Havana to Trinidad

Today we caught the bus from Havana to Trinidad. This meant we had to get up around 5:30 so that we could get a taxi to the bus station to get our tickets an hour before the 8am departure, and the bus station was the other side of the city.

The bus station didn't open until 7am, but we made sure we were there by around 6:30 to be sure to get a good spot in the queue so we could ensure we got on the bus.

Luckily we did this, as the bus certainly appeared to be full. It was a crazy morning, but we are now safely tucked up in our Casa Particulare in Trinidad called Casa Arecelys. We had arranged for this to be booked from Havana with our previous hosts, so when we got off the bus, there was someone waiting for us with a sign and a bici-taxi. It is quite nice and has a beautiful terrace for breakfast and for chilling out in.

The drive on the bus down from Havana was beautiful, and awesomely we passed through an area there called Central Australia (which actually has it's own interesting history within Cuba as being crucial to some of the aerial assaults during the Bay of Pigs invasion).

We passed along the coastal area near Australia and it was absolutely stunning - we were on the Caribbean side of the island now, and even though the Atlantic side is a.mazing, the Caribbean side looked fantastic too.

After we arrived in Trinidad, got sorted with the place, we went for a wander through the town to check it out. The location of our Casa was brilliant, being only about a block away from Parque Central, the main square in Trinidad (there are 2 - there is the 'touristy' main square, and then there is the one that is 1 block from us that the locals hang out at....)

We went on to the touristy square, and got some great photos of the sun setting on the square. Trinidad is certainly a beautiful place - it's celebrating it's 500 year birthday as a city in 2014 so it was cool to be there for it. The main part of the town is also a UNESCO world heritage site - the colonial buildings in the town certainly give it a different feel to Havana, but it is beautiful albeit in a different way to Havana - Havana's beauty I think is from it's rustic-ness and the fact that it IS run down - there is a main square in Havana where they have done it up, and it feels very unauthentic. 

Tonight we went to a restaurant called San Jose and it was really quite nice - we've been struggling a bit with decent food in Havana, but we found a great place in this restaurant.