Advertisement
Published: January 18th 2009
Edit Blog Post
The bus somehow managed to get through the sea of touts and pulled into Trinidad at 0630. My own efforts to get through were not as successful despite a highly athletic Campo style goosestep/sidestep combo with backpack attached. All applicants for the job of casa supplier were unsuccessful as we had an address supplied by Nicholas in Havana for Marina and we were keen to get back on his “mates list” for accommodation.
Jo was in charge of navigation on this occasion so we headed off 90 degrees in the wrong direction, walking confidently so as to shake off the few persistent touts. Fortunately for us one of them saw through the facade and pointed us in the right direction. Marina answered her door and explained that she was full but her friend down the road could look after us. We were led to Casa de Hospedaje and met Elizabet who showed us to our room. We handed over our passports and had a shower before dropping off to sleep almost immediately.
By 1000 we were ready to take a look around Trinidad and somehow ended up at El Rapido again as Jo wanted pizza for breakfast. It was
Former Convent of San Francisco de Asis
Where Museo Nacional de la Lucha Contra Banditos is now located located right next to a photo shop and I managed to get some of our pics put onto CD without too much hassle (CUC6).
We continued through Parque Cespedes north to Plaza Mayor via a street market containing the usual Che berets, cigar boxes and paintings but also a huge number of stalls selling embroidered bags, pillowcases, placemats and table runners. We liked the look of the town and decided to increase our stay to three nights. Whilst 26 times bigger than Viñales, the cobblestone streets, horse and carts and old buildings gave Trinidad a small town feel broken only by persistent touts for cigars and restaurants. We returned to Casa de Hospedaje to advise Elizabet that we would be staying three nights and I collected my CD of photos.
We returned to Plaza Mayor in search of the bus station to book seats on the 1530 Friday bus to Santa Clara - we had learned a valuable lesson from the troubles of Gino and Isabella. The bus stop was harder to find than I thought it would be as the exact location was sketchy on the map - I took back my earlier remarks about Jo’s navigational
abilities.
We stopped in at Museo Nacional de la Lucha Contra Banditos mainly because anything with Banditos in the name appeals to me. The museum was dedicated to the defenders of the revolution from 1960 to 1965 but the highlight was the view from the clock tower that the museum was located in.
We returned to our casa via the markets again, getting prices for various items that we planned to purchase, before I spent a few hours updating the diary and had a nana-nap prior to dinner at the casa at 1800. We had ordered the CUC10 each lobster dinner and were well pleased that we had. After the entree of black bean soup we were brought a large plate of lobster with garlic butter and unknown sauce. It was superb and well complimented with homemade fries and a Cristal beer or three for me and a few Cuba Libres (rum and cokes) for Jo. This was the best casa meal we had eaten by far and almost rivalled the lobster and shrimp pizza at Marina Hemingway.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.054s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 9; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0317s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb