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Fuerte San Hilario
Cayo Sabinal has quite some history for a wilderness area. Following repeated pirate attacks in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Spanish built a fort here (1831) to keep marauding corsairs at bay. The fort later became a prison and, in 1875, witnessed the only Carlist uprising (a c
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Bust of Ernest Hemingway
Next to the Torreón de Cojímar and framed by a neoclassical archway is a gilded bust of Ernest Hemingway erected by the residents of Cojímar in 1962. Hemingway came here regularly in the 1940s and ‘50s and moored his boat in the nearby harbor. His friend and sea captain, Gregorio F
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Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús
A little out on a limb but well worth the walk is this inspiring marble creation with a distinctive white steeple – its one of Cubas few Gothic buildings. The church is rightly famous for its magnificent stained-glass windows, and the light that penetrates through the eaves first t
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Parque Chapuzón
Greenery beckons not a kilometer from Bayamos center where the Bayamo River has carved a lush belt through the urban grid. Locals come to this blissful spot to water their horses, have a family barbecue or swim (as can you). Footpaths and gazebo-shaped stalls selling food and drink
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Ministerio del Interior
The ugly concrete block on the northern side of the Plaza de la Revolución is famous for its huge mural of Che Guevara, a copy of Alberto Korda’s famous 1960 photograph, with the words Hasta la Victoria Siempre (Always toward Victory) emblazoned underneath. The mural was fitted in
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Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Carmen
The Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Carmen , a twin-towered baroque beauty dating from 1825, is another church that shares digs with a former convent. The Monasterio de las Ursalinas is a sturdy arched colonial building with a pretty cloistered courtyard that once provided shelter fo
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Galería el Colonial
A shopping complex, Cuban-style, with all its engaging foibles and takes on commerce. Its difficult to say if this pink colonial building, spruced up for the citys 500th anniversary preparations, is more sight or shopaholic satisfier. Certainly you can buy rum or cigars, or sit dow
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Casa de Lombillo
Right next door to the Catedral de San Cristóbal de la Habana, this palacio was built in 1741 and once served as a post office (a stone-mask ornamental mailbox built into the wall is still in use). Since 2000 it has functioned as an office for the City Historian. Next door is the e
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Quinta de los Molinos
The former stately residence of General Máximo Gómez, the Quinta sits amid lush botanical gardens on land that once belonged to Havana University. The residence and grounds seem to be stuck in a perennial renovation project, with promises of a new museum and touched-up botanical ga
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Museo de 11 Abril
Set in a tiny casa on the approach road to Cajababo beach is the former home of Salustiano Leyva who, at the age of 11 in 1895, helped the freshly landed José Martí and Máximo Gómez to rest and plan their subsequent march west. The museum charts the events with maps and mementos. L
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Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores
East of Parque Céspedes is the pleasant and shady Plaza de Dolores, Casco Histórico, a former marketplace now dominated by the 18th-century Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores. After a fire in the 1970s, the church was rebuilt as a concert hall (Sala de Conciertos Dolores). Ma
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Monumento a Antonio Maceo
Lying in the shadow of Hospital Nacional Hermanos Ameijeiras, a Soviet-era 24-story hospital built in 1980, is this bronze representation of the mulato general who cut a blazing trail across the entire length of Cuba during the First War of Independence. The nearby 18th-century Tor
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Playa Duaba
Heading north on the Moa road, take the Hotel Porto Santo/airport turnoff and continue for 2km past the airport runway to a black-sand beach at the river mouth where Antonio Maceo, Flor Crombet and others landed in 1895 to start the Second War of Independence. Theres a memorial mon
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Casa Museo Celia Sánchez Manduley
Inspired by Fidels revolutionary call, the towns inhabitants were quick to provide aid to the disparate rebel army after the Granma yacht landed nearby in 1956, and Castro muse Celia Sánchez briefly based herself here. This tiny museum has been named in her honor – though it functi
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Railroad Museum
Bejucal’s second claim to fame is its role in the development of the Cuban railway system. Latin America’s first ever railway line opened on November 19, 1837, running between Havana and Bejucal. The original station is still here, although it underwent extensive renovation in 1882
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Museo el Templete
This museum is housed in the tiny neoclassical Doric chapel on the east side of Plaza de Armas, which was erected in 1828 at the point where Havanas first Mass was held beneath a ceiba tree in November 1519. A similar ceiba tree has now replaced the original. Inside the chapel are
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La Manzana de Gómez
This once-elegant European-style covered shopping mall was built in 1910 and was once the pride of polite Havana society. By the 1990s it had degenerated into a haunted version of Gotham City full of empty-shelved shops. It has subsequently been taken over by a Swiss hotel group wh
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Galería Provincial Eduardo Abela
This bold and groundbreaking art gallery is anything but provincial. The first room focuses on painting whilst others showcase poignant black-and-white photography. The gallery is named after city son Eduardo Abela, a Cuban artist perhaps most famous for creating El Bobo (The Fool)
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Castillo de las Nubes
A romantic castle with a circular tower on a hilltop 1.5km up a rough road beyond the Orquideario Soroa, the Castillo de las Nubes makes for a good leg stretch. There are stunning views of the Valle de Soroa and the coastal plain from the ridge beyond the bar, but the interior – fo
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Pavillón Granma
A memorial to the 18m yacht that carried Fidel Castro and 81 other revolutionaries from Tuxpán, Mexico, to Cuba in December 1956. Its encased in glass and guarded 24 hours a day, presumably to stop anyone from breaking in and making off for Florida in it. The pavilion is surrounded
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