19.11.2015 Impressions from Cuba

(Pentax K-5 with Sigma 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 DC Makro OS HSM)

Our round-trip led us to the uprising Cuba. Each day a certain part of our route was passed via bike (2-5 hours a day where we made from 30km up to 60km). The rest was spent inside the escort vehicle. Without that it would not have been possible to make on some days trips of up to 180km.
We started the round trip at Holguin where we landed with the plane. From there we first went to the nice Baracoa facing the ups of the local chain of mountains (luckiliy I am well trained so that this was not a huge issue). The high temperatures of more than 30°C were very agreable thanks to a slight cloudy sky and a slight wind that was always blowing. From Baracoa we continued the route towards Santiago de Cuba. Unfortunately we only had very little time to explore the city. That could have been much more. Via the very ugly and unattractive city of fishermen Manzanillo our trip led us to the pittoresque Camagüey which had just like the following Trinidad a UNESCO world heritage protected city center.
Cienfuegos also has a nice city center but is otherwise quite unspectacular, just like Santa Clara. At that town the mausoleum and memorial of Ché Guevara is situated and Ché is really omnipresent there. The end of our travel was formed by the capital city of Havanna which is really worthwile visiting. There much was renewed and modernized like everywhere else across the country but I hope that they really take care that the fascinating impression of this metropole is preserved.
After two weeks it went back from Havanna with many new impressions to the cold Germany, but the memories to this great holidays will continue to have an effect for a long time.