Cuba - Lonely Planet [134]
Humor House Have a laugh at the Museo del Humor in San Antonio de los Baños
Coffee Ruins Join the ghosts of times past at the Antiguo Cafetal Angerona
TELEPHONE CODE: 047
POPULATION: 722,045
AREA: 5731 SQ KM
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Getting There & Around
Despite its proximity to the capital, Havana province presents challenges in the public transport sphere. Plenty of Víazul buses pass through, but none make any scheduled stops here. Similarly the train system is slow, vague and pretty unreliable in this neck of the woods. An exception is the Hershey Electric Railway which, though often late, does generally pass five times a day through the east of the province. Adventurers can get acquainted with the hard-to-fathom local bus system, while those on a tighter schedule may wish to organize a taxi from the capital.
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PLAYA JIBACOA AREA
Playa Jibacoa is the Varadero that never was, or the Varadero yet to come – depending on your hunch. For the time being it’s a mainly Cuban getaway with a couple of all-inclusive resorts and a hotel-standard campismo thrown in for good measure. Punctuated by a series of small but splendid beaches and blessed with good offshore snorkeling, Jibacoa is backed by a lofty limestone terrace overlooking the ocean that offers excellent views and some short DIY hikes. Travelers with children will find interesting things to do in the surrounding area and the popularity of the region with Cuban families means fast friends are made wherever you go. The Vía Blanca, running between Havana to Matanzas, is the main transport artery in the area, although few buses make scheduled stops here making Playa Jibacoa a more challenging pit stop than it should be. Just inland are picturesque farming communities and tiny dusty hamlets linked by the Hershey Electric Railway.
Sights
Marking the border between Havana and Matanzas provinces is the Puente de Bacunayagua, Cuba’s longest (314m) and highest (103m) bridge. Begun in 1957 and finally opened by Fidel Castro in September 1959, the bridge carries the busy Vía Blanca across a densely wooded canyon that separates the Valle de Yumurí from the sea. There is a restaurant and observation deck on the Havana side of the bridge where you can sink a few drinks in front of one of Cuba’s most awe-inspiring views. Imagine dark, bulbous hills, splashes of blue ocean and hundreds upon hundreds of royal palm trees standing like ghostly sentries in the valley haze. Situated on the main road between Varadero and Havana, the bridge restaurant is a favorite stopping-off point for tour buses and taxis.
West of here is Santa Cruz del Norte, a relatively quiet and unassuming town despite the presence of a famous rum factory. The plant in question is the Ronera Santa Cruz, producer of Havana Club rum and it’s one of the largest plants of its kind in Cuba. Havana Club, founded in 1878 by the Arrechabala family of Cárdenas, opened its first distillery at Santa Cruz del Norte in 1919, and in 1973 a new factory was built with the capacity to produce 30 million liters of rum a year. There are currently no tours available.
A thermoelectric power station burning oil extracted from the coastal wells near Boca de Jaruco is just to the west. These and other oil fields west of Santa Cruz del Norte have been heavily exploited in recent years.
Five kilometers south of Santa Cruz del Norte is the former Central Camilo Cienfuegos sugar mill, once one of Cuba’s largest. Known as Central Hershey until 1959, the mill, which opened in 1916, once belonged to the Philadelphia-based Hershey Chocolate Company who used the sugar to sweeten their world-famous chocolate bars. An electric train track known as the Hershey Electric Railway (see the boxed text opposite) used to transport produce and workers between Havana, Matanzas and the small town that grew up around the mill. While the train still runs five times a day, the mill was closed in July 2002 in the economic restructuring of Cuba’s sugar industry. It now stands disused on a hilltop