We had a slightly more relaxed start today as all we have to do is walk around Cienfuegos. After breakfast we set off walking down towards the sea which we noticed last night seems to surround us. Cienfuegos is a major port in a natural bay and therefore historically made its money from transportation of sugar cane. We are staying in an old house which I think was built in 1869 and is lovely, it is a shame that yet again the pool is under maintenance as this is a typical Moorish design with an internal courtyard where you can sit and relax, the pool is in another internal courtyard. We set off down towards the sea which is at the end of our road, Then turned round and started walking back up the road before turning in Paseo del Prado, this is another street with a central area for promenading with seats and a few trees unfortunately there were not many so it didn’t provide much shade so we walked up the side of the road. The buildings here must have been spectacular I would suggest they are probably grander than Havana although the majority are in a poor state of repair. We walked quite a way up the road, stopping to watch the world go by on a couple of occasions then turned down one of the side streets to head towards Parque Jose Martí. The first thing you see as you enter the square is the Catedral de la Purisma Conception or Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, it was built over 30 years between 1833 – 69 and rather strangely it has two bell towers that are completely different heights. Inside it is very plain apart from the stain glass windows which depict the 12 apostles, there is also a rather grand organ but it looks like a lot of the impressive woodwork and flooring was removed during the period when religion was banned in a Cuban sort of way – eg they couldn’t open the Churches during the day so everyone seemed to go at night. This is the main square of Cienfuegos and is 200 x 100 metres, it has been declared a national monument because of the buildings around it as much as the square itself. There is a statue of Jose Martí in the middle which is slightly surprising as one of the other revolutionary hero’s was actually called Cienfuegos but maybe he didn’t fight around here. In the middle of the square is the only triumphal arch in Cuba it is a little strange as it isn’t actually at the entrance to the square it just seems to sit there! The square is also where the National Theatre is, this is called the Teatro Tomas Terry after an unscrupulous sugar factory owner who made his money through the slave trade, he later became mayor and this theatre was built between 1886 -69. From the square we walked down towards the port looking for the Museum of Naval History which should have been housed in the former naval barracks but as we got to the end of the road all we could find was what looked like a factory or shipyard, after a bit more walking around we found the museum although the barracks that should have been ‘rose pink’ looked rather dull cream to me but it could have been the sunglasses changing the colour of everything . We decided against the museum as it should contain documents relating to the local anti-Batista insurrection of 5th September 1957 but the information we had read previously suggested that it might be all in Spanish so we just had a look at the outside and started walking back to the square. It was great as we walked past all the local houses which mostly open directly onto the street giving us the opportunity to look in and see what the houses are like! Once back in the square we went into Palacio Ferrer which is now a Cultural Centre but the previous Ferrer Palace was built by another Sugar Magnet Jose Ferrer Sires in 1918. It is right at the westernmost corner of the square and must have been magnificent in its day. For a fee you are able to go up to the roof and have a great view over the square, also the upper floor still has an amount of furnishings from the period which show you how nice it would have been, they have terraces and a balcony overlooking the square which mean that you get a bit of a through draft in each of the rooms. We went onto the roof and I climbed the wrought iron spiral staircase to the top of the Coppola, Chris decided against it which was probably a good thing as you basically walked up the stairs until they stopped at which point you were standing at the top of the building! We decided to have a rest in the square sitting watching the world go by which is pretty much what the Cuban’s do then we finished walking round the square, the fourth size is totally dominated by the Antigua Ayuntamiento which is home to the government assembly although it looked rather like a police station! We left the square, this time heading to the sea again in a slightly different direction and found a bar where we passed the time having a few drinks and some tapas all very relaxed. We finally headed back to the hotel where we went up to the roof and relaxed until it was time to go and find something to eat. I have to say I really like Cienfuegos it is very interesting and small enough that you don’t get lost as you are never far from where you started.
