And on to Remedios,Cuba.......

When I told our tour person in Havana that we intended going to Remedios his response was more or less 'why on earth would you want to go there, there is nothing to see except the Parrandas festival at Christmas'!!
We are not easily deterred......and we wanted to visit a small town, founded in the 15 hundreds...but somewhat overlooked by tourists.  So we left it on our itinerary.

The Casa Particular, Hostal Buen Viaje, that we chose was close to the main square and it was fine......however I would rate it as #4 of the 5 we stayed in!

....the green outdoor area was nice..

 ...but the bedroom was a little on the minimal side..... there were two beds....

After checking in we went out to explore.....

The main square was interesting with just one main place to eat/drink.....and it was quite charming.

.......there was not too much action around the square....

There was only one hotel open onto the square...... and later that night when we heard the very loud music from the square, several blocks away...we were very happy not to be staying there!

The other hotel across the square has a long way to go before re-opening...

....rather appropriately named 'the illusion'! 

The church was also very interesting......

...some years ago it was discovered that the altar was covered in gold leaf......it had been covered in white paint to stop pirates removing the gold..... a rich benefactor with cuban ancestry had come forward and paid for restoration work.....

The person who showed us around was very emotional about this benefactor...the town is apparently extremely grateful!
We took a trip to an old sugar refinery close by.......it was operational until the early 90s producing sugar for Russia but now is open only as a museum....

.....and we tasted sugar cane juice...freshly squeezed!

Then we went on to a nearby fishing port, Caibarian....
I'm not sure I would like to take a trip in one of their boats......they all seemed a little antiquated. Its quite possible that an engine might fail......

We visited the area of the old sugar warehouses....abandoned now for a long time....

We decided to  have dinner in our casa as there didn't seem to be much choice in the town. Also the streets were not well lit at night and the sidewalks were rather hazardous!