GlobalRelations.OurCuba.com 1-815-842-2475 Trek of the revolution In Cuba from Thursday October 25th to Thursday November 1st, 2018 Day 1 - Thursday :: Arrival Cuba, Fidel's birthplace and welcome dinner Depart to Holguin, Cuba, via your arranged flights. Arrival at Holguin (HOG) Airport. Proceed through Immigration, collect your bags and go through Customs, giving them your blue customs form. Participant’s arrival times will vary throughout the day. Airport transfers will be arranged for each flight of arriving participants. Holguin (HOG) Airport arrival hall does have bathrooms. They may not have seats and they may not have tissue so you may wish to bring packets of tissues. It is suggested to use the restroom on the flight before landing. Give your ‘Health’ forms to the nurses in white uniforms after you go through immigration & screening. The important question they will ask is if you have been in Africa and exposed to Ebola. You will be welcomed at the airport exterior lobby by your guide. Look for signage of “Cuba Explorer”. They will have your flight number and arrival time and will be waiting for you. Depart Holguin to Biran. Visit Fidel’s childhood home outside of the small village of Biran on the Castro family 25,000 acre plantation. It is the birth place of Ramon Castro in 1924, Fidel Castro in 1926, and Raul Castro in 1931. (Included) Depart Biran to Santiago de Cuba. Check-in at Casa Grand Hotel, the century old, newly renovated hotel facing the famous Parque Cespedes. View Ayuntamiento (City Hall). Fidel Castro gave his Revolution victory speech from its balcony on January 1, 1959, on the same Plaza as your hotel. This evening you will enjoy a welcome dinner at Zunzun Restaurant outside of city center. (Included) Later evening open: Visit Casa de La Trova to enjoy Son bands, cover charge. (Not included, optional) Evening is free to explore Santiago de Cuba. Overnight Casa Grand Hotel. Day 2 - Friday :: Cuban Revolution and Spanish-American war You're gonna love Cuba Copyright © 1997-2021. All rights reserved. Like us on facebook GlobalRelations.OurCuba.com 1-815-842-2475 Breakfast in hotel. (Included) Visit Santa Ifigenia Cemetery and see Fidel’s tomb and the final resting place of Jose Marti. You will see the changing of the guard. (Included) Visit San Juan Hill. (Included) The Battle of San Juan Hill (1 July 1898), also known as the battle for the San Juan Heights, was a decisive battle of the Spanish–American War. The San Juan heights was a north-south running elevation about 2,200 yards east of Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. The names San Juan Hill and Kettle Hill were given to the location by the Americans. This fight for the heights was the bloodiest and most famous battle of the war. It was also the location of the greatest victory for the Rough Riders, as claimed by the press and its new commander, Theodore Roosevelt, who was to eventually become first vice-president and then president, and who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 2001 for his actions in Cuba. (Text from Wikipedia) Lunch at El Morro restaurant; cliffside on the sea and adjacent to El Morro fortress. Paul McCartney enjoyed eating here. (Included) Visit the Moncada Barracks where on July 26, 1953 Fidel Castro led an armed attack which failed and he was captured. (Included) The Moncada Barracks was a military barracks in Santiago de Cuba, named after a hero of the Cuban War of Independence. On July 26, 1953, the barracks was the site of an armed attack by a small group of revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro and became widely accepted as the beginning of the Cuban Revolution. The date, 26 July, was adopted by Castro as the name for his revolutionary movement which eventually toppled the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959. Afternoon Group Discussion on the importance of Santiago de Cuba in the Revolution. (Included) Return to hotel. Dinner not included. This is a perfect evening to explore Cuba’s famed paladares or visit one of the many cafes within easy walking distance of your hotel. Overnight Casa Grand Hotel. Day 3 - Saturday :: Hemingway's Nobel Prize and travel west Breakfast in hotel. (Included) Depart Santiago de Cuba to Camaguey, via Bayamo and Las Tunas. You're gonna love Cuba Copyright © 1997-2021. All rights reserved. Like us on facebook GlobalRelations.OurCuba.com 1-815-842-2475 Visit Basilica de Nuestra del Cobre. This is the country’s most sacred pilgrimage site since the Virgin of Charity is the patron Saint of Cuba. In the Afro-Cuban religion she is associated with Ochun, the Yoruba goddess of love. This is the home for Ernest Hemingway’s Nobel Prize medal for literature. (Included) Rest stop in Bayamo, a city predating