First impressions of Cienfuegos & Trinidad

On By syaltimateIn Atlantic, Caribbean, Cienfuegos, Cuba, Media Blog, Trinidad

First afternoon in Cienfuegos

just outside of the marina, Calle 37 or as many call it “Malecón” (an emplane along the waterfront)
same street but further to downtown, here it was called “Paseo del Prado”
entering the pedestrian area with its old but beautiful houses
window shopping at the pedestrian street, it showed how little was available in Cuba
we found a nice little rooftop restaurant with a pretty view of the bay of Cienfuegos

First days in the city

Saturday morning at the market, I took only a few pics on our first visit
“Parque Villuendas” were he market started
the sausage we found at the market
some of the veggies we got
a sundowner at the bar next to the marina, somehow I only caught Phil in the pic
pretty pic of the marina at sunset
next to the marina was Club Cienfuegos established in 1918 was an exclusive yacht and social club, nowadays its a great place for drinks and live music
just another beautiful old car
and another beautiful building
I was amazed by the gorgeous tiles they (had) used for floors
at an ice cream parlour, just a pity that they couldn’t offer ice cream because they didn’t have power
so we just had coffee, which they could still offer, 160 pesos was less than 0,50 cent
“Parque José Martí”, listed as a National Monument, is the Central Park of the region of Cienfuegos and is located in what used to be the town’s main square.
Museo de los Artes Palacio Ferrer, a neoclassical building (1918) which was lovingly restored in time for Cienfuegos’ 200th anniversary in 2019.
El Capitano at Plaza Martí
another pedestrian street which led us for the first time to the bar Piña Colada not knowing that we would spend some time there; usually that street was very busy when some tourist busses were around, then local sellers would present their tour bric-a-brac
the fisher dock
the impressive 280 year old “Jagua tree” right at the Piña Colada bar
also close to the marina “Villa Palacio Azul” a hotel, a restaurant and a nice place to watch the sunset on the rooftop; the whole time we spent in Cienfuegos we haven’t seen hotel guests and rarely any restaurant guests

A day trip to Trinidad (13th of January 25)

As I can’t recall anymore (shame on me!) what our nice tour guide had told us about beautiful Trinidad I might not be able to explain all fotos. Sorry.

Plaza Mayor
Plaza Mayor was surrounded by beautiful buildings of Spanish Colonial architecture.
this was a little park, next to it we found the nice cafe where we had a very good coffee
anyone need some hats?
at the cafe “Don Pepe”
a really pretty place to relax and have a break
before our guide arrived we strolled zig zag through the streets
Sven and his sister (she had problems with her back which made it hard for her to walk) they took a carriage to explore the city
back at Plaza Mayor
I remember that those tiles were something special or at least there was a reason why they were chosen, but I just can’t recall🙈
old canons were used everywhere in Cuba for corner protection like here or closing streets for cars
here we were in the “Museo de Historia”, just off Plaza Mayor
the museum, belonged to the Borrell family from 1827 to 1830; later it passed to a German planter named Cantero, for whom it’s now named; the best part of the museum were the city panoramas from the tower, reached by rickety stairs
Valle de los Ingenios behind the cities roofs
a perfect view over Plaza Mayor with it four fenced gardens
roof tops provided more space, for laundry, for water tanks as well as solar power or just for relaxing
the narrow and rickety stairs
some shoes
I liked that one an old sewing machine
a cool old record player
that was the giant kitchen area, well designed regarding outgoing air as well as ” air conditioning” without power
the inside patio
the garage area
one of the dining areas
here we were at the house of Jose Miguel Cadalso who created those beautiful wooden fans
a zoom of a “leaf” of a fan, such beautiful work
he did not only create fans but also those incredible bird cages
wooden table decoration
some pieces of his collected collection of wooden table legs, planks and tiles
iron hinges and an iron fan
his kitchen
that was not a fan but an old air conditioning system
I called those stairs the “Spanish stairs”, a very touristy place but also pretty; here we met Sven and his sister again before we headed back to Cienfuegos
old cars on cobblestone. Interesting fact on the cobblestones, because they did come from all over the world. Trade ships did arrive with light freight and had additional keel ballast (stones). After being loaded with heavy freight (e.g. gold) they left behind the stones from the ballast and the city used them for building streets
tractor in red
a typical cuban shop, wether you need a little boat, a sink, shoes, clothes, shower curtain … you might find it here
our pick up area next to Plaza Carillo
Plaza Carillo

One thought on “First impressions of Cienfuegos & Trinidad”

  1. Franzi2a's avatar Franzi2a

    Hallo ihr Zwei, beim anschauen der Fotos fiel mir der Song ein ( man müsste nochmal 20 sein ) immerhin bekomme ich beim Anschauen der Fotos einen kleinen Einblick. Liebe Grüße und vielleicht sehen wir uns ja irgendwann mal wieder. Franziska

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