Cuba Libre!
This is our second trip to Cuba! The first time was 8 years ago in Varadero + Havana, now we decided to see a new tourism destination in the province of Holguin, the northeastern part of the island. Friends were in this hotel and place recommended. There is no such “movement” as in Varadero, but there is calmness, the ocean which is the most plus and of course a good mood. By the way, from Holguin you can go to Santiano de Cuba. 3 hours one way if you take a tour. This is the first capital of Cuba, and then Havana became the capital. Fidel Castro is buried in Santiago. By the way, visiting his grave is included in the trip. We didn't go because we didn't want to be dragged by the bus for 3 hours in the heat. For prices, the tour was cheaper than if Varadero had been chosen. Rested from 5 to 15 November. Departure direct from Sheremetyevo. Flight 12.45 min. , fed 1 time, so I recommend you friends that's what !! ! Take noodles with you on the plane, mashed potatoes are very useful! ))) The stewards will pour boiling water for you and a snack is provided, a full stomach will thank you)) We flew with NordVin. It was very sincere, good staff on board, a delicious, hot, edible lunch, a good plane, there was a lot of space between the seats. Everything is very comfortable.
General about the hotel. The main contingent is residents of Canada of different nationalities (there are Poles, French, Russians, etc. ), a few residents of Germany, and of course the Russian Federation. For Canadians, vouchers are much cheaper, therefore, scattering a couple of hundred in tips is not a problem for them, they even say that in this way they support the Cuban economy in a relatively legal way, bypassing American sanctions. Yes, in this regard, there is a “light touch” of discrimination in terms of the attitude of hotel employees towards us and Canadians, although I personally didn’t feel much (that’s what a couple of life-giving cookies do). The hotel is far from the sights, if to Havana, then 12 hours by bus, respectively, the excursions are "sucked from the finger", we went only on one - "driving in jeeps". You can, by the way, go there to spend a normal day. Take the rights, if any! There ours are valid and ride jeeps. The road is empty, there are very, very few cars, only people on carts with horses are found. The tour includes jeeps, horseback riding, a mini-buffet in the village with a local resident, a full lunch in a cafe and complete the trip with motor boating (driving yourself). I say right away: do not buy coffee from local residents there (and if you bought it, then immediately check it). We bought it, didn’t look at it right away, but in the end we opened it in Moscow, and it was all on fire! All grains are close to coals! Deceived!
Now I'll write about the ocean and the hotel. OCEAN GOOD!! ! White, clean sand, extraordinary, clear, azure water, +26. . . +27 somewhere. And during the day the air temperature is +30. . . +32. It rained for a couple of days, we sat in the hotel. The hotel is divided into two parts (as the name suggests): Luna and Mares. At first we were unlucky, they tried to put us in a distant building (Luna side), it’s a long way to go from the main reception, and the rooms there are very dumb (view of the stinky river, the smell of rotten wood in the room and some kind of shabby room, we, by the way, they said that they were newlyweds and this was indicated when booking the room), but it didn’t work, they made a scandal at the reception and the room was changed to the main building with the main pool and dining room, room 1051 - they lived in it. Ocean view (1048.1049, 1050.1051 rooms on our fire panorama floor)!! ! Perfect. Spacious, bright room, large balcony with an extraordinary view. The bathroom and toilet are clean. Everything is there: a wardrobe, a safe (free of charge), a mini-fridge, a table, chairs, a flat-screen TV 32 "+/- (no Russian channels). The hotel is ok, tired, but everything you need (and even more) for a comfortable stay In addition, friendly smiling staff, delicious rum, cigars, good company. The holiday was a success! Considering the modest average budget for tours, everything is fire!
The hotel grounds - oh, this is the real good side of the hotel! There are a lot of places, everything is well-groomed, flowers, bushes, that's all. Several residential buildings (including one turning into a lobby and a canteen + another building with a second reception), two swimming pools - a large one with a bar right in the pool and a smaller one in the second part, but also surrounded by a bar, another bar, a restaurant (closed during the day). On the beach there is a cafe-bar, from 12:30 to 14:45, where you can even dine with something from a simple menu. I recommend dining there! Next to the canteen in the main building, right in the center of the hotel, there is a separate coffee bar counter - I liked it very much, a large selection of various types of coffee (cappuccino, Spanish, Irish, etc. ), very tasty and convenient! Also near the main reception there is a shop with clothes/alcohol and a cigar shop. Near the second (smaller, Luna side) pool there is a snack bar, a grill bar and also a shop. Once during the rest you can ride a sailing catamaran for free (there are some other small boats, I won’t say anything about them), they ride for 20-25 minutes. If the ticket is for 10 nights, then you can go to a la carte restaurants three times (your choice of 4). We both skated and went to restaurants by appointment. There, as in a good restaurant, the menu and food are better than in general.
About the food, I’ll say that it’s normal, we didn’t go hungry. The food is ordinary. You can eat, but if you want something unusual, then you will not find it there. The fish is cooked deliciously. Pastries are excellent, juices, banana milkshake are delicious! Meat slag! They don't know how to do it. No seafood, that's a big minus! There is a choice of everything for breakfast, lunch, dinner, you will find what you like. We still got to the heap in the off-season in terms of vegetables and fruits, we had already eaten the old crop, we had not yet harvested the new one, that is, there were almost only cucumbers from vegetables, inedible watermelon from fruits and some other inedible substances. The choice of ready meals is huge. Also with you: for breakfast, they fry an omelette (you can eat delicious), fried eggs (norms) and fry bacon (delicious). For lunch we went to a bar on the beach - a modest choice, but edible, one might even say delicious. A la carte restaurants are mostly delicious. The main bars have decent alcohol, the beach/pool bars usually don't. They try to pour something simpler, more suspended into cocktails, you can separately ask for something more decent (Santiago de Cuba, Havana Club, tequila). Draft beer, more or less. Animation - yes! Dancing, competitions, karaoke, live music. Everything is good in this regard, you can sit pleasantly in the evening.
What is the result: you can fly to Cuba once every 7-8 years and that's fine. If you want tasty, satisfying and a lot of fruits and seafood, then it’s better to Sri Lanka or Thai))) You won’t find this in Cuba (((And if you want unreal beauty white sand, the ocean, exoticism, color, pink convertibles and a mandatory visit Havana... mmm the spirit of history, then welcome to Cuba. It has its own spirit of freedom. The people live 60 years after the revolution with such freedom that you don’t know if such freedom is needed. But people are kind, happy, smiling and they are really not malicious which is very nice for us as tourists.
By the way, one more moment! If you are flying to Cuba, take with you our chocolate Alenka, Slavyanka factory, RotFront, Babaevsky. They love our chocolate! So, as a present, bring stockings, tights, pads, lipsticks, creams, some delicious smelling ones. They don’t have anything like that and they are happy with such things. Cuba also has very good medicine - one of the best in the world, as well as education. Literacy of the local population is 98%! Education and medicine are free for Cubans. And one more moment for those who are planning to fly there: take the euro! They fly there with the euro! The country is under sanctions and the dollar does not go there. And buy a Tele2 SIM card - there will be Internet every day at a normal rate.
