Hotels in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba

Santiago de Cuba is the great rival of Havana in terms of literature and music and in politics it's considered as the cradle of the Revolution. As a matter of fact, Santiago de Cuba played a key role in the defeat of Batista's regime which was in force before the government of Castro. In 1953, the young man Fidel Castro together with a band of insurgents, attacked the military garrison Moncada of Santiago de Cuba (attack that failed out of accidental reasons and however, it remained being famous as the happening of July 26, and which named the subsequent July 26 movement that six years later resulted in the Cuban Revolution). After several rebels were murdered by the army, Castro was captured and detained and during his process he pronounced his famous self-defense speech (Fidel Castro was a lawyer) History Will Absolve Me. Santiago de Cuba was also the stage of other insurrections and student demonstrations, led by Frank País, another famous rebel of the Revolution. Killed by the soldiers of Batista in the Santiago de Cuba streets, Frank País is today one of the many heroes and martyrs of the Revolution.

After the Moncada attack failure, and the Castro's incarceration, he was released from prison thanks to an amnisty and already in the exile he travels to Mexico where he began preparing a new insurrection in the Sierra Maestra (on the west of Santiago de Cuba), helped by the Argentinian Che Guevara and by others combatants among which was Camilo Cienfuegos. Two years later the insurrection succeeded and on January 1, 1959, Castro goes to power. Fidel himself defines Santiago de Cuba as "heroic city of the Revolution".

On the other hand, Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city of Cuba, but unlike many other Cuban cities, it keeps a decidedly Caribbean aspect, given also the influence of the French and Haitian growers of the 19th century. Vibrant, tropical and invariably warm, the population of Santiago de Cuba, has only half a million inhabitants; besides, Santiago de Cuba is also the capital of the former province of Oriente and therefore, it has the greatest Afrocuban influence of Cuba and a Caribbean atmosphere that is totally personal that tells it apart from the rest of Cuba. Definitively, Santiago de Cuba is a separate world, a Cuba within Cuba, with a unique history and its own rhythms. The distinctive nature of the city is also due to its isolation from Havana and its history has nothing to envy to the one of the current capital of Cuba.

Founded in 1515, Santiago de Cuba has been the first capital of Cuba. The majestic mountains of the Sierra Maestra serve as a frame for it. Even though it has no longer been the capital since 1607, Santiago de Cuba has never been eclypsed by Havana, because Santiago has always been much more than a simple province producing coffee and sugar.

Santiago de Cuba has been the first of the seven cities of Cuba and also the capital of the Spanish colony until 1553. Diego Velázquez, was the founder of the seven original cities built in Santiago his mansion and the house still exists today, in the heart of the historic centre. The Spanish character of the city has been soon catched up by other influences. After the revolt of the black slaves of Haiti, in 1791, a great number of French growers fled together with other African slaves and what used to be done in Haiti started to be done in Santiago.

Santiago de Cuba has today all the ingredients of a large metropolis, but at the same time it keeps the traits of a provincial city. As an industrial city, Santiago de Cuba has been particularly stricken when Cuba lost the support from the Soviet Union.

In spite of this Santiago de Cuba continues to gain reputation. The yearly carnival that has been celebrated on July 25 is famous all over Cuba, to such an extent that several versions of this carnival are also celebrated in Havana. It's also in Santiago de Cuba that the Afrocuban religious traditions, including santería, enjoy the strongest presence. And the citizens of Santiago are acknowledged for having inherited many cultural traits from Spain, with a unique vocabulary and an accent with strong musical tones, almost identical to the one from Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic.

Those who travel to Santiago de Cuba love particularly the El Morro fortress from the 16th century (there is also one in Havana), or to sit at the foot of the Sierra Maestra mountains. Many excursions can also be made away from the city: El Cobre is a sacred shrine located on the beautiful hills of the Sierra Maestra, whereas the Gran Piedra is a vast rocky area a little away from Santiago.

Santiago de Cuba is not just the cradle of the Revolution since 1959, it has also been the stage of the first slave revolt. Not to mention its key roles in all the independence wars of Cuba against Spain, in 1868 and in 1895. Antonio Maceo refused to sign a covenant with the colonizers and he was one of the leaders of the Rebel Army. Each of the 29 generals of the Thirty Year War were from Santiago de Cuba. Also the Bay of Santiago has been the framework for important events, such as the naval battle of 1898 against the United States and Spain. Teddy Roosevelt was defeated at the Loma de San Juan, a low hill in the east of Santiago. Anyway, Santiago de Cuba may be considered as the mother of all revolutions.

Santiago de Cuba can take pride of palaces and museums which are among the oldest of Cuba, including the Diego Velázquez's House and the Bacardí Municipal Museum, near the Santiago de Cuba Bay. The Santa Ifigenia Cemetery where famous revolutionaries, even José Martí, were embalmed so as to be remembered.

