Kirche in Bayamo

North of the Sierra Maestra mountains is the easy-going capital of Granma province, named in 1975 after the motor vessel that brought Castro and his followers to its coast in 1956.

It was the second Spanish settlement to be founded (1513) by Diego Velázquez and made its fortune in colonial times as a centre for cattle- breeding and sugar productions. Its insurgents played a distinguished role in the wars for independence and, during Castro’s 1953 attack on Moncada Barracks, launched a back up assault on Batista forces.

Parque Céspedes is the centre of town, a pleasant tree-shaded square graced by the independence hero’s bronze statue and surrounded by marble benches. Also in the park is a marble bust of Perucho Figueredo, composer of the national anthem. On the north side of the square is the Ayuntamiento (town hall) where Céspedes proclaimed Cuba’s (short-lived) independence. His birthplace is at Calle Maceo 57 on the west side of the square and next door, the Museo Provincial tells Bayamo’s illustrious history.

Shopping street Bayamo Cuba

South of the centre on Calle Jose MartI, Tone de San Juan Evangelista is a unique monument from Bayamo’s early days. The tower is all that remains of a 16th-century church destroyed in 1869 when the Bayameses burned the town down rather than leave it in the hands of the Spanish army.