Americans, here’s what you’ve been missing in Cuba all this time (PHOTOS)

With Thursday’s announcement that the United States will restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba, President Barack Obama opened a new chapter with America's neighbor just 90 miles off the Florida Keys.

For the last 50 years the relationship between the two countries has been dominated by the US economic embargo, which costs the socialist country hundreds of millions of dollars annually and hampers its struggling economy.

But it hasn’t been easy on Americans, either. Since 1961, US citizens have been banned from traveling to the tropical island next door.

For five decades they’ve had to endure hearing friends from countries not fighting an economic war with the Castros boast of wonderful holidays spent lounging on white, sandy beaches, sipping mojitos, and hearing some of the world's greatest live music.

Americans have sat through slideshow after slideshow, grimacing while a European or Canadian in-law points out that it must be so frustrating to be so close and yet so far from the stunning architecture of Old Havana.

The old law permits some US citizens to legally visit Cuba. Many other American travelers dodge the prohibition by quietly taking alternate routes to Havana through other countries.

But most law-abiding Americans have never been able to go.

Now all that might be about to change. While Obama’s Cuba policy overhaul does not remove the ban on tourism there, it does allow Americans to travel to the island for a wider variety of purposes. Many are speculating about a total lifting of the travel ban for all.

Here are some of the sights Americans have been missing out on all these years.

Havana

Crumbling colonial architecture, windy backstreets, and a booming nightlife — soon Americans, soon. 

The beaches 

Sure, the United States has beaches. But does the sea lap the shore quite so beautifully as it does at Varadero beach in the province of Mantanzas? 

Trinidad 

Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988, US citizens could get lost in the cobbled streets that meander through this former Spanish colonial settlement town, but not just yet.

Cigars

It's not unheard of for Americans to get their hands on Cuban cigars, but most of them will have never been able to visit a factory where they are made like these tourists. 

La Musica!

You may have heard Omara Portuondo’s hypnotic voice on recordings by Buena Vista Social Club. But seeing her live, singing alongside the legendary pianist Chucho Valdes, like in this 2009 performance at Havana’s Karl Marx theater — that's hard to beat.

More from GlobalPost: Entrepreneurial vibes are stirring in Havana (SLIDESHOW)