3 Best Sights in Remedios, Central Cuba

The squat colonial structure with a massive bell tower on the plaza's eastern end is the Church of St. John the Baptist. Its splendidly restored 18th-century interior (head for the back door, as the main doors are usually shut) includes high arches, an elaborate beamed cedar ceiling, and gilt-wood altars. Although its stone floor dates from 1550, most of the chapel was rebuilt in 1752; it underwent extensive renovation in the 1940s, including the construction of a new main altar using parts of the original Baroque altar. The smaller altar to the right is dedicated to the Virgen de la Caridad, Cuba's patron saint. The gilt shrines along the walls are dedicated to various saints; note the pregnant Virgin, brought from Seville in the 1700s, to the left of the main door.

On the northern side of Plaza Martí you'll find one of the city's best-preserved colonial buildings. The former home of composer Alejandro García Caturla is now a museum dedicated to his life with many of his musical instruments on display. Built in 1875, the house has a small central patio planted with palms and surrounded by rooms that contain antique furnishings or exhibits on the composer's works.

If you can't be here during December for the annual holiday Parrandas celebrations, a visit to this interesting museum makes a nice consolation prize. The carnival-like parades punctuate Christmastime in Central Cuba, and Remedios does them up bigger and better than any city in the region. The city is divided into two neighborhoods—El Carmen and El Salvador—each of which creates its own floats, costumes, lanterns, and fireworks as part of an informal competition during the month-long festival that culminates on Christmas Eve. Though no winner is ever declared, most townspeople will tell you that not only does their neighborhood win every year, but the rest of Remedios isn't even good competition. The museum has photos, costumes, and floats from past Parrandas.