For so long we have wanted to visit Havana, Cuba and we finally made it coming in from Mexico which was a quick 1 hour flight! And as expected even the taxi ride to our hotel was fascinating as we got nearer to Havana and spotted our first sight of the vintage cars and incredible architecture!
It is easy to just have a one dimensional idea of Havana as most photos you see of the city are highly colourful, vintage cars a plenty next to ornate facades of bright buildings … and that does exist. But it is so much more than that! Firstly if you walk around the backstreets and spread out further than the city centre then you will see vintage cars everywhere but they are not new and shiny they are the real deal and are run in to the ground, dusty, rusty, used and showing every bit of it!
All of the ‘tourist’ vintage cars – that you can find in abundance and lined up ready for action at Plaza de Armas – look brand new, pristine and perfect for photographs but lacking the authenticity for us! The first of many contrasts and contradictions that we realised during our trip! Our favourite road to wander was the very lovely Paseo del Prado which seemed quintessentially Cuban as it is very wide and tree lined with a great central pedestrianised area where locals hang out with food and music creating much atmosphere – day and night! It also has some of the best and most beautiful buildings that we saw there – just like the ones we expected to see.
The long seafront road, El Malecon, however was disappointing for us as the buildings were mainly grey, unkept, some derelict and a few had actually fallen into a pile of rubble … we didn’t expect to see that! But there is a very obvious and ominous change a foot as huge construction of a number of 5 star hotels has begun and you can see how things will develop and that the buildings are going to look like just another big hotel you’ve seen before in a thousand other places!! A shame if modern buildings take over too much but great for the locals and local economy I’m sure! We are just pleased to have experienced Havana how it stands today at the beginning of 2019!
A few special mentions that we must make and first up is the wonderful El Guarida restaurant! It is on the top floor of what looks like an abandoned building … such fun to venture into the open courtyard, up the jaw dropping sweeping staircase to find a totally empty floor in all of it’s grandeur! With chandeliers and ornate cornices in total contrast it is strung with washing lines and used to dry out the restaurants table cloths in the breeze! A stunning sight! Continuing up the stairwell you finally hear some sounds of life and chatter with the restaurant brilliantly spread across and throughout the original small intimate rooms that are now filled with mismatched tables and chairs – we loved it and eat really well too! An experience!
Secondly we very much enjoyed a Sunday morning visit to the lively and very characterful area called Callejon de Hamal (meaning Hamal Alley) which is literally covered everywhere and over everything with graffiti / art which is super colourful and a riot of design and creativity. We went specifically on a Sunday as there is always the addition of live music, singing and dancing too!
Oh the music!!! Can’t believe it has taken us so long to mention that there is music everywhere – blasting out of windows in private homes as you walk by, on the street in the most random and most spontaneous of ways or more structured with most larger restaurants having their own bands playing! Such a great vibe and impossible not to jig along to or get totally swept off your feet by a local for an impromptu salsa lesson – be prepared for it all!
Shopping was definitely an usual experience for us as it is hard to ignore that there are queues of people at most shop doors ?! The policy is strict as the guards only let a handful of people shop at any one time ?! Also once inside you have to hand over any bags you have with you which are stored in pigeon holes and you are given a ticket which gets your bag back to you when you have finished and/or ready to leave ?! There is obviously good reason for this very structured security … we never saw any problems at all but again was hard not to notice that every shop window and doorway was also heavily caged with bars and serving hatches! A real eye opener and something we knew nothing about or even expected to see – fascinating!
Moving on to some fun stuff now and if you like a cocktail then there are 2 very obvious and importantly historical places you have to visit! The most famous Mojito can be found at La Bodeguita del Medio which you can spot a mile off as there is always a crowd that has spilled over into the street! The walls of this place are covered floor to ceiling with people’s signatures and scribbled messages and the many barmen continuously make rounds and rounds of Mojito – all lined up along the long bar – such is the demand!
Expensive – Yes! Touristy – Yes! Good Fun and needs to be done – Yes!
The other famous place known for a more sophisticated cocktail and ambience is El Floridita which opened its doors back in 1817! Daiquiris are the speciality drink here along with the long running association with Ernest Hemmingway who hung out and drank here – in fact a life size bronze statue of him sits at one end of the bar as a fitting tribute!
Expensive – Yes! Touristy – Yes! Good Fun and needs to be done – Yes!
We had a lot of fun, we saw lots of incredible sights, we ate well, we drank even better, we danced (well we thought we looked good but glad we have no footage of it!!), we met friendly locals, we had an insight into their lives and hardships, we rejoiced in the colours of the place and left happy in the knowledge that we had experienced a moment of Havana that may well not exist for that much longer! An incredible trip!
