MY CUMANÁ - VENEZUELA

Cumaná has the honor of being the first city of the American continent founded by the Spaniards in the year 1521, under the command of Gonzalo de Ocampo. Its name, in the language of its inhabitants, the cumanagotos, meant union of the sea and the river.

Cumaná is at the mouth of the Manzanares River. It is a fairly flat city, dominated by a hill, where there is a castle with a nice view to the whole city and to the Gulf of Cariaco, which separates the mainland from the Araya peninsula.

Cumaná was the birthplace of one of the most illustrious Venezuelans: Antonio José de Sucre, winner in Ayacucho, the battle that consolidated the independence of Bolivarian America. He was also the first president of Bolivia.

One of the most beautiful churches in Cumana, is the church of Santa Inés, which is at the foot of the hill where it is located to the castle. Beside it are the ruins of a house, which was destroyed in the earthquake of 1929. Another very interesting church is the cathedral, located opposite the Plaza Bolívar.

One of the biggest tourist attractions of Cumaná, is undoubtedly, the castle of San Antonio de la Eminencia that dominates the entire city and the entrance to the Gulf of Cariaco. As a curiosity, we can mention that nowadays the castle is quite removed from the sea, which is not very logical, if one takes into account that the castles were built mainly to protect the city from enemy ships. The explanation is that the sea has retreated, and what is today the new part of the city, at the time the castle was built, was sea.