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Highlights of Cuba
In 2014 Trinidad celebrates its 500th
anniversary. Stay at Iberostar Grand Hotel or
do a homestay at 200-year-old Casa Colonial
Muñoz owned by horse whisperer Julio Muñoz
who does horseback riding and photography
tours (casa.trinidadphoto.com).
Get off the beaten track in Baracoa, a town that
was isolated from the rest of the island for 453
years.
If all-inclusive resorts are your style, head to the
beaches of Varadero.
Explore Havana’s four districts and its plethora
of live music venues. Go to Coppelia’s for
two-cent ice cream; have a daiquiri at Floridita,
Hemingway’s favourite hangout.
sparkling Caribbean Sea. And sandwiched in between is the
prettiest town of the whole island.
The mix of Moorish, Andalusian and European-neoclassical
architecture is apparent as you hit the cobblestone streets that
have been laid out in an inexplicable fashion. They zigzag
erratically and one is content to wander the beguiling lanes until
walking around in circles becomes too much and it’s time for
a strong mojito. To escape this real life Escher drawing, follow
your ears to the exuberant beats at Casa de la Música, where
crowds gather on the church steps to partake in three of Cuba’s
national pastimes: salsa dancing, rum and flirting.
At times Cuba feels like an insider’s secret. Long known for
its communist rule, its confounding eccentricities and iconic
old-world oddities – American classic cars, cocotaxis, crumbling
buildings – the country is slowly opening up. Recent free-market
reforms have boosted private enterprise. New foreign cars are
for sale, albeit at loco prices.
See it before a gust of change blows through – and
gentlemen, learn from the Cubans: Some sugar and a song
can go a long way.
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Travel Guide 2014
Farther Afield