Santiago de Cuba

It was in a small square in Santiago's a history-rich capital city, that Castro gave his famous 1953 "History will absolve me" speech.

It is a rather large municipality in the sense that it spans more than 1,000 kilometers and has nearly 500,000 people.

It's the country's second largest city. There is plenty to do, though some tourists come away from their vacation feeling like it is a bit gritty and not worth the trouble of visiting.

The rest of the province, however, has beaches, resorts and other interesting features.