Page 167 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Cuba

CENTR AL CUBA – WEST  165

(85 ft) below sea level, and
visitors can see marine fossils
dating from 26 million years
ago. Trained speleologists are
allowed to enter a cave that is
50 m (164 ft) below sea level.
At Varadero, guided tours
of the Bellamar caves can be
booked at the larger hotels.

4 Varadero
See pp166–7.
5 Cárdenas
The linear façade of the historic Dominica building at Cárdenas
Matanzas. Road Map B–C 2.
* 145,000.
gems in this town. Parque city’s district prison. It became
On arriving in Cárdenas, 50 km Colón, one of the two main the Museo Municipal Oscar
(31 miles) east of Matanzas and squares, is dominated by the María de Rojas in 1900, making
18 km (11 miles) south of first statue of Christopher it the oldest town museum in
Varadero, visitors may feel they Columbus erected in Cuba, Cuba. It houses a collection of
are entering another age. This is inaugurated in 1862 by coins, arms, shells, minerals,
mostly due to the gigs and one- Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, butterflies and stuffed animals.
horse carriages which circulate the 19th-century Hispanic- Cárdenas is also famous for
in the streets. Cuban author (see p32). being the birthplace of José
The town was founded in Next to the Iglesia de la Antonio Echevarría (1932–57),
1828 as San Juan de Dios de Inmaculada Concepción (1846) the revolutionary who was
Cárdenas. In the 19th century is a very important monument: president of the University
the town thrived thanks to the Dominica building. In 1850, Students’ Federation in Havana.
the sugar industry. Today, when it was the headquarters He waged an anti-Batista
how ever, except for a rum of the Spanish government in campaign and was assassinated
factory near the port, Cárdenas Cuba, Cuban nationalist troops by the police. The house he was
offers only two possible areas led by Narciso López hoisted born in is now a museum.
of employment: work on a farm the Cuban flag here for the In 1999, five-year-old Elián
or a job in Varadero’s important first time. González was shipwrecked
tourist industry. In the second major square, off Miami in a failed escape
A closer look at the squares Parque Echevarría, is a fine Neo- attempt by his mother.
and monuments allows visitors Classical building, erected in After months of legal tussles
to appreciate the little hidden 1862, which was once the between the US and Cuba and
an international outcry, Elián
was repatriated to his father
in Cárdenas. The Museo a la
Batalla de Ideas is dedicated
to this incident.
E Museo Municipal Oscar
María de Rojas
Calle 13e/ Ave. 4y Ave. 6. Tel (45) 522
417. Open 9am–6pm Tue & Fri,
8am–5pm Wed, Thu & Sat, 9am–1pm
Sun. & 8 Note: fee for photography
may apply.
E Museo Casa Natal de José
Antonio Echevarría
Ave. 4e/ 12y 13. Tel (45) 524 145.
Open 9am–noon & 1–5pm Tue–Sat,
9am–noon Sun. Closed 1 Jan, 1 May,
26 Jul, 25 Dec. & 8
E Museo a la Batalla de Ideas
Ave. 6 esq. 12. Tel (45) 527 599.
Open 9am–noon & 1–5pm Tue–Sat,
Cárdenas, the city of horse-drawn carriages 8am–noon Sun. & 8

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