Our next destination was the 18th century town of Trinidad on the south coast, but we stopped on the way in Sancti Spiritus, less known but also with some splendid architecture, especially around the main square.
A horse and trap took us into the town centre where the owners of the casa particular which we had booked passed us onto their sister-in-law. We are getting quite used to this sort of arrangement!
Our first step was to have lunch in a large restaurant on the little “square” – a rough trapezium – that was the original town centre, with a pretty blue church!
Nearby an 18th century bridge crosses the river, approached by cobbled streets.
The next door table contained a bus-load of elderly Norwegians (the bus was outside, with flag!) and we had trouble convincing the waiters that we spoke Spanish – always a bad sign!
Outside we returned to sight-seeing, visiting the “House of 100 doors” – now a cultural museum. It was a large corner-house belonging to a 19th century sugar baron! We later saw one of his other houses in Trinidad where the mill was located. It was full of a collection of beautiful furniture and artefacts and had the typical lay-out of Cuban houses: from the street you enter the Sala – a drawing room to receive guests and visitors in a formal atmosphere. Behind the Sala, separated by a wall in smart houses like this, but in many cases just by two sofas or rows of chairs back-to-back, is the Saleta, for the family and more intimate friends – it now often contains the television (when there is one!). Behind this again there is a courtyard taking up about half the width of the house, and looking onto it the 2 to 4 bedrooms, usually leading off a gallery but also, at least in old houses, interconnected. At the back is the kitchen – and possibly a dining room. In this case there was a music room with old instruments, including a piano carried on the backs of servants from the port at Trinidad 60 km away. When it arrived the daughter of the house went into a pet and refused to play it – we were told this story by our guide and the revolutionary reasoning is not hard to fathom! After the revolution the house was requisitioned by the state, but the owners apparently accepted the inevitable and gave it up with good grace because they were allowed to keep a couple of rooms on the second floor at the back, where the descendants still live! And the 100 doors? Well, I didn’t count them, but all the internal doors are double and double! Each doorway contains a pair of full-length doors for privacy, and also a pair of screen-like half-height doors to allow air to circulate when extreme privacy is not required.
In the evening we went out for our mojito in the hotel on the square where there was live music – and bumped into the Norwegians again.
The next day we visited a magnificent library, built around 1910 by a society of worthies.
A horse and trap took us into the town centre where the owners of the casa particular which we had booked passed us onto their sister-in-law. We are getting quite used to this sort of arrangement!
Our first step was to have lunch in a large restaurant on the little “square” – a rough trapezium – that was the original town centre, with a pretty blue church!
Nearby an 18th century bridge crosses the river, approached by cobbled streets. 
The next door table contained a bus-load of elderly Norwegians (the bus was outside, with flag!) and we had trouble convincing the waiters that we spoke Spanish – always a bad sign!
Outside we returned to sight-seeing, visiting the “House of 100 doors” – now a cultural museum. It was a large corner-house belonging to a 19th century sugar baron! We later saw one of his other houses in Trinidad where the mill was located. It was full of a collection of beautiful furniture and artefacts and had the typical lay-out of Cuban houses: from the street you enter the Sala – a drawing room to receive guests and visitors in a formal atmosphere. Behind the Sala, separated by a wall in smart houses like this, but in many cases just by two sofas or rows of chairs back-to-back, is the Saleta, for the family and more intimate friends – it now often contains the television (when there is one!). Behind this again there is a courtyard taking up about half the width of the house, and looking onto it the 2 to 4 bedrooms, usually leading off a gallery but also, at least in old houses, interconnected. At the back is the kitchen – and possibly a dining room. In this case there was a music room with old instruments, including a piano carried on the backs of servants from the port at Trinidad 60 km away. When it arrived the daughter of the house went into a pet and refused to play it – we were told this story by our guide and the revolutionary reasoning is not hard to fathom! After the revolution the house was requisitioned by the state, but the owners apparently accepted the inevitable and gave it up with good grace because they were allowed to keep a couple of rooms on the second floor at the back, where the descendants still live! And the 100 doors? Well, I didn’t count them, but all the internal doors are double and double! Each doorway contains a pair of full-length doors for privacy, and also a pair of screen-like half-height doors to allow air to circulate when extreme privacy is not required.
In the evening we went out for our mojito in the hotel on the square where there was live music – and bumped into the Norwegians again.
The next day we visited a magnificent library, built around 1910 by a society of worthies.
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