We are actually staying in Hotel Castillo or Castillo de Seboruco, which was Baracoa’s highest fort, begun by the Spanish in 1739 and finally finished by the Americans in 1900! We have a balcony that looks over the town but also as it is at the top we have to walk down the steep stairway to get to the town. We had a bit of a false start today as our tour guide (me) left the map on the bed so after climbing down all the steps to street level we then had to go back up again to get it. This at least proved one thing which is there is nothing wrong with Chris’ knees but he has a problem with his calf’s, I however have the opposite problem as I can make it up the slope without stopping but had to pause half way up the stairs whereas Chris made it up the stairs in one go but had to pause on the slope. Having collected the map we set off to our first stop, the main square which we had visited last night to get wifi, along with being the gathering place of everyone with an electronic device it is also home to the Catedral de Nuestra Sandra de la Asunción. This was built in 1807 and was restored in 2012 after years of neglect and blasting by hurricanes. It is famous as the home of the Cruz de la Parra a wooden cross that is said to be the oldest symbol of Christianity in the New World. According to legend, the cross was brought to Cuba by Columbus on his first voyage to America and on 1st December 1492 was placed on the spot where Baracoa was later founded. It is said that the cross disappeared one day and was miraculously found under a climbing vine in a settler’s garden! The four tips of the cross are covered with metal sheets because worshippers used to pull of splinters and keep them as relics! Unfortunately scientists have recently discovered that although the wood in the cross is over 500 years old it is made from a tree indigenous to Cuba thus disproving the theory! From here we walked down to The Fuerte Matchin (Municipal museum) which provides an overview of local history, it is housed in a military fortress built during the colonial period to defend the town from pirates who were a real problem in this area during the 18th and 19th centuries., we walked round the fort where they have cannon pointing out to see and one of them pointing at a statue of Christopher Columbus! We walked along the seafront with waves from the Atlantic Ocean crashing over the wall. About half way along the front is Hotel La Rusa which is bright pink, refurbished in 2009 it once belonged to the Russian princess Magdalena Rowenskaya who fled Russia with her husband after the October revolution in 1917. Ironically she became active in the 26 July movement and entertained Castro, Che Guevara and other revolutionaries! We had planned to stop for a drink here but it didn’t seem to be open so we continued walking along the front to the other end of town and Fuerte La Punta, this Spanish fort has watched over the harbour entrance at the northwestern end of town since 1803. The walls are hurricane resistant and now hide a restaurant which we stopped at for a drink before heading back to the square we plan to have lunch in town then head back to the hotel for an afternoon relaxing by the pool so before heading off for lunch I uploaded the blog, hopefully normal service will resume in Santiago de Cuba tomorrow.
