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| Cayo Santa-Maria beach |
Santa Clara is a quiet city capital of the Villa Clara province that was founded in 1689 is located 267 kilometers east from the City of Havana, 74 kilometers north from Cienfuegos.
The city main attractions include the memorial Museum, built as a tribute to Ché Guevara and his comrades, killed in combat in Bolivia.
To the north, a cause way 48 kilometers long, links the mainland to the keys of Las Brujas and Santa María.
Cayo Santa María, baptized as the white rose of Jardines del Rey, is 13 kilometers long. It is mostly covered by excellent beaches of fine sand, clean, quiet and transparent waters where the sea bottom with abundant formations of Coral and a great diversity of sea species invite visitors to practice Scuba Diving and under water photo shooting.
You can also find on the northern part of the province and close to Cayo Santa Maria, San Juan de los Remedios, the eighth villa founded in the island by the Spanish conquerors (1515).
The historic center of Remedios, declared National Monument in 1980, is the only one in the country with two churches in its municipal square: Nuestra Señora del Buen Viaje and Parroquia Mayor. In the second one you will see a huge altar, totally gold plated, and a sculpture, presumed to be unique in the world which represents a pregnant Virgin Mary.
This town is well-known due to the traditional parranda, whose origin dates back to the first quarter of the XIX century, dividing the population, since 1871, into two bands: San Salvador and El Carmen.
On the south side of the province you can also find Hanabanilla Lake, one of the biggest artificial water reservoirs in the country, built right next to the mountain region of Escambray.