Holiday in Cuba

Havana and Varadero

Just click on the thumbnail to get the photo full size. Clicking on the photo will bring up the next one. Close window when finished, Home Page is still open.

09 October. Havana. My first visit to Cuba since 1995. After an early breakfast and welcome meeting. We struck off on our own. A day or so before, Hurricane Michael had passed over the island and consequently there was a lot of water on the ground. The sky was overcast and it was very humid. We walked toward La Habanna Viejo, Old Havana, having, inadvertently picked up a couple of guides. They took us through a street called Gallejon de Hamel. There is a lot of street art there, all made from recycled bits and pieces. There were lots of seats along the street, all made of old cast iron bathtubs cut lengthways. Then we had a stroll along the Malecón to Old Havana. In the afternoon, we took a red open topped Chevrolet to Plaza de la Revolución and Old Havana.

10 October. Havana. Angie had booked a private salsa lesson. So we went in a taxi to the address only to find it was a convent undergoing restoration! After returning to the hotel to speak to the concierge, we finally found the place. It was held high on a roof top. From there I could see the railway station, the Capitol and a lot of other buildings. We were close to the cruise port where the Norwegian Star and Empress of the Seas were docked. In the afternoon, we took another vintage car ride, this time to Fusterlandia. Fuster is an artist who spent some time in Barcelona and came back to Cuba where he's building an homage to Gaudi. His house cum museum is full of odd touches and the houses around have allowed him to decorate their garden walls. On the way back we saw the biggest tree in Cuba. In the evening we went to the Legendarios del Gaujirito, a Buena Vista Social Club type of place. We had a Cuban meal and then Cuban music and singing from Havana in the 50's. The oldest singer was 85!

11 October. Havana. First off a visit to Plaza Catedral, calling in on both the cathedral and an old house converted into a museum. Then on to Plaza Vieja, which is mostly renovated and looks really nice. Next, the mandatory stop at La Floridita, one of Hemingway's watering holes for a daiquiri each. The daiquiri was invented here. Then a sandwich in a small, eccentrically decorated cafe owned by a Canadian before strolling back to the hotel. In the evening we had a night time tour of four Old Havana plazas before watching the 9 o'clock gun at El Morro and an extremely late dinner at La Bodeguita del Medio, another of Hemingway's haunts. He drank his mojitos here.

15 October. Varadero. Today we took a bus into Varadero. Varadero is a long thin strip of land with the sea on both sides. There is a 22km long beach. The hotel is about 2/3 of the way along. There wasn't much to see in in the town so we took the bus back! The journey went all the way past our hotel to the end of the road before dropping us off. It took twice as long for the return journey!

19 October. Varadero. An evening trip into Varadero. We ate dinner and then visited Calle 62, a bar with dancing. There was a show which was OK and a weird dance competition. The competition left me cold and confused but the South and Latin Americans loved it! In the end we went back to the hotel without Angie having shaken a foot in anger!!

9 o'clock cannon 1 Min 34 secs	Building	Building	Building	Building	Building

Fort	Malecón	Statue	Building	Museum	Memorial

Building	Building	Classic car	Church	Havana	Dance Lesson

Station	Wall	Wall	Funderlandia	House	House

Tree	Singer	Cars	Cathedral	Cathedral	Cathedral

Statue	Mural	Plaza	Street	Statue	Building

Building	Restorer	La Floridita	Ernest Hemingway	Building	Car

Statue	Balconies	Bodeguita del Medio	Room View	Swimming Pool	Statue

Pool	Me

Page created 26^th October 2018