The Santa Iglesia Catedral Metropolitana Nuestra Señora de la Asunción church is right in the middle of the downtown, founded by the conquerors in 1522 and restored in 1922. It keeps the the tumb of the Cuban bishops and of other important characters of Cuba. Its towering facade dominates the Central Plaza. It comprises at least five malls, likewise, it's the only ecclesiastic museum of Cuba.

The Cuban Decoration Historic Museum, at 610 Felix Pena Santo Tomás Street, is a colonial museum located at Velázquez's house, which is the oldest palace of Cuba, built in the 16th century and which keeps objects, pictures y pieces of furniture from all ages, from the 15th to the 19th century. Some of these pieces of furniture have belonged to the conquerors.

Miguel Matámoros House of Culture. Site of the Council for the culture of Santiago de Cuba municipality.

Heredia Street. it's the most famous street of Santiago de Cuba. It's located on one side of the cathedral, where many historic buildings are found, like the birthplace of the poet José María Heredia (which is a museum today), the residence of the Casa Salcedo (today Casa de la Trova), the students' house, the palace of the Carnival Museum, etc.

Casa de la Trova. (208 Heredia Street) The most famous trova house all over Cuba, offers pop music shows every day.

Carnival Museum. (303 Heredia Street) Inaugurated during the early 80s, it displays pictures and costumes that were used in old carnivals in Santiago de Cuba, considered to be as the ones having the greatest fun in Cuba.

Historic Museum and Heredia's Birthplace. (360 Heredia Street) House of the greatest Cuban poet (1803-1839) who was sent to the exile in Mexico and in the United States due to his independentist ideas. The museum is also a cultural center.

Afrocuban focuses. They are the famous musical and cultural centers of the city, located in different areas. Here's the majors ones:
- French Tumba Cultural Focus (501 Los Maceos Street)
- Cabildo Carabalí Olugo Cultural Focus (496 24 de Febrero Avenue)
- Cabildo Carabalí Izuama Cultural Focus (107 Pío Rosado [Carnicería] Street)
- Los Hoyos Cultural Focus (520 Paseo Martí corner of Moncada Street)
- Paso Franco Cultural Focus (310 24 de Febrero Avenue)
- House of African Culture (106 Manduley Street Vista Alegre Neighborhood)
- House of the Caribbean Culture (13 Street corner of Manduley Avenue, Vista Alegre Neigborhood)

July 26 Historic Museum. (Guillermo Moncada Avenue) Located at a portion of the former Moncada Garrison (the other part has been transformed into a school), depicts several historic revolts of the city particularly mentioning all the Cuban Revolution and Fidel Castro happenings. Even today, on the outer walls of the garrison the signs from the shootings that took place on July 26, 1953 are kept.

Abel Santamaría Cuadrado Historical Museum. (Libertadores Avenue corner of Portuondo Trinidad Street) Over the course of the first years of the 1950s, Abel Santamaría was the second in charge after Fidel Castro, and in his house across from the university of Havana the anti-Batista students used to meet.

Underground Struggle Historical Museum. (1 General Jesús Rabí 1 Street) This museum includes important pieces of information about the underground struggle started out by the men of Fidel Castro during the Cuban Revolution in Santiago de Cuba.

Frank País's Birthplace Historical Museum. (226 General Banderas Street) Birthplace of the brothers Frank and Josué País, the first responsible men for the July 26 Movement in the Cuban East.

Maceo's Birthplace Historical Museum. (207 Los Maceos Street) it's the birthplace of Antonio and José Maceo brothers, generals of the Cuban independentist army, both fallen in battle in 1896. This museum keeps letters, witnesses, pictures and objects which have belonged to the family.

Piracy Historical Museum. (Morro Castle) A magnificent castle, built based on a project by the Italian architect Antonelli, is located seven kilometers away from the Carretera del Morro. This museum, born after the Cuban Revolution is only one of its kind,in its halls the inroads of the pirates are shown and letters, weapons, flags and several portraits of corsairs are displayed, where we can highlight both Sir Drake and Sir Morgan.

National Sanctuary of the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre. (20 km away on the north of Santiago de Cuba) On top of a panoramic summit and facing copper mines, this prestigious shrine is found that belongs partly to pilgrims. In keeping with the legend, the image of the Virgin appeared before three black slaves who had survived the shipwreck of a Spanish ship in 1606. Five years later, the image was transported to the El Cobre town and from then on, the monument has always had more success among the disciples of the Afrocuban religion of santería, who call it Ochún.

Baconao Park. (60 km away east of Santiago de Cuba, in the Sierra Maestra) It has been declared by UNESCO as national reserve of the biosphere. We advise a one day excursion in which you could visit: the botanical garden of the mountain of the French Siberia; The La Gran Piedra, a volcanic rock weighing about 100 thousand tons, placed on top of the mouth of an extinct volcano, 1200 meters high; the historical museum of the Siboney Farm House (13 kilometers away on the Siboney Road); the Centennial Generation Gallery; El Oasis Artistic Community; the Prehistory Valley with over 20 prehistoric animals carved on the rocks and, finally, the Baconao Lake.