Santiago de Cuba

Santiago de Cuba is a city that has starred in the story. It was the ancient capital of Cuba and the strategic location from which Spain extended the conquest of America. In the past it was also an important port for the slave trade. And, of course, the birthplace of the Cuban revolution.
Today Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. It is located at the bottom of a bay. Meets the sea by a narrow channel guarded by a fortress, the Castillo del Morro. This castle, which is accessed by a drawbridge, served as a defense against pirates and later a prison for political prisoners.
Santiago has a lot to visit. Cespedes Park was the old main square of the colonial era. With him we can see houses with wooden balconies carved still stand.
Close by, we arrive at the picturesque Calle Padre Pico, then the square of Dolores and surrounding buildings in the atmosphere keeps us so characteristic of colonial Santiago de Cuba. A few meters are City Hall, more modern and neoclassical style.
An interesting point to visit the city tour is the cemetery of Santa Ifigenia which is the National Pantheon. There are the graves of historical figures like Jose Marti and Cuban Carlos Manuel de Cespedes.
But there is more history in Santiago. His most famous carnival on the island. Held in July, at the end of the cane harvest. After preparing for months, all the people gather in the streets to celebrate through music, dance and colorful parades.
The Sierra Maestra National Park, is the highlight Cuba’s most important and one of the main sites of the Cuban Revolution. There, 16 km from Santiago, we find the open pit mines of El Cobre, where the shrine of Our Lady of Charity, which is the spiritual patron of Cuba. This can be mixed with Catholic saints, ancestral worship, as orishaá that blacks brought from Africa.

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