Sagua la Grande |
From Santa Clara it is also a short drive to Sagua la Grande and its port Isabela de Sagua. An area known for pirates who hid between the numerous cayos near the coast and the Sagua river banks. The settlement Sagua la Grande was given to a Spanish settler in 1590. The port was founded in 1844 and until the last quarter of the Twentieth century many trains arrived here to deliver sugar and molasses from the – at one time 170 - sugarcane plantations which bordered the town, to be exported. Nowadays the port is virtually non-operational and today´s economy is based on cattle raising and commercial fishing.
In Sagua la Grande you’ll find a quiet place, a village where you can see the remains of the great splendor built by the Spaniards, a great architectural richness abandoned over time.
Sagua la Grande is a town where you won’t find tourists and where you can plunge into the authentic Cuba, the Cuba where it seems times has stood still and you are traveling to the past. Travelers who want to go to a town where you’ll not trip over the toursits, they should definitely come here.
Nowadays a peaceful place, it was in Sagua la Grande where a major conflict was triggered: large expanses of greenery near Sagua la Grande – still in place - were not dense enough to hide the Russian-built missiles, which led to the 1962 Missile Crisis.
At walking distance you´ll find Isabela de Sagua, a small fishing village where there are some Caney restaurants. A Caney is like a cottage with a thatched roof, located in the water. There you can enjoy a spectacular rice with lobster while most likely you are approached by a pelican and all this for the excellent price of about 4 CUC.
Isabela de Sagua is one of the places you visit and tell yourself you’ve been lucky to have found it (but it’s hard to find if no one brings it under your attention).
We recommended from www.househostelcuba.com to those people with a little sense of adventure to visit this place that fascinated us so much!
If before traveling to Cuba you thought it would be a good idea to bring clothing, medicines etc, this will be a good place to donate it to. |
|
|