Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba, the second largest city in the country, holds the title of Hero City of the Republic of Cuba and the Golden Apple, an award granted by the International Association of the Tourist Press. Since the visitor sets foot in the last of the seven villas founded by Diego Velázquez, they will notice that they have arrived at a place that has its own rhythm, permeated with a natural and human warmth that distinguishes it from other places in the country. Its people, cheerful and hospitable, the fruit of a 500-year-old racial ajiaco, make it a historic, musical and festive city. But, above all this, it is the most Caribbean of Cuban cities, a qualifier that owes not only to its geographical location but also to its human origins, a mixture of Spanish, African and French, with much more primacy of Haitians, Jamaicans, Guadeloupeans and Martinicans than anywhere else on the Island.