At about 150 Km West of Havana
City this colourful province is located .It is
a land with plenty of fertile soils, water springs,
rivers and rain forest areas in which there is
an exclusive flora and fauna and there are multiple
possibilities of exploring caverns and caves or
hike in valleys and mountains.
Pinar del Rio city, the capital of the province,
was the first settlement established in the region,
near the Guama river and originally surrounded
by extensive pine woods. Its architecture is distinctive
and its XIX century eclecticism is significant.
Samples can be admired in the City Hall, the Cathedral
and the House of Cavaruiz. Francisco Guash’s
Mansion is very peculiar, its design incorporated
influences that go from Egyptian to Gothic , this
house is today the Museum of Natural Sciences.
There are other cultural institutions like the
Jose Jacinto Milanes Theatre (1838) and the Provincial
History Museum (1874).
From mountain sceneries like the Viñales
Valley, unique in America and declared a World
Heritage site by Unesco in 1999, to the Cordillera
de Guaniguanico range of mountains, where the
Sierra del Rosario can be found, this Sierra is
considered a Reserve of the Biosphere ,and has
the highest point in the west of Cuba , Pan de
Guajaibon with 669 Mt over the sea level.
Soroa, considered Cuba’s rainbow, invites
to enjoy its waterfall and its Orchids gardens
with more than 700 species.
Nature and humans have managed to mix in the
Complejo Las Terrazas , a place without comparison
in Cuba, where the arts and the artisans, have
found the perfect scenery. From this place there
are paths that guide the visitors through the
forest to the old French coffee plantations the
historical sites.
Cannot describe Pinar del Rio without writing
about it unique sea bottoms and the wonderful
offshore islets. Places like Cayo Levisa, Cayo
Jutia and Cayo Paraiso , that allow the visitor
to get in touch with the virgin nature, white
sands and coral reefs, ideal for the practice
of snorkelling and diving or the Maria La Gorda
International Diving Centre with warm and transparent
waters and 54 diving sites, ideal for the practice
of any nautical activity from diving to submarine
photographing.
The nature of this territory is privileged with
many contrasts. Mountains with an exuberant vegetation
that alternate with the fertile soils of Vueltabajo
.Its amazing to admire them whilst the plantations
of the best tobacco if the world grow.
To visit this province and share a tradition,
that has left the plantations to become an art,
from the selection of the leaves, until the final
elaboration of the Habanos, make Pinar del Rio
the soul of a culture of colour and aroma.
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