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A motley culture, teeming with such autochthonous ingredients as bolero and rum, gives Santiago de Cuba a Caribbean touch and makes it a city where Cuban-African cults, cigars, rum, music and poetry melt into one another.

Founded 490 years ago by Spanish conquistador Diego Velazquez, this larger-than-life village still preserves its lavish vegetation and the choppy seas once sailed by corsairs and pirates like Jacques de Sores, whose countless wanderings there prompted Spain to build a fortress.

That's how El Morro popped up. The former fortress is now a coveted sightseeing spot that houses the Museum of Piracy and provides a breathtaking view of the bay. Another must-see in town is Diego Velazquez's former mansion –penciled in as the oldest in the Americas- that boasts twisted buttresses around the windows, waxed wooden floors and the colonial furniture of yesteryear.

Traipsing around Santiago's streets gives visitors the chance of sipping a cup of coffee at La Isabelica, whose clobbered floors and rustic chairs bring back memories of a coffee plantation formerly owned by a French settler who fled from the antislavery war in Haiti and fell in love with a half-bred woman.

Whoever saunters around Santiago de Cuba cannot escape the spell of Padre Pico Street, nor feast his eyes on the old-timed Cathedral in Cespedes Park, flanked by the former City Hall.

But Santiago is much more than that. It's the city where you can listen to the blaring beat of drums and the notes of the Chinese flute that invite travelers to sway their hips down the streets and plazas during the Carnivals or the Caribbean Festival.

This city is blessed with the magic flavor of genuine rum, marked by the charming blend of European and African races, and touched not only by its balmy weather, but also by the warmth of residents who advocate for their own cultural identity.