CASAS PARTICULARES IN Santiago de Cuba (96)

Casas particulares in Santiago de Cuba, the most exotic city of Cuba, lots of different etnic groups have settled themselves in this city. The second biggest city, after Havana. Santiago de Cubawhich has one of the first seven settlements that the Europeans founded in Cuba early in the 16th century, is one of the most pitoresque on the island. The founding fathers made the most of its stunning setting a coastal terrace bordering and impressive purse-like bayand used the wood from the tall forest on the nearby mountain range to raise the first buildings of what would, for several years, be Cuba's first capital. That excellent site close by the Caribbean sea, with a backdrop of mountains and terrain which determined that none of the city's street would be absolutely level is the setting of one of the most beautiful and joyous of Cuba's cities. July is carnival time in Santiago de Cuba, and its carnivals are the most spectacular ones in the country just as it rum is the most popular. Santiago de Cuba contains some places that are unique in Cuba. Two of them are the fortress of San Pedro de la Roca del Morro and the Ruins of French coffee plantations in the mountains east of the city both of which UNESCO has declared to be a part of world cultural heritage. Others include Troubadours' House; the Rum Museum; Santa Ifigenia Cementery where Jose Marti, Cuba's national hero, is burried and the Basilica of El Cobre Sanctuary of Our Lady of Charity, the patron saint of Cuba, whom Pope John Paul II crowned during his visit to Cuba in January 1998. Taken from: Cuba-Junky