The Arc de Triomphe - there is no other building of its kind in Cuba.
Palacio Ferrer
Collegio de San Lorenzo
Teatro Tomas Terry
Teatro Tomas Terry is a really grand old theatre. It opened in 1895 with a performance of Verdi's Aida.
Some of the famous who performed in Teatro Tomas Terry.
Jose Marti was a writer, poet and revolutionary philosopher.
Benny More was a Cuban singer, bandleader and songwriter. He composed a song called "Cienfuegos" because of his love for the city. Alexis played it for us on our way there.
Palacio de Valle - a really beautiful building. Inside was very beautiful
After a cuba libre we boarded the bus for a journey of one hour fifty minutes to Trinidad. Following a really awful lunch (strange tasting cheese) we did a walking tour of Trinidad. This included a visit to the Santeria Priest. Charlotte and Sarah were a bit spooked by it but I found it really interesting.
As we were walking through the streets Alexis told us that there was a house that sold cigars at a good price (black market/grey market). Now Jim and I were not interested in buying cigars but we thought we would take a look anyway. We followed a man down a rickedy cobbled street and into a house. We were led into a bedroom where the bed was covered in cigars and large boxes of cigars. Some of the others were interested in buying but Sarah, who did want to buy cigars, wasn't with us. Nor was Charlotte. We went back up to the corner hoping to join them but Alex told us that Alexis had gone to get them into their B&B as neither was feeling well. We were told to wait there for Alexis to return. He was ages and when he got back he said Sarah was so ill she had to to the Clinic. We then had a further hour to wait before checking into our B&Bs so beer was needed to cool us down. It turned out that Sarah was dehydrated and had a chest infection. She remained in hospital for 5 hours where she got the best of treatment - no trolleys there. She had a nurse assigned to her and was taken somewhere else for an xray accompanied by the nurse. We caught up with Charlotte at the base house and then got checked in to our accommodation. Alexis had recommended Restaurant San Jose which is very popular in Trinidad. He warned us to get there around 6pm as it was usually very busy and didn't take reservations. However, Sarah wasn't out of hospital and we knew she would need to eat and we didn't want to go without her. Using my poor Spanish I managed to discover where the restaurant was and Jim and I decided to try and get a reservation for 7.30. The waiter wasn't keen until I explained how Sarah was ill. Then he gave me a card and wrote 7.30 on it. Sarah got back at 7.20 and we had just 10 minutes to wait for a table. Sarah and I had very good pizzas, Charlotte had paella and Jim had fish. The food was good there.
After dinner Sarah and Charlotte went to bed but we went off in search of nightlife and Jim, with his usual "good" sense of direction had me traipsing through Trinidad in search of the steps at Plaza Mayor. We finally found it and, in a state of exhaustion, I required sustenance from a strong cuba libre!
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