I was staggered by Cienfuegos - I felt like I'd been transported to a different country in a different era altogether - there was one beautiful big building after another, mostly in good condition; there was a three-kilometre long avenue, half of which had a wide pedestrian walkway in the middle; there was even a long, pretty shopping street!

Among the impressive, colourful buildings that bordered the huge main square, Parque Martí, were the cathedral, a government building with a red dome, a university building and a pink theatre, which I had a look inside - it had old fashioned seats and a beautifully painted ceiling. It is a very pretty part of town.

The main avenue, Paseo del Prado, was lined by fancy old buildings, many with columns, and along the pedestrian walkway in the middle were lots of statues and monuments. On this street was Cienfuegos's government ice cream store, Coppelia. Most towns have one of these outlets, (allegedly to make the population happier!), they sell heavily subsidised ice cream (when it is in stock - the one in Camagüey had no ice cream when we were there; bizarrely it still opened up even though it had nothing to sell). While it was a novelty to have a bowl of ice cream for the equivalent of about three pence (especially in a country where most things are expensive for tourists), and to have all the locals in there stare at me like I was an alien that had just landed from outer space, I'm not sure that it was worth the ridiculous amount of time it took the surly staff to serve it. There was one lovely helpful guy working there who came up to me as I was leaving but by that time I was already fed up with all the waiting around and being ignored by the other employees. Apparently when Sharon and Warren went there they were served by the nice waiter and had an altogether happier experience so I guess it was just bad luck.

Further along, Paseo del Prado merges with the Malecón that runs alongside Cienfuegos Bay and is lined by palm trees. At the end of the road is the ornate Morrocan-style Palacio de Valle. It was originally the house of a wealthy family but now is a fancy (and empty) restaurant/bar. It is a gorgeous building inside though some parts needed repair. There was a storm while we were there and the rain was lashing down hard so we were stranded inside for a while.

Next door is a large, modern hotel (built by Americans in the 1950s) - we went there in the evening for drinks. Nearby was the beautiful Club Cienfuegos yacht club, where we went for dinner and I had the nicest meal I've had so far in Cuba (and that's a big call since the food has been great everywhere). The yacht club was the perfect spot for watching the sunset - the colours and reflections in the water were amazing.

We only had half a day in Cienfuegos but I loved it there - it was a very beautiful town that had more creature comforts than other parts of Cuba and was free from the omnipresent reminders of war heros and the glorification of struggle and fighting that had been so overbearing in other towns.