Page 97 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Cuba

Central Cuba West ❮❮ 95

Remedios
8 JAGÜEY GRANDE
TO CIENFUEGOS DRIVE
MAP H3 • Museo de la Música
Alejandro García Caturla: (42) 39 A1 Central
6851; open 9am–noon, 1–5pm Tue– Australia A1
Sat, 9am–noon Sun; adm • Museo La Boca de Guamá,
de las Parrandas: open 9am–noon, Centro Ecológico CS
1–6pm Tue–Sat, 9am–1pm Sun; adm Zapata Swamps Bermejas
Playa
Founded in 1578, this is one of Larga
Cuba’s most charming colonial cities. Museo Girón Cienfuegos
The Museo de la Música Alejandro Playa
Girón
García Caturla displays musical Caleta Buena
instru ments, while the Museo de las MORNING
Parrandas exhibits objects linked
to the city’s famous Christmas Start your day early with a visit
festival (see p69). to Central Australia (see p19).
After a brief tour, including a
possible steam-train ride, drive
south along the ruler-straight
road with the grassy swamps
of Zapata (see pp18–19) on each
side. Stop off at La Boca de
Guamá to see the crocodiles
and then at Centro Ecológico,
where an ecological trail lets
you experi ence the Zapata
ecosystems first-hand. At Playa
Larga, follow the main road south
along the shoreline toward Playa
Girón. Take time to browse the
Bay of Pigs exhibits and displays
Colonnaded buildings in Remedios (see p37) at the fascinating Museo
Girón (see p19) then con tinue
Sierra del Escambray
9 5 miles (8 km) east to Caleta
Buena (see p19). Enjoy lunch
MAP H3
Spanning three provinces, this rugged and an hour or two snorkeling
in this sheltered cove. Note that
mountain range rises inland from the in March and April, the road is
Caribbean coast, reaching 3,790 ft smothered with crabs migrating
(1,155 m) atop Pico San Juan. Coffee inland to spawn. They are a
is farmed on the lower slopes, while hazard; ensure that your tires
the densely forested upper slopes have plenty of tread to reduce
are of great ecological value for the chance of getting a puncture
from broken shells.
their plants and profuse birdlife.
Topes de Collantes (see p51) offers AFTERNOON
accom modation and is a base for
guided nature hikes. Retrace your path to Playa Girón
and turn north; the route is
Caibarién
0 potholed in places. At Bermejas,
turn right. Observe daily rural
MAP H3
A once-important port town that still Cuban life in the remote settle-
ments you pass through. Turn
lives partly off its humble fishing right onto Carretera 3-1-2, the
fleet, sprawling Caibarién has a main highway that leads to the
dishevelled countenance and awaits well-planned maritime city of
a renaissance of its incredible wealth Cienfuegos. Spend the rest of the
of architecture, with buildings from day admiring its Neo-Classical
Neo-Classical to Art Nouveau structures, ending with a seafood
meal at the exotic Palacio del
centered on Parque de la Libertad. Valle (see p99).
The town also has beaches, and
mangroves teeming with birds.
See map on pp92–3
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