both Havana and Santiago. It is known as the city of horse carts for nearly half the population use horses for daily travel. Lunch in Bayamo. (Not included) Depart Bayamo to Las Tunas. Rest stop in Las Tunas, a sleepy agriculture town and provincial capital. Arrive in Camaguey, Cuba’s third largest city with the colonial center declared a World Heritage site. Check in at Hotel Santa Maria in Camaguey, a boutique hotel on the historic Plaza del Gallo. Dinner at La Isabela, a small Italian Restaurant. (Included) Evening Tour by bicitaxis. (Optional) Overnight Hotel Santa Maria. Day 4 - Sunday :: CDR, Ciego de Avila y Santa Clara Breakfast in hotel. (Included) Group discussion with your guide about the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution (Included), a network of neighborhood committees across Cuba. The organizations, described as the "eyes and ears of the Revolution," exist to promote social welfare and report on counter-revolutionary activity. As of 2010, 8.4 million Cubans of the national population of 11.2 million were registered as CDR members. Depart Camaguey to Santa Clara, via Ciego de Avila. Che Guevera’s liberation of Santa Clara in1958 marked the end of the Batista regime. Depart Camaguey to Ciego de Avila. Lunch in Ciego de Avila, a central Cuba city about 290 miles east of Havana and 70 miles west of Camagüey, at Rancho Rio Azul with it’s thatched roof and Cuban cuisine. (Included) Depart Ciego de Avila to Santa Clara. Check in Hotel Central Santa Clara, newly renovated vintage hotel on plaza. Walking tour of the plaza and central Santa Clara. Dinner at the Hotel Central Santa Clara. (Included) You're gonna love Cuba Copyright © 1997-2021. All rights reserved. Like us on facebook GlobalRelations.OurCuba.com 1-815-842-2475 Overnight Hotel Central Santa Clara. Day 5 – Monday :: Che and Cigar factory Breakfast in hotel. (Included) Visit the monument, mausoleum and museum of Revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara in Santa Clara. (Included) The memorial in Che Guevara Square houses the remains of the revolutionary hero and twenty-nine of his fellow combatants killed in 1957 during an attempted armed uprising in Bolivia after Che left Cuba. There is a 22-foot bronze statue of Guevara Visit the Armored Train Monument, a memento to one of the most relevant events near the end of the Cuban insurrection against the Batista dictatorship and see the American made Caterpillar bulldozer used to rip-up the railroad tracks in Santa Clara. (Included) This is a unique site for those interested in Cuba’s Revolution history. In 1958, troops led by Guevara, struck a hard blow to Batista’s tyranny by derailing an armored train carrying reinforcement soldiers to fight the Rebel Army in the eastern area of the island. The monument consists of four original train cars, the Caterpillar bulldozer used to rip out the railway and a steamroller. Inside the cars are photographs of the events and weapons similar to those taken from the enemy. Lunch in Santa Clara Finca de TA, outside of the city in a residential area and is farm to table. (Included) Visit Cigar Factory (Fabrico de Tabaco Costantino Perez Carrodegua), one of Cuba's best, that makes Montecristos, Partagás and Romeo y Julieta cigars. (Included) Visit Statue of Che holding a child. (Included) A life-size model of Che with finds hidden symbols all over. Sculptors took their time to create intricate details. You will find small models of 38 men who were killed with Guevara in Bolivia hidden in his belt buckle, a girl looking out through the window on his left rib, a small boy riding a goat on his right shoulder and a man riding a horse on his shirt pocket. All are symbolic references acknowledging different parts in Che’s life. Dinner Complejo Gastronomico Cultural Santa Rosalia (Santa Rosalia Cultural Gourmet Complex) near the Plaza & walking distance from your hotel. (Included) Overnight Hotel Central Santa Clara. Day 6 – Tuesday :: Bay of Pigs, Resistance and Hotel Nacional Breakfast in hotel. (Included) Plan for a long day of travel. You're gonna love Cuba Copyright © 1997-2021. All rights reserved. Like us on facebook GlobalRelations.OurCuba.com 1-815-842-2475 Depart Santa Clara to Havana, via Playa Giron and Australia. Depart Santa Clara to the Bay of Pigs (Bahia de Cochinos), Play Giron. Visit the Bay of Pigs and the Museum ‘Playa Giron’, devoted to the Cuban victory against the invasion, orchestrated by the United States Central Intelligence Agency on April17, 1961. In all, 200 attackers were killed, 1197 captured and 11 planes were shot down. A lasting legacy is that the entire Bay of Pigs is off limits to cruising boats. (Included) Lunch at Punta Perdiz restaurant, open air, beach front, built in the prow of a boat.