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Cuba Cienfuegos Photo Gallery

Cienfuegos is a city of beautiful colonial buildings set on the serene Bahía de Cienfuegos, with Punta Gorda, the thin knife of land that slices into its southern waters. The Parque Jose Marti is surrounded by beautiful buildings like the Palacio de Ferrer; the Teatro Tomas Terry; and the Catedral de la Purisima Concepcion (Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception). The Jardin Botanico (Botanical Garden), just 18km from Cienfuegos, has more than 1500 different species of plants.

10 Cuba - Havana to Cienfuegos - Bus Stop On Highway The bus picked us up at our hotel in Havana and took almost 4 hours to Cienfuegos, and cost $20CUC per person. We stopped for a coffee half way where many people were hitchhiking on the road side. The trip then went along a fairly narrow road through villages with horses, horse and buggies, tractors, and people slowing us down.

10 Cuba - Havana to Cienfuegos - Bus Stop On Highway

11 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Palacio Azul Outside Cienfuegos is a city of beautiful colonial buildings set on the serene Bahía de Cienfuegos, with Punta Gorda, the thin knife of land that slices into its southern waters. We stayed at the striking blue Hostal Palacio Azul, 3km south of the old town in Punta Gorda. Built in 1921 and reopened as a seven-room (16 person capacity) hotel in 2004. The hotel's huge rooms are named after flowers.

11 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Palacio Azul Outside

12 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Palacio Azul Inside The Palacio Azul in Cienfuegos has a colourful breakfast room. A grand marble staircase leads up to the second floor. The rooms have high ceilings, antique-style tiled floors, and large bathrooms. You can go up to the rooftop tower for very good views.

12 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Palacio Azul Inside

13 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Palacio Azul Outside View At Night The blue Hostal Palacio Azul in Punta Gorda in Cienfuegos looks equally striking lit up at night.

13 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Palacio Azul Outside View At Night

14 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Club Cienfuegos Outside The Club Cienfuegos is next door to the Palacio Azul, set in the former Cienfuegos Yacht Club.

14 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Club Cienfuegos Outside

15 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Club Cienfuegos Inside The Club Cienfuegos has a nice entrance floor, and an open-air bar area set underneath a modern tent structure, with soaring spires, with a view of the bay. It also has a restaurant downstairs.

15 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Club Cienfuegos Inside

16 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Palacio Valle Outside The Palacio Valle in Punta Garda in Cienfuegos is an extravagant building completed in 1917 for wealthy sugar merchant Oclico del Valle Blanco.

16 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Palacio Valle Outside

17 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Palacio Valle Inside The Palacio Valle in Punta Garda in Cienfuegos is a palatial building with large, high ceiling rooms, turrets, scalloped arches and fine detail, with elements of Gothic, Venetian, and Neo-Moorish styles. There are fine views over the bay from its rooftop bar.

17 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Palacio Valle Inside

21 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Punta Gorda Punta Gorda is a thin knife of land that slices from Cienfuegos into the southern waters of the serene Bahía de Cienfuegos.

21 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Punta Gorda

22 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Punta Gorda Houses Punta Garda has bright clapboard homes boasting sun-dappled porches and intricate lattice work, including the Casa del Educador Calle.

22 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Punta Gorda Houses

23 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Cienfuegos Bay Sunset Boat Cruise The Marina Cienfuegos organizes a 2-hour sunset cruise in the Cienfuegos bay, going all the way out to Castillo de Jagua and returning. The Castillo de Jagua guards the narrow entrance to Cienfuegos bay. This small fort was completed in 1745 to keep pirates away. The photogenic village of Perche below the Castillo has battered old houses on stilts over the water.

23 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Cienfuegos Bay Sunset Boat Cruise

24 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Cienfuegos Bay Sunset Boat Cruise Punta Gorda Sunset At the end of our Cienfuegos sunset cruise, appropriately we had a beautiful sunset.

24 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Cienfuegos Bay Sunset Boat Cruise Punta Gorda Sunset

25 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Charlotte Ryan and Peter Ryan having dinner at Paladar Ache Charlotte Ryan and Peter Ryan and I had a filling and delicious dinner at the Paladar Ache in Cienguegos.

25 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Charlotte Ryan and Peter Ryan having dinner at Paladar Ache

31 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Horse and Buggy Along Prado From Punta Gorda to Cienfuegos Centre The best form of transportation along the Paseo del Prado from Punta Gorda to the centre of Cienfuegos is by horse and buggy.

31 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Horse and Buggy Along Prado From Punta Gorda to Cienfuegos Centre

32 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Parque Jose Marti - Arco de Triunfo The Arco de Triunfo from 1902 to commemorate the foundation of the Republic of Cuba ushers you into the heart of the Parque Jose Marti in Cienfuegos, with the marble statue of Jose Marti ahead. On the left is the Teatro Tomas Terry, in the centre to the left of the Jose Marti statue is the Catedral de la Purísima Concepción, and on the right is the Palacio de Gobierno with the red cupola and the blue Museo Provinical building dating from 1898.

