of this city better by watching all the showpieces displayed here.
From the Watchtower you can see Plaza Mayor, colonial houses and the whole city of Trinidad.
After walking through the streets of this incredible city and climbing at the top of the tower, we decided to go to a local café and try the canchánchara cocktail, which is originally from Trinidad.
Canchánchara is a cocktail made of fresh lime juice, rum, ice and honey. The cocktail was ok, but nothing special. It tasted more like regular lemonade with honey to me.
We met this funny couple from Belgium on this excursion, and spent the rest of the day with them. When we finished our drinks it was time to go and visit our final destination for that day → Cienfuegos.
Cienfuegos is a little city on the southern coast of Cuba. It’s also called the Pearl of the South and is also on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list.
The marble statue of San Jordi is located in the park in the center of Cienfuegos.
This is the only city that was founded by the French. The Arch of Triumph is there to witnesses it, as the only building of that kind in Cuba.
After walking through the city center for a while, it was time to go back to Varadero. It was so nice, eventful day and pretty much exhausting one. Even though we didn’t have time to explore each city completely, this day trip helped us to see Cuba in other way and I am grateful I had that opportunity.
Impressed.