moresueandstevestravels: 12-27 January 2016 CUBA: MATANZAS

MATANZAS

We headed east from the hotel to the small city of Matanzas, the capital of the province of the same name. Since it was first settled in 1572 it has had various nicknames: the City of Bridges and the Venice of Cuba (its 17 bridges span 3 significant rivers), and the Athens of Cuba (for its poets and significant role in Cuba's 18th and 19th centuries' cultural development. It is also the birth place of the Cuban national dance 'the Danzon' and the Rumba). In 1693, though, when it was settled it was called San Carlos y San Severino de Matanzas, 'matanzas' meaning 'massacre' or 'slaughter'. The name derives from the story of several Spanish troops forcing some native fishermen to help them cross a river, only, on reaching the middle of the river, to be tipped into the water and drowned by the weight of their heavy metal armour.
By royal Spanish decree, the city was settled by 30 families from the Canary Islands. The later intensive development of sugar plantations led to the importing of many African slaves such that by 1841 53,331 slaves made up 62.7% of the city's population. Even today the retention of African traditions and religions, such as Arara and Santeria, is still strong

La Vigia Square:

This square was the first to be built in the city and around it was built the rest of the city's buildings. Originally named after an old defensive fort, the current buildings date from after 1850.

Parque de la Libertad:

A traditional Spanish-style plaza, this was a welcome and tranquil open space among this traffic.

Many of the colonial buildings around the square are under renovation, such as the provincial government headquarters that dates from 1853. When we innocently tried to look inside to take some photos we were politely but firmly told to stop, a sharp reminder that we were in an authoritarian society.

In the centre is a 1909 bronze statue to honour Jose Marti.

There was plenty of time to stroll around and admire the colourful buildings...

..and to see Matanzas was definitely a 'work in progress'..

We didn't get a picture of it, but Matanzas was the only place we visited where we saw teenagers, in school uniform, on their mobile phones just as they would have been in the UK.
Calle 85, the main street and known to locals as Medio, was starting to fill up as it was lunch time but, apart from food stalls, there was precious little to buy in the State-run shops.

Museo Farmaceutico Matanzas:

A definite high-spot of any visit to Matanzas is the Pharmaceutical Museum. Still functioning as a pharmacy until 1964 when it was turned into a museum, it was established in 1882 by two doctors.

Hundreds of French porcelain jars line the shelves and cabinets

as well as many medicine bottles.

Many of the concoctions were made in the laboratory at the back of the building, using formulae listed in one of the 55 recipe books kept in the library.

Lolo Galleria-Taller:

When the bus dropped us off at the start of the day we were not too sure where exactly we would be going and what we would see, and it didn't at first look too promising as we walked along Calle 97 and looked out at the Rio San Juan.......

..... and the unremarkable streets fronting it.

But then we saw some very unusual pavement ornaments!

The sculptures of award-winning artist Osmany Betancourt Falcon 'Lolo' are truly breathtaking, and the very last thing you would expect to find. His bronze and mixed=media figures wear strained, pained or melancholy expressions. Not surprisingly, his work is enormously popular in the USA and sells for enormous sums.

He shares this large gallery-workshop with a group of other artists and there were plenty of other more upbeat items for sale including decorative ceramics.

Ermita de Monserrate

Our last stop as we were leaving Matanzas was this renovated church , built between 1872 and 1875 by colonists from Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.