Cuba Guide
Ciego de Ávila and Camagüey
Necrópolis
Address: A ten-minute walk southwest of Plaza San Juan de Dios
Opening time: Daily 6am–6pm
Price: Free
This the older part of town, but although the streets are narrower and the curled iron grilles framing the windows more eroded, there's not much to distinguish it from the rest of colonial Camagüey. It's home to the Necrópolis next to the nondescript Iglesia Santo Cristo del Buen Viaje. Buried here are Camagüeyan martyrs Fernando Zayas y Cisneros and Tomás Betancourt y Zayas, assassinated by the Spanish. Lime-green lizards skitter over the extravagant Gothic mausoleums, while marble Christ figures gleam in the sunlight. More modern graves are brightly tiled and quietly tended by mourners, while at the back of the cemetery the tombs are tightly packed, morgue-like, into cupboard-style rows to make the most of the remaining space. Although the Necrópolis is in constant use, you are free to wander quietly around.