20 MARCH 2019
We left for Trinidad passing by Cienfuegos the name means “Pearl of the South”. The colonial town of Cienfuegos was founded in 1819 in the Spanish territory but was initially settled by immigrants of French origin. It became a trading place for sugar cane, tobacco and coffee. Situated on the Caribbean coast of southern-central Cuba at the heart of the country’s sugar cane, mango, tobacco and coffee production area, the town first developed in the neoclassical style. It later became more eclectic but retained a harmonious overall townscape. Among buildings of particular interest are the Government Palace (City Hall), San Lorenzo School, the Bishopric, the Ferrer Palace, the former lyceum, and some residential houses. Cienfuegos is the first, and an outstanding example of an architectural ensemble representing the new ideas of modernity, hygiene and order in urban planning as developed in Latin America from the 19th century.
Visited the Parque Jose Marti, the main square lined with buildings representing the finest examples of the city’s architecture dating from 19th and 20th centuries, the Tomas Terry theatre, the Palacio Ferrer and the Palacio de Valle, remarkable building built between 1912 and 1917. Arrive in Trinidad.
