Cuba, a tourist destination par excellence in the Caribbean region, holds several attractions linked to the country's culture and history.

That is the case in eastern Cuba, where tourists can visit the ruins of several French-Haitian coffee plantations from the late 17th and the early 19th centuries.

Precisely, Santiago de Cuba province is the scenario of the so-called Coffee Road, which shows the influence of French settlers on the country and slavery.

Experts especially mention the Dranguet House, where there is a permanent exhibition on the coffee culture in the region, including objects linked to coffee harvesting and processing, and deeply-rooted traditions.

There are nearly 100 such estates in Santiago de Cuba. They are the remains of a period when the French settler arrived in the country, bringing their customs and culture.

In addition, 32 ancient coffee farms, developed by the French settlers who fled neighboring Haiti in 1789 after the revolution in that country, were built in the neighboring Guantanamo province.

Those plantations are part of the coffee belt in southeastern Cuba and are a key element in the history and culture of that crop in the past.

In addition to the original designs of the plantations, those estates still hold vestiges of the agri-industrial technology used by the French immigrants, as well as their customs. The farms are similar to those they destroyed before fleeing to Cuba.

The French settlers brought their experience to Cuba accompanied by a rich cultural treasure that resulted in the evolution of expressions like literature, music, dance, religion and gastronomy in the eastern part of the country, and even in the Caribbean region.

Those settlers and immigrants from France, New Orleans and Saint Domingue built their lives in the neighborhood of Tivolí, where they were seduced by the city's beauty.

History enthusiasts can visit the ruins of the coffee estates Santa Sofía, which had more than 600 slaves, as well as the Kentucky and La Isabelica farms. The latter has a well-preserved architectural structure and houses a museum of ethnography.

Precisely, La Isabelica, located in Gran Piedra, is linked to the legend of a French settler who fell in love with and married a beautiful slave named Isabelica.