Page 148 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Cuba

146  CUBA REGION B Y REGION

9 Valle de Viñales

A unique landscape awaits visitors to the
Viñales Valley. The mogotes, the characteristic,
gigantic karst formations that resemble sugar
loaves, are like stone sentinels keeping watch
over the corn and tobacco fields, the red
earth with majestic royal palm trees and
the farmhouses with roofs of palm leaves.
According to legend, centuries ago some
Spanish sailors who were approaching the
coast thought the profile of the mogotes A casa de tabaco for curing tobacco near a mogote
they glimpsed in the fog looked like a church
organ. Hence the name, Sierra de los Órganos,
given to the network of hills in this area. 0 kilometres 1
0 miles 1
San Vicente

Cueva
del Ruiseñor

Sierra
de VIñales
Cueva de José
Miguel
Mural de la Prehistoria
On the face of a mogote the Cuban painter Leovigildo
González, a pupil of the famous Mexican artist Diego
Rivera, painted the history of evolution (1959–62), from
ammonites to Homo sapiens. The mural, restored in 1980, Valle de la Guasasa
makes use of the cracks in the rock to create special
effects of light and colour.

Mogote
Mogote del Valle
Key dos Hermanas
Peak
Comunidad El Moncada
Paved road (Entrance to the Santo Tomás
Path Cavern) V a l l e d e V i ñ a l e s
River
Underground river

Hotel Los Jazmines

Pinar del Rio

Gran Caverna de Santo Tomás
This is the largest network of caves in Cuba and the
whole of Latin America. With its 46 km (29 miles) of
galleries and up to eight levels of communicating
grottoes, the Gran Caverna is a speleologist’s
paradise. In the 19th century, the Cueva del
Salón was used by local farmers for festivals.
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp258–9 and pp272–3

146-147_EW_Cuba.indd 146 14/02/17 11:36 am