Cienfuegos (Part 2) Cuba

Since gaining UNESCO World Heritage status in 2005 the central area of Cienfuegos has been further renovated and there is a substantial pedestrianised area which makes wandering around the city a pleasure

Nicky and I headed into Cienfuegos alone on the morning of Friday 22 February, primarily to spend longer using the ETECSA wifi/internet point in Parque de José Martí as we hadn’t yet discovered the conveniently close Hotel Jagua.  En route we met Darion, who was outside the Club Nautico as we had been told he would be, and negotiated with him for a daytrip to Trinidad the following day and then a collectivo to Havana on the Sunday for 3 people, followed by a return (for just 2) on the Wednesday.  It was all very straightforward.  Darion issued us a couple of receipts to hand to the taxi drivers and told us that we paid the drivers direct after the journey was complete. Simple, and a reasonable price too.

Top: commercial area bustling with locals and tourists alike.  Bottom: We called it
Tourist Tat Row, but we still bought some souvenirs here!

Cuba maracas – well you have to, don’t you?  We bought
2 sets, one for BV and one set for Nicky’s nieces
(which I’m sure will really please Nicky’s sister, not)

In the afternoon we headed back into town with Charlotte as Nicky had a hankering for some Cuban souvenirs:  a pair of maracas for BV(??) and her nieces and a set of dominoes for idle evenings afloat as well.  Charlotte too wanted to buy some gifts for home and I wanted to buy some cigars for Alex’s birthday to send home with Charlotte. So, with that lot in mind we headed first for Tourist Tat Row, the street with souvenir traders we had spotted the previous day.

Cuban cigar and rum shop – more my sort of tourist souvenir place!  Note the enormous humidor on the right and the seating areas at the back and on the mezzanine level for enjoying a quiet drink and a smoke

Wooden souvenirs purchased, Charlotte showed us the cigar and rum shop she had spotted.  This was more like it!  We spent a happy 20 mins or so, wandering around and then choosing a selection of cigars to go back to Blighty (and a few to stay on BV).  It’s a lovely shop.  Coolly air-conditioned, furnished with lots of dark wood and backlit cabinets and with that heady, spicy cigar smell pervading everything.  It even has a couple of seating areas (the upstairs one with comfortable armchairs and settees) for enjoying a quiet cigar and a rum away from the heat and the madding crowds outside.  I could have stayed all day.

Bici-taxi to and from town – better value on the way in than going back again

But we had plans to do sundowners at the Palacio de Valle and time was ticking on, so we hopped on a bici-taxi back to the marina, and a great fun ride it was too, even if the price tag for a tourist is 25 times that of a local (they pay in CUP what we paid in CUC).

Palacio de Valle

The Palacio de Valle is given a great write up in our Lonely Planet Guide where it is described as ‘baroque-meets-Moorish ….. possibly Cuba’s most riotously eclectic building’.  And we have to agree.

It’s fabulously impressive from the outside…..

The interior is undergoing a fairly major refurbishment in areas but the main stairway…..

…..and even more so from the inside, even though some areas (including the final spiral stairway to the rooftop terrace) are undergoing major refurbishment.

…..and the dining room look fabulous

Sundowners on the roof terrace, complete with band – excellent!

Despite the ongoing works we were delighted to find that the roof terrace bar was still open and, better still, that there was an excellent band playing to accompany our sundowners mojitos.

And lovely views all around too…..

…particularly from the highest tower

As we left, we took a sidetrip further up the tower to enjoy the all-round views from the very top.  What a wonderful place and a lovely evening.

It wasn’t entirely clear but we think that the Palacio de Valle is in some way closely connected to the carbuncle Hotel Jagua next door.  If it is, it at least in some way makes up for the dodgy external aesthetics of the latter, even if the Hotel Jagua’s public areas are rather plush.

From the Palacio de Valle is was just a short walk back to the marina….

….where we enjoyed Sundowners Pt 2, and gave Charlotte the Pusser’s Landing enamel mug that we had bought for her after she had left us in the BVIs the previous yaer.  The important thing about the mug, other than its holding about a gallon of cocktail, is that it has a recipe for Painkiller written on the outside.

And so after another lovely day there was another fabulous sunset and a trip out to Trinidad to look forward to tomorrow.

Cienfuegos, Cuba