Cumaná travel guide

Cumaná was founded in 1521 to exploit the nearby pearl fisheries. It straddles both banks of the Río Manzanares. Because of a succession of devastating earthquakes (the last in 1997), only a few historic sites remain. Cumaná is a charming place with its mixture of old and new, but the port area (1½ km from the centre) is not safe at night. Main festivals are 22 January, Santa Inés, a pre-Lenten carnival throughout the state of Sucre and 2 November, the Santos y Fideles Difuntos festival at El Tacal.

A long public beach, San Luis, is a short bus ride from the centre of town; take the ‘San Luis/Los Chaimas’ bus. The least spoilt part is the end by the Hotel Los Bordones.

The Castillo de San Antonio de la Eminencia (1686) has 16 mounted cannons, a draw- bridge and dungeons from which there are said to be underground tunnels leading to the Santa Inés church. Restored in 1975, it is flood-lit at night (but don’t go there after dark, it’s not safe). The Castillo de Santa María de la Cabeza (1669) is a rectangular fortress with a panoramic view of San Antonio and the elegant homes below. Convento de San Francisco, the original Capuchin mission of 1514, was the first school on the continent; its remains are on the Plaza Badaracco Bermúdez facing the beach. The Church of Santa Inés (1637) was the base of the Franciscan missionaries; earthquakes have caused it to be rebuilt five times. A tiny 400-year-old statue of the Virgen de Candelaria is in the garden. The home of Andrés Eloy Blanco (1896- 1955) (0800-1200, 1430-1730, free) one of Venezuela’s greatest poets and politicians, on Plaza Bolívar, has been nicely restored to its turn-of-the-century elegance. On the opposite side of the plaza is La Gobernación around a courtyard lined by cannon from Santa María de la Cabeza; note the gargoyles and other colonial features. There are markets selling handicrafts and food on both sides of the river.