Trinidad and the Valley de los Ingenios by Els Slots
Trinidad is one of Cuba's most iconic destinations. It attracts hordes of tourists into its small, well-preserved city center. If you stay overnight, and it is valuable to do so because of the various things to see in the surrounding area, you'll enjoy its old-fashioned tranquillity in the early mornings. Dogs going for a walk on their own, street sellers roaming the streets with milk, bread, or cheese, the soft ticking of horse hoofs.
The town has a couple of picturesque sights. The large yellow bell tower for example. It can clearly be seen, like the rest of the small colourful houses, from the roof of the museum. The day I was there, a kind of ash cloud blowing in from the countryside covered the city. While eating my breakfast on the casa's patio, tiny strips of black ash started to cover everything. A common occurrence here, so I heard.
At inscription, Unesco cast doubts over safeguarding the industrial architecture that remains from the sugar period. I went to see for myself and used the tourist steam train to get into the so-called Valley of the Sugar mills. Most remarkable: there's almost no sugarcane left! The landscape is quite pretty, but not what I had expected. Scattered in the valley some industrial heritage still exists. The main site is the former Slave Tower at Iznaga. You can still climb up to the very top, and look out 360 degrees like they did to watch the slaves. I cannot say that there is much more to explore. The village has made the best out of the daily load of train and bus tourists and is selling embroidery.