32 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Parque Jose Marti - Arco de Triunfo

33 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Parque Jose Marti - from roof of Hotel La Union There is an excellent view over the Parque Jose Marti in Cienfuegos from the roof bar of the Hotel la Union. On the left with the red cupola is the Palacio de Gobierno; the blue building at the end of the park is the Palacio de Ferrer; to the right is the Teatro Tomas Terry; and to the far right with a red cupola is the Catedral de la Purisima Concepcion (Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception).

33 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Parque Jose Marti - from roof of Hotel La Union

34 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Parque Jose Marti - Hotel La Union The newly renovated Hotel La Union, originally built in 1869, is just a block from Parque Jose Marti in Cienfuegos. We went to the hotel a few times for a cappuccino, and once to go to the roof bar for a view over the park and down to the Punta Gorda.

34 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Parque Jose Marti - Hotel La Union

35 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Parque Jose Marti - Jose Marti Statue A statue of Jose Marti was erected in 1906 in the Parque Jose Marti in Cienfuegos.

35 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Parque Jose Marti - Jose Marti Statue

36 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Parque Jose Marti - Zero Kilometre Marker The zero kilometre marker in the middle of Parque Marti is the central point of Cienfuegos.

36 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Parque Jose Marti - Zero Kilometre Marker

37 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Parque Jose Marti - Teatro Tomas Terry The Teatro Tomas Terry on the northern side of Parque Marti in Cienfuegos was built between 1887 and 1889 by the sons of Venezuelan industrialist Tomas Terry.

37 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Parque Jose Marti - Teatro Tomas Terry

38 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Parque Jose Marti - Teatro Tomas Terry Gold Murals Close Up The three arches on the roof level of the Teatro Tomas Terry in Cienfuegos frame gold murals.

38 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Parque Jose Marti - Teatro Tomas Terry Gold Murals Close Up

39 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Parque Jose Marti - Catedral de la Purisima Concepcion The neoclassical Catedral de la Purisima Concepcion (Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception) with twin towers and French stained-glass windows was erected in 1869 on the eastern side of Parque Marti in Cienfuegos.

39 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Parque Jose Marti - Catedral de la Purisima Concepcion

40 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Parque Jose Marti - Catedral de la Purisima Concepcion Altar The columned altar of the Catedral de la Purisima Concepcion (Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception) on the eastern side of Parque Marti in Cienfuegos features the Virgin Mary.

40 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Parque Jose Marti - Catedral de la Purisima Concepcion Altar

41 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Parque Jose Marti - Palacio de Gobierno The Palacio de Gobierno with its red cupola on the south side of Parque Marti in Cienfuegos is home to the provincial government, called the Poder Popular Provincial.

41 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Parque Jose Marti - Palacio de Gobierno

42 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Parque Jose Marti - Palacio de Ferrer - Casa de la Cultura Benjamin Duarte On the western side of Parque Marti, the ornate blue and white mansion is the former Palacio de Ferrer (1918), now the Casa de la Cultura Benjamin Duarte.

42 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Parque Jose Marti - Palacio de Ferrer - Casa de la Cultura Benjamin Duarte

51 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Jardin Botanico - Garden Drive Royal Palms The taxi ride to the Jardin Botanico 18km from Cienfuegos cost only $30CUC return. The garden was created in 1912 and bought by the University of Harvard in 1919. It has been run by the Cuban government since 1961. The garden has more than 1500 different species of plant. The row of royal palms on the Garden Drive at the entrance reminds me of a how to illustrate depth of field in a two dimensional painting.

51 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Jardin Botanico - Garden Drive Royal Palms

52 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Jardin Botanico - Peter Ryan Swinging On A Banyan Tree We hired a guide at the entrance to the Jardin Botanico, who pointed out the main trees in the park, starting with a huge banyan tree. He asked Peter Ryan to do his best Tarzan impression while swinging on one of the tree’s long branches.

52 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Jardin Botanico - Peter Ryan Swinging On A Banyan Tree

53 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Jardin Botanico - Telescope tree, Santa Rita tree next to a Coccothrinax Palm, a Bodhi tree, and a Mimosa tree The Jardin Botanico near Cienfuegos has a Santa Rita tree next to a Coccothrinax palm that is indigenous to Cuba, a telescope tree with pretty flowers, a bodhi tree, and a Mimosa tree.

53 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Jardin Botanico - Telescope tree, Santa Rita tree next to a Coccothrinax Palm, a Bodhi tree, and a Mimosa tree

54 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Jardin Botanico - cannibal tree with a beautiful flower, palm trees, and cacti The Jardin Botanico near Cienfuegos has a cannibal tree that has a beautiful flower, palm trees, and cacti.

54 Cuba - Cienfuegos - Jardin Botanico - cannibal tree with a beautiful flower, palm trees, and cacti