Trinidad

My first impressions as we pulled in to Trinidad were not good - I couldn't imagine spending two nights there - fortunately my first impression was very wrong! I was amazed that the Iberostar Grand Hotel that we checked into was in line with the Nacional plus it was right in the middle of the town.

We liked everything about the hotel from the welcome cocktail to the pool room, which had Internet, which although was the slowest I'd ever seen pleased Chelsea, although, I did laugh when Facebook presumed her account was being hacked! Chelsea had to go through a laborious identification process of identifying pictures of her friends, waiting an age for each one to load - she did finally get in though to check her messages and make some updates).

That night we had dinner in the hotel which was sensational - the whole meal was top class with the selection of starters and the main course of Steak. After dinner we rather apprehensively stepped out into the streets to try and find the main square but we quickly learned that we need not have worried as everyone was friendly and pretty soon we could follow the music. We had heard from Alberto that every night different bands play for free in the main square - you could just sit on the steps and listen if you wanted to but it seemed a shame not to sit in one of the surrounding bars and have a Cuba Libre!

We didn't stay out too late as we were all tired we got Chelsea up to bed before a couple of drinks down in the hotel bar.

Next morning after breakfast which was also first rate we met Alberto and headed out to the Valle de los Ingenios - a Unesco heritage site it is a picturesque valley filled with the ruins of old sugar mills. Our first stop was la Manaca Iznaga a mansion house overshadowed by a huge 44m tower used by the plantation owner to keep watch on his slaves. We climbed the tower for some great views an had a look around the house. At the back of the house we saw a device used to press the sugar cane and extract the juice.

Back on the bus we headed to a look out point and true to form there was a bar with a complementary cocktail - the view was fantastic and we watched a steam train head across the valley below.

We headed back into Trinidad for a city tour. Seeing the place by day was like stepping back in time seeing people riding around on donkeys and horse and cart. We called in at a bar Taberna La Canchachara where we tried the cocktail of the same name made from rum, honey, lemon and water. Alberto showed us around the place and even took us into a colonial house owned by his friends which I thought was a nice touch. We then had some time to explore before lunch so we checked out the local markets - we were impressed by the ingenuity as the crafts people had used all sorts of things to make jewellery and toys - there were toys made out of tin cans and bags made of ring pulls - Jen bought herself a bracelet made from a fork! We also called in for a drink in a patio bar called Palenque de los Congos Reales - this had rumba drums and Africa dancing.

After a self service lunch we were free to wander around a bit more but it was a hot day so we found another bar in the shade Casa de la Trova (a type of Cuban music) - we felt a bit bad walking in here as it was obviously siesta time - we were the only customers but the staff and band all woke up to serve us and played us a few songs. After that we headed back to the hotel.







That night after another nice dinner we headed out but as it was a Sunday there was not much open except Casa de la Trova so we headed back there for some more beers and music.

We left Trinidad next day to head to Cienfuegos the next stop on our tour.