#651 Trinidad, Cuba

Sitting on the steps next to the Iglesia de Santisima Trinidad, which wind their way up to the Casa de la Musica, listening to the beautiful jazzy music and watching couples dancing in the muggy night, drinking Havana Rum: this is a romantic memory of Cuba. Trinidad is the postcard image of this proud country, and its old city evokes the feeling that it is in its prime. The architecture is simply spectacular: The buildings are immaculate, beautifully painted in pastel colors and restored with polished wooden doors, wrought iron grills, and the cobblestones see very little traffic to disrupt the history.

Founded by Diego Velazquez de Cuellar in 1514, its full name is Villa de la Santisima Trinidad. However, its beauty was founded on the rich sugar valleys surrounding it, and it is one of the best preserved cities of the era in the Caribbean, with elaborate 18th and 19th century palaces in mixed styles layered over the Spanish colonial plazas and gardens (none of which are square). Nowadays, it's a tobacco processing area, although it would be easy to believe that tourism keeps it alive. Since 1988, along with the nearby Valle de los Ingenios ("Valley of the Sugar Mills", which produced the sugar that made it wealthy), it is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Beautiful waterfalls are nearby in the Sierra del Escambray, 15 minutes away across salt-flats, white-sand Ancon Beach is spectacular, and the wealth of snorkeling in Casilda Bay lures still others (see a list of 10 popular choices for visitors). Did you know there's even a cave discotheque and another in the ruins of a church?

Most stay in colonial Casas Particulares (homestays), where time seems to have stopped pre-Independence. Despite the busloads of tourists, Trinidad has retained its peaceful tranquility, and a climb to the top of the Convento de San Francisco de Asis, with its pretty circular windows and its beautiful breezes shows a view of pastel blends and a gentle continuation of life much as it has gone on for centuries or at least decades.

The Plaza Mayor and the Cathedral.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinidad,_Cuba

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/cuba/central-cuba/trinidad
http://wikitravel.org/en/Trinidad_(Cuba)
http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Tourism-g285731-Trinidad_Sancti_Spiritus_Province_Cuba-Vacations.html
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/460

#675 Varadero, Cuba

Many tourists who come to Cuba only see Varadero. They arrive on a charter flight directly from Canada, France, Mexico, or Britain to the local airport, and spend time only on this beach. But I suppose if I were to only come here, it's a pretty nice place to come to. The beach is 20 kilometers long and pristine with postcard pretty blue waters and idyllic white sands extending as far as the eye can see. The big hotels have taken over and are plentiful in choice, but locals and backpackers can still wander onto the beach in various spots and enjoy it for themselves.

Cuba's northernmost point, the 1.2km wide Hicacos peninsula, which lies between the Bay of Cardenas and the Straits of Florida, forms the largest resort in the Caribbean, and aside from sun-worshipping, visitors dive, kitesurf, shop, visit caves and party. Some even go into Havana or nearby Matanzas for the day while watching the representatives of Buena Vista Social Club by night, although these are very sanitized and far-from-reality Cuba. 

First mentioned in 1555, it was used by the Spanish as a dry dock and for salt mines (from 1587 until 1961), but it didn't become a city until 1887. It was founded by 10 families from Cardenas who built their holiday homes here after gaining permission from the colonial government, but it remained an elitist resort for decades. The annual regatta was strong by 1910, and the first hotel was built around 5 years later. Tourism kept growing and various rich Americans built homes here in the 1930s, but these were appropriated by the Cuban government after the revolution in 1959. The 1960s was an era of development for national tourism with the building of the central park, Parque de las 8000 Taquillas, while the 1990s saw a boom in big hotel building. The center of Varadero is towards the bottom of the peninsula, and following are a few videos of the main avenue.
For some of my time in Varadero, the winds picked up and you weren't allowed to swim. The kitesurfing took over, and it was amazing to watch!

Source: Lonely Planet Cuba 7th Edition 2013
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varadero

#684 Valle de Vinales, Cuba

The lush green, the limestone cliffs, the rich brown earth, the brightly colored buildings in this laid back town, the old cars cruising up the street, they all combine to make quite a pleasant relaxed place, so grab your pina colada, pull out your cigar (made locally), and sit back in the square to watch the world go by. 

 

The tobacco farms take full advantage of the rich soils and sunny climate to grow. If you take a walk out of town, you'll seen many a barn with drying leaves hanging from the rafters and a local farmer will be happy to show you how they roll them, before the take their oxen, turkey, chicken or goat, and return to the fields. 

It was in 1961 when Leovigildo Gonzalez Morillo hired several local farmers to paint this 120m long painting 4km west of Vinales village. This massive mural took 4 years to complete and with its huge snail, dinosaurs, sea monsters and humans, it tells the story of evolution. Mural de la Prehistoria.

Founded only as recently as 1875, and in 1999 declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Vinales is part of one of Cuba's National Parks for its rocky outcrops, locally known as mogotes, all of which form part of the Sierra de los Organos mountain range. Several caves are part of the mogotes, including the second largest cave system in the America, the Gran Caverna de Santo Tomas (not to be mistaken for the Cueva de los Portales, which was used by Che Guevara during the Cuban Missile Crisis as headquarters (where he played a lot of chess, apparently). 

Source: Lonely Planet Cuba 7th Edition, 2013