Capital city of province Matanzas, is an industrial city with about 120.000 inhabitants.
Between Habana and Varadero, you will cross this city.

As being a Dutch site I have to remind you that our own Piet Heyn concured the "Zilvervloot" from the Spaniards in the bay of Matanzas in 1628, there even is a statue of Piet Heyn at the Bay side.

The name Matanzas sounds weird…because it really mean "mass murder" in Spanish. Could be this name come from, the beginning of de 16th century the Spaniards kill a lot of Indians the regular inhabitants of this area, but a second story is about just the killing of cows and other animals and were shipped from Hicacos … anyway, the name Matanzas is strange.

Matanzas, a prosperous, culturemided city that was founded in 1693 and which some call the Athens of Cuba, in reference to its many poets, and others the Cuban Venice, due to the five bridges that cross it at different streches of its Yumuri and San Juan rivers.

Monumental buildings of neclassical features are a proof of the boom that this quiet city has experienced beginning in late 18th century. Matanzas grew around a large bay, well protected by a solid network of fotresses the most important of which can still be visited and admired today.

Matanzas is also the birth place of the Cuban national dance "The Danzon" and of the "Danzonete"; it was and still is a prominent rumba dancing place, and the home town of numerous artists, composers, and intellectuals, who are responsible for the city's traditionally intense, thriving cultural life.

At the head of the harbor, close to the downtown center, you'll find a couple of small stretches of beach, where there will almost always be a few locals swimming, fishing, and sunbathing. However, the harbor is quite industrial and I'd highly recommend you head over to Varadero for some much more inviting beaches.

Cuevas de Bellamar
Ciudad de Matanzas

You can make a reservation for this excursion at the touristdesk of your hotel in Varadero. Costs are about 30 CUC
A visit to one of the largest caves of Cuba, with a very interesting history and beauty. After the caves you will visit Matanzas city, the city of bridges, with its main squares, the pharmaceutical museum, the agricultural market.

Museo Farmacéutico
Museo
Milanés #4951

Its founders, doctors Ernest Triolet y Juan Fermin de Figueroa, opened a French pharmacy at January 1th 1982, and started after what has now become a valuable collection of the original porcelain bottles and containers, kept on hard wood shelves, together with a large set of mid 19th century laboratory objects and tools. It includes more than one million prescriptions with original formulas for the preperations of natural medications. The collection is said to be the most important exhibit of its kind outside od France.

Museo Memorial “El Morrillo”
Km. 1,5
Canimar

Built upon request by prominent local landowners, it was completed in the second decade of the 18th century. In 1975 it was fully renovated, then in 1991 it was proclaimed a National monument.

Let us know about your experiences in Matanzas City