Fortaleza de Jagua

Across the bay from Pasacaballo [1], a restored 17th-century Spanish Fortaleza de Jagua, (tel. 043/96-5402, Tues.–Sat. 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Sun. 9 a.m.–1 p.m., CUC1 entrance, CUC1 camera) guards the entrance to the Bahía de Cienfuegos.

The original fortress was expanded in the 18th century to defend against the English Royal Navy. Two Ordoñez cannons guard the entrance. At midnight, a ghost—the Blue Lady—is said to haunt the small fortress that overlooks a fishing village perched above the water.

Hungry? Paladar Juana Jiménez (Av. del Mar #109, Castillo, tel. 043/96-5421, 24 hours) serves seafood lunches and dinners. Juana’s father offers bay and fishing excursions (CUC25 up to four people).

Up on the hill behind Castillo de Jagua is Ciudad Nuclear (Nuclear City), a modern city built in the 1980s to house workers constructing Cuba’s first nuclear power station nearby at Juragua. The half-completed reactor, about two kilometers west of town, stands idle. Construction began in 1983, when Soviet aid flowed freely.

Construction was mothballed in 1992.