TRINIDAD TRAVEL

Trinidad Beaches

TRINIDAD TRAVEL INFO

 Travel to Trinidad Cuba to one of the most historic and most visited towns in all of Cuba, The UNESCO  protected town of Trinidad maintains a charming colonial atmosphere with its uneven cobbled streets, quiet plazas, churches, red tiled roofs, wooden shutters and wrought-iron grilles. Bicycles and horse-drawn carts bump along streets lined with untidy pastel-coloured houses, where open doors afford brief views of folk on rocking chairs and wooden birdcages, and the strains of salsa music drift out from cool courtyards where the intricate steps of the dance are practiced.

Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988, Trinidad has thankfully escaped the modern tourist infrastructure and large hotels usually accorded a popular destination and retains its welcoming and tranquil atmosphere. Surrounded by sugarcane plantations, and situated between the Topes de Collantes mountains and the Caribbean Sea, Trinidad's location also provides easy access to the beach, mountains and the beautiful surrounding countryside, where vestiges from the 18th and 19th centuries in the Valle de los Ingenios (Valley of the Sugar Mills) testify to a time of prosperity during the sugarcane boom.

TRINIDAD SHOPPING

Shopping in Trinidad

TRINIDAD STREET MARKET

Trinidad, given its starring role on the tourist circuit, is one of the better shopping towns in central and eastern Cuba (though far from a shopper's paradise). In addition to the requisite cigar and music shops, several of Trinidad's atmospheric, cobblestone streets are converted daily into street markets featuring handicrafts, lace, and clothing items. While lace and clothing are the main attractions, you can also find interesting woodcarvings, musical instruments, masks, and a host of ceramic works. The street with the most variety tends to be Peña, near the Museo Municipal de Historia tower, while most of the lace and textile merchants, who occasionally have good guayabera shirts (simple, short-sleeved cotton shirt, with pockets and pleats, worn by men), tend to cluster on the small streets just east of the Plaza Mayor.

The art gallery on the south side of the Plaza Mayor, Galería de Arte ARTex, has two floors of contemporary art, much of it very accessible, and the traditional souvenir renderings of Trinidad.

The place for cigars and tobacco paraphernalia in town, La Casa del Tabaco, has two branches and carries all the finest Cuban cigars, carefully stored. The shop at Lino Pérez 296 (at the corner of José Martí) is open daily from 10am to 6pm; the branch on Francisco Javier Zerquera (at the corner of Maceo), is open daily from 10am to 6pm.

Trinidad Shops

TRINIDAD ART GALLERY

Many of the artistic ceramic statues you'll see for sale around Trinidad Cuba are hand made by the famous Santander family, whose history in this art form goes back hundreds of years. Tourists can visit their quaint factory where all the art is produced by El Alfarero Casa Chichi, Andrés Berro 51, between Abel Santamaría and Pepito Tey (tel. 41/99-3146), however we suggest to call in advance and tell them you're coming.

The only Cuban CD store in Trinidad is the ARTEX which is beside  the very famous Casa de Música on Fernando H. Echerri, where you'll discover nightly Cuban musicians performing  live music. The band will usually play just about any type of Music that you want to hear.


CUBAN ART GUIDE