Cuba - Lonely Planet [198]
MONEY
Banco de Crédito y Comercio (cnr Calle 9 & Av 3)
Cadeca ( 52-14-92; cnr Av 1 Oeste & Calle 12)
POST
Post office (cnr Av Céspedes & Calle 8; 8am-6pm Mon-Sat)
Sights
First impressions lie. In among the battered buildings and dingy peso restaurants Cárdenas harbors three excellent museums all situated in the same city square, the pretty Parque Echeverría. The Museo Casa Natal de José Antonio Echeverría (Av 4 Este No 560; admission free, but tip the guide; 10am-5pm Tue-Sat, 9am-noon Sun) has a macabre historical collection including the original garrote used to execute Narciso López by strangulation in 1851. Objects relating to the 19th-century independence wars are downstairs, while the 20th-century Revolution is covered upstairs. A spiral staircase with 36 steps links the two levels of this house dating from 1703. In 1932 José Echeverría was born here, a student leader slain by Batista’s police in 1957 after a botched assassination attempt in Havana’s Presidential Palace. There’s a statue of him in the eponymous square outside. The nearby Museo Oscar María de Rojas (cnr Av 4 Este & Calle 12; admission CUC$5; 10am-6pm Mon-Sat, 9am-noon Sun) is Cuba’s second-oldest museum, after the Museo Bacardí in Santiago. Its extensive, if rather incongruous, collection of artifacts include a fossilized tree, a strangulation chair from 1830, a face mask of Napoleon, the tail of Antonio Maceo’s horse, Cuba’s largest collection of snails and, last but by no means least, some preserved fleas – yes fleas – from 1912. Set in a lovely colonial building and staffed with knowledgeable official guides, the museum makes a good side trip.
Around the corner is the newer Museo de Batalla de Ideas (Av 6 btwn Calles 11 & 12; admission CUC$2; 9am-5pm Tue-Sun), with a well-designed and organized overview of the history of US-Cuban relations, replete with sophisticated graphics.
Parque Colón is the city’s other interesting square containing the Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción (Av Céspedes btwn Calles 8 & 9), built in 1846 and noted for its stained glass and purportedly the oldest statue of Christopher Columbus in the Western hemisphere. Dating from 1862, Colón, as he’s known in Cuba, stands rather authoritatively with his face fixed in a thoughtful frown and a globe resting at his feet. It’s the closest Cárdenas gets to a decent photo op.
At the northeast end of Av Céspedes is a monument with a huge flagpole commemorating the first raising of the Cuban flag on May 19, 1850. It’s a simple, but moving memorial with good views of the bay and Varadero. To the northwest in the industrial zone is the Arrechabala Rum Factory where Varadero rum is distilled. The Havana Club rum company was founded here in 1878; there are sporadic tours here between 9am and 4pm for a cost of CUC$3; ask in town.
An architectural fantasy that now serves as the font of Cárdenas’ city life, Plaza Molocoff (cnr Av 3 Oeste & Calle 12) is a whimsical two-story cast-iron market hall with a glittery 16m-high silver dome built in 1859. It’s still the city vegetable market ( 8am-5pm Mon-Sat, 8am-2pm Sun) but is crying out for face-lift.
Sleeping
Down the road Varadero flaunts more than 50 hotels. Here in humble Cárdenas there are precisely zero now that the once-grand Hotel Dominica (next to the cathedral) has closed indefinitely (the much-touted renovation never materialized). Fortunately Cárdenas is home to about half a dozen casas particulares and they’ll be very keen for your business.
Rolando Valdés Lara ( 072-703-155; cnr Av 30 & Calle 12; r CUC$30; ) The thinnest house in Cuba? Come here for your ultimate anti-Varadero vacation; breakfast is the standard CUC$3 extra.
Ricardo Domínguez ( 528-944-31; cnr Avs 31 & 12; r CUC$35; ) Cárdenas dilapidated? Not here. Ricardo’s place could have been plucked out of one of Miami’s more tasteful suburbs with its leafy garden, plush tile-work and bathrooms befitting a North American show home.
Eating
Half the chefs in Varadero probably come from Cárdenas, which adds irony to the city’s dire