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Museo Oscar María de Rojas
Cubas second-oldest museum (after the Museo Bacardí in Santiago) offers a selection of weird artifacts, including a strangulation chair from 1830, a face mask of Napoleon, the tail of Antonio Maceos horse, Cubas largest collection of snails and, last but by no means least, some pre
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Palacio de Los Condes de Santovenia
Habaguanex’ five-star Hotel Santa Isabel is a historic building in its own right and a former stately palace of the counts of Santovenia. It dates from the 1780s and was converted into a luxurious hotel in 1867, making it one of Habana’s oldest hotels. Habaguanex gave the place a m
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Fábrica de Órganos
This is the only mechanical music-organ factory in Cuba. The small factory produces about six organs a year, as well as guitars and other instruments. A good organ costs between the equivalent of US$10,000 and US$25,000. Eight professional organ groups exist in Holguín (including t
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Iglesia Parroquial Mayor del Espíritu Santo
Overlooking Plaza Honorato is this beautiful blue church that underwent a Lazarus-like renovation for the 2014 anniversary. Originally constructed of wood in 1522 and rebuilt in stone in 1680, its said to be the oldest church in Cuba still standing on its original foundations. The
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Plaza de Marte
Guarding the entrance to the casco histórico, motorcycle-infested Plaza de Marte was formerly a macabre 19th-century Spanish parade ground, where prisoners were executed publicly for revolutionary activities. Today, the plaza is Santiago de Cubas esquina caliente (hot corner), wher
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Arechabala Rum Factory
To the northwest of the city center in the industrial zone is where Varadero rum is distilled: the Havana Club rum company was founded here in 1878. The company (and its international partner Bacardí) has recently been entangled in a trademark dispute with the Cuban government and
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Mirador de Mayabe
The Mirador de Mayabe is a motel-cum-restaurant high on a hill 10km from Holguín city. It gained fame for a beer-drinking donkey named Pancho, who hung out near the bar in the 1980s. The original Pancho died in 1992 and theyre now onto Pancho IV who also drinks beer. Traditional co
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Parque Martí
Anchored by the tiny Parroquia de Santa Catalina de Riccis (1863), Parque Martí has benefited from a substantial facelift of late: a lick of paint, information boards and a clutch of interesting new shops, restaurants and entertainment nooks, strung along vibrant boulevards. Sittin
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Parque Nacional Desembarco del Granma
Mixing unique environmental diversity with heavy historical significance, the Parque Nacional Desembarco del Granma consists of 275 sq km of teeming forests, peculiar karst topography and uplifted marine terraces. It is also a spiritual shrine to the Cuban Revolution – the spot whe
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Alto del Naranjo
All trips into the park begin at the end of the near-vertical, corrugated-concrete access road at Alto del Naranjo (after Villa Santo Domingo the road gains 750 vertical meters in less than 5km). To get there, its an arduous two-hour walk, or zippy ride in a 4WD. Theres a wondrous
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Colección de Arte Universal
Arranged inside the fabulously eclectic Centro Asturianas (a work of art in its own right), the Colección de Arte Universal exhibits international art from 500 BC to the present day on three separate floors. Highlights include an extensive Spanish collection (with a canvas by El Gr
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Museo de las Parrandas Remedianas
Visiting this lively museum (and you dont often hear those two words together in provincial Cuba) two blocks off Parque Martí is no substitute for the real-life revelry on December 24, but what the hell? The downstairs photo gallery usually recaps the previous years parrandas , whi
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Iglesia Parroquial de la Santísima Trinidad
Despite its rather unremarkable outer facade, this church on the northeastern side of Plaza Mayor graces countless Trinidad postcard views. Rebuilt in 1892 on the site of an earlier church destroyed in a storm, the church mixes 20th-century touch-ups with artifacts from as far back
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Casa del Cacao
Baracoa, you will quickly ascertain (via your nose), is the center of Cubas chocolate industry; cocoa is grown hereabouts and subsequently chocolate-ized in a local factory. Thus this cafe cum museum chronicles the history of cacao and its importance in eastern Cuba as well as offe
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Santuario de San Lázaro
The focus of Cubas biggest annual pilgrimage lacks ostentation and is tucked away in the rustic village of El Rincón. The saint inside the church is San Lázaro (represented by the orisha Babalú Ayé in the Santería religion), the patron saint of healing and the sick. Hundreds come t
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Museo Nacional de Transporte Terrestre
Whats the point? you might well ask, when you stumble upon this alfresco museum 2km east of Valle de la Prehistoria. Its all very impressive that theyve nabbed Benny Morés 1958 Cadillac, the Chevrolet Raúl Castro got lost in on the way to Moncada Barracks and Cuban singer Rosita Fo
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Il Genio di Leonardo da Vinci
A permanent exposition in the Convento de San Francisco de Asís Salón Blanco (use separate entrance on the church’s south side behind the Coche Mambí) that has cleverly built mock-ups of many of Leonardo’s famous drawings – gliders, odometers, bikes, parachutes and tanks – the ante
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Iglesia de Monserrate
For a mappable view of mildewed Matanzas and the broccoli green Valle de Yumurí, climb 1.5km northeast of the center up Calle 306 to this renovated church dating from 1875. The lofty bastion perched high above the city was built by colonists from Catalonia in Spain as a symbol of t
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Maqueta de La Habana Vieja
Herein lies a 1:500 scale model of Habana Vieja complete with an authentic soundtrack meant to replicate a day in the life of the city. Its incredibly detailed and provides an excellent way of geographically acquainting yourself with the citys historical core. The on-site Cinematóg
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Topes de Collantes
The rugged 90km-long Sierra del Escambray mountain range, some 20km northwest of Trinidad, has some of Cuba’s best unguided hiking. The Carpeta Central information office sells a topographical map of the area , and offers campsites (CUC$10) and guides. The most popular hike is the
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