Avila

on the long finger-shaped island of Cuba

Some 776 miles from east to west, the long, finger-shaped island of Cuba sits just over 110 miles from the Florida coastline bathed by the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic on its north coast and the calm, warm waters of the Caribbean to the south. Cuba’s main island is surrounded by more than 5,000 tiny islets known as cayos or cays and there are as many as 80 bays and 288 natural beaches to be found along its indented coastline. With tourism an increasingly important part of the island’s struggling economy its resorts nevertheless vary considerably from big and brash to peaceful and unspoilt. To the west meanwhile are Cuba’s world famous tobacco plantations cultivated to feed its ever-hungry cigar factories. Sugar cane then takes over in the island’s vast central plains before giving way to soaring mountains in the east.

The city of Avila, 460km east of Havana and 110km west of Camaguey, has developed as something of an historical halfway house; travellers used it as an overnight watering hole before continuing on to the islands of Trinidad and Santo Domingo in the 19th century. An interesting place to visit is Parque Marti and a few blocks from there it is the Teatro Principal, a 500-seater theatre which is due to undergo further restoration works. This was built by a rich socialite, Angela Hernandez Viuda de Jimenez, who battled to create a cultural mecca in her home town. The Museo Provincial on Calle Jose Antonio Eschevarria is worth a visit if you are interested in the area's role in the struggle to overthrow Batista while the Centro Provincial de Arte building on Calle Independencia may appeal to some. The Casa de la Trova on Libertad No 130 can occasionally deliver a raucous night out. Traffic in the town is almost all horse-driven, and the longest possible journey should only cost a few pesos by pony trap. The town is built on a strict grid system centered on Parque Marti but there are few buildings of note, the most popular meeting place on the square is the Casa de Agua (Water House), which serves free glasses of the local mineral water, as well as homemade refrescos (soft drinks) and fruit juices.