Baracoa has three castles, built in the 18th century to defend the city against pirates. El Castillo (now a hotel) overlooks the city...
which sits between two natural harbors, that are guarded by the other two forts, the first, to the southeast, is now a museum, located where the little finger of water ends in the upper left (the harbor is to the right of it, out of view).
The museum, located where Columbus landed in November of 1492...
(that's his statue), had some neat old maps of the city....
and the other fort, to the northwest, is now a restaurant (just to the right of the shipwreck in the harbor).
We walked from one to the other along the malecon.
We also climbed up...
to a little archeological museum, La Cueva del Paraiso, located in caves that were used by the indigenous Taino for sacred burial chambers from the 7th century until they were wiped out by the diseases (including bubonic plague) brought by Columbus' men and other Europeans.
Baracoa 3
Some unusual relics: a necklace of fish vertebrae...
and rock and coral penises.
After a couple of 20 cent sandwiches on the square...
we indulged in some local cacao in the Casa de Cacao, which is also a museum of the history of cacao production in Baracoa, probably the premier place in Cuba for it.
Quite fortuitously, we also stumbled on a rehearsal for a ballet-like performance of Cuban music.
Baracoa 4
After D gave me a brush-up salsa lesson, we went to the Casa de Trova and danced a bit (D was greeted by the host for a dance on the street)...
Baracoa 5
before returning to our place for a terrific octopus in coconut sauce dinner. By the way, D discovered that "trova" refers to Spanish wandering minstrels.
We like this town.
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Location:Baracoa
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