Cuba Travel - Santiago de Cuba: Calle Enramada - Main Shopping Street

For February 21, 2009 we had planned an excursion into the city of Santiago de Cuba. One of the local hotel employees had taken a day off and agreed to take us around his city. He came to pick us up at 6:30 am and we took the resort workers' bus into town. Our resort was pretty remote and there was not public transport and taxis were too expensive. Riding with the local hotel workers was an interesting and affordable way of getting into the city. It was also a great way of getting exposed to the local vibe. The staff members are extremely friendly and love chatting with the tourists, particularly if the tourists speak Spanish.




One of the bartenders was going home from work and graciously explained all the local sights and villages to us along the way, in rather impressive English. After our arrival at about 8:30 am our own guide then took us around the city, starting with a walk into the downtown area from the bus stop at the busy Ferreira intersection. We also looked at the modern complexes of the Hotel Melia Santiago and the Hotel de las Americas along the way and admired some of the old vehicles that were parked in the side streets.




Strolling towards Santiago's main square I noticed that many of the houses were not as run down as the ones I had seen in Havana where I had travelled in 2005. Many houses looked refurbished and newly painted - for good reason: 2009 is the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, and the City of Santiago has been spiffed up for various celebrations.




Downtown we walked along Calle Enramada, a pedestrian street that just teems with people and gives you an idea of Cuban state-run retail operations. Since we had not had breakfast yet we headed into a state-run restaurant, but at 9 am they had no egg dishes yet, only sandwiches. The Cuban economy is definitely not always efficient...




So we kept walking and arrived at Parque Cespedes, Santiago's impressive main square that features a large cathedral, the Ayuntamiento (City Hall), the historic Hotel Casa Grande and the Casa de Velazquez, an Andalusian style building dating back to the early 1500s. A three-men orchestra started to play a tune for me as I walked by, always ready to make a tip.




Through narrow congested streets we walked to the Balcon de Velazquez, a lookout terrace that offers a fabulous view over the western part of the city and the Bay of Santiago. The entrance is guarded and to use a camera you have to pay the equivalent of about $3. From here we went to the "Museo de La Lucha Clandestina" (Museum of the Clandestine Battle") which commemorates the important role Santiago de Cuba played in the time leading up to the Cuban Revolution.




Now completely famished, we were looking for restaurants but Santiago de Cuba has a noticeable lack of decent food establishments in the downtown area, so we went back to the state-run restaurant which now magically had some egg dishes. Strenghtened after our omelettes we walked back on the busy pedestrian street Calle Enramadas to Plaza Dolores, an attractive square with benches and trees, surrounded by some street cafes.




Since our workers' bus was going to head back to the resort at around 1 pm we had some extra time and sat down for a drink in the Hotel Libertad, a former mansion of the Bacardi family, just opposite Plaza de Marte, one of Santiago's main plazas. The waiter took us around the building and showed us some of the buildings magnificent features as well as the stunning view from the roof terrace.




Around 1 pm we made our way back to the bus station and rode back to our resort in our comfortable air-conditioned bus, all the while watching Cuban interesting and varied modes of transportation: old trucks, ancient tractors, horse-carts, old motorbikes with sidecars, beat-up Russian Ladas etc. Locomotion in Cuba is reminiscent of a transportation museum.




Back at the resort we settled in for a relaxing afternoon by the pool, capped off with a bit of table tennis. Dinner was even more exciting: instead of the not overly appealing buffet we had booked the a-la-carte restaurant and enjoyed very tasty Spaghetti Bolognese, Penne Aioli and something that was reminiscent of a Tira Misu, followed by another dance show by the resort's talented entertainment crew. It had been a perfect day of Cuban discoveries.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Cuba
• Santiago de Cuba
• Cuban dance
• Horseback riding in Cuba
• Cuban culture

[laChabela42]

Thanks for the video and your reply. I enjoy meeting positive people even if only by email. Thanks again and keep on being positive.

[travelandtransitions]

@laChabela42 Thank you for the kind comments. Sending you warm greetings from Toronto...

[laChabela42]

Thank you for the very well narrated video about Santiago, Cuba. I have always enjoyed reading about Cuba and would love to travel there to see the beautiful countryside. I try to get movies filmed in Cuba just to enjoy the wonderful scenery.

I have read several books about the Cuban Revolution in 1959 and find the history fascinating. I have many friends who are of Cuban ancestry and they are wonderful fun loving lovely people to be with. Cuban music is one of my favorites.

Thank you again!!

[travelandtransitions]

Thank you for the kind comments about my Cuban videos. Cuba is always a fascinating place to visit, it is a place full of contradictions and absolutely unique. And Cuban music is fabulous.

[travelandtransitions]

@laChabela42: Thank you for the nice comments and I am glad you enjoyed the video. Cuba is a phenomenally fascinating place - hopefully you will have a chance to go there.

[TheIdealist97]

Great video! Excellent work!

[travelandtransitions]

@TheIdealist97: Thank you for your kind comment. Calle Enramada is one of the liveliest streets in Santiago de Cuba. A great place for people watching, it's also provides an opportunity to see what Cuban retail stores look like.

[PerlitaHabanera]

computer for the cuban family. She should've took a cuban in there and see if they can use the internet. Everything looks fine from the inside, and nice for the tourists. Looks are deceiving. Is like going to a nice place in México and say look everything is fine. Then why mexicans and cubans risk their lives to leave the country or there are political prisoners in Cuba. Things are not like they look lady.

[proyankky]

todo puerco cochino sucio mala calidad en los servicios las carceles yenas de presos politicos esa es la cuba actual que tratan de ocultar la mundo estupido viva cuba libre

[PALMBAYISLAND]

Boring!

[laChabela42]

All cities in every country have their beautiful places and their ghettoes, their nice neighborhoods and their not so nice ones. I love to travel but I focus on the beauty of the country and its culture, its museums, the art and music and the people themselves. All cities have their crime areas and their safe areas. I hope that I will someday be able to visit Cuba. Cuba has an interesting history.

Great musicians, artists, writers,and actors have come from Cuba and have made great contributions

[laChabela42]

@eddie47012 Thank you for your comment. I enjoyed hearing from someone who has actually lived there. I would give anything to go there. Perhaps now that the US is allowing tourism to Cuba I may someday be able to go. My favorite classical guitarist was born in Cuba..Rey de la Torre. He was the only one who could play as well as if not better than Andres Segovia from Spain. Unfortunately he became ill and had to give up his music and began to teach others to play the guitar. He died so young.

[eddie47012]

@alicewonderlandever Eres la unica persona culta y racional que ha comentado este video. 

[eddie47012]

@proyankky Acere como tu vas a descriminar asi a nuestro paiz. Si estoy de acuerdo contigo por que hay cosas de la cuales no estamos orgullozo pero tampoco pa tanto.

[eddie47012]

@travelandtransitions

Thank you. Im glad you liked my country. But most of all you were not disrespectful in any way about it and for that you have my gratitude and respect. Your a very kind warm hearted person.

[eddie47012]

@laChabela42

I was born in Cuba, unfortunately although this video captures the city side it does not capture its true beauty. For example, the farms, actual country not city, and tourist sites. Not until 2010, residents of Cuba were not allowed in the tourist sites. Now you can get the true beauties of Cuba along with its natural environment (cubans) hahahaha. Furthermore, if you want to see its beauty I recommend to save the money your wasting on videos about it and go. You will not regret it