Story highlights Fidel Castro's ashes are being taken to Santiago de Cuba

His funeral will take place in the eastern city on Sunday

Havana, Cuba (CNN) The ashes of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro were carried Wednesday from the capital, Havana, at the start of a journey that reverses the route Castro took across the island after seizing power in 1959.

Crowds of people, some of them bused in by the government, lined the streets as they waited for his funeral cortege to pass.

Hundreds of thousands had packed Havana's Revolution Square the previous evening for a Mass to remember Castro, who died Friday aged 90

An urn with Fidel Castro's ashes goes through Havana on Wednesday, starting a journey across Cuba.

His ashes will arrive Saturday in Santiago de Cuba, the birthplace of Castro's revolution, where a memorial service will be held in a city square.

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