Havana

We booked a tour through a private company (not the hotel) and it was a lot less expensive than excursions offered through Sunwing.  Also, we got to travel in this 1950s Thunderbird.

Because it's very hard to get parts and gasoline is expensive, the car has a modern diesel engine.  The pink and quilted cream leather upholstery is covered in clear plastic to protect it.  I widened a rip on the back of the front passenger seat getting out: may the car gods forgive me.

You can see more classic cars in the Cars post.

Best Pina Coladas in Cuba

Our first stop was at a bar overlooking the tallest bridge in Cuba, where you can get the best pina coladas in Cuba.  I don't know if they are really the best, but they were damn good.

The parking lot of this bar looked like an antique car show.  See the section on cars for pix.

Cigar Factory

Our next stop was a cigar factory. Cigars being smoked (you can smoke anywhere you want in Cuba) smell like cat shit to me.  But at the entry to the factory it smelled like chocolate and deeper in the smell was pleasant.

Workers in the factory cam smoke as much as they want on the job and take home 5 cigars/day. If we wanted to buy a lot of them, our tour guide offered to hook us up with a worker and buy them from her/him for less than what we would pay at the factory store.

Pictures were not allowed, but we took them anyway. (Coming soon...)

Buildings & Monuments

Camilo Cienfuegos and Che Guevera on buildings in Revolution Square.  

You see Che's image everywhere.  Interestingly, there are no images of Fidel.

Monument to the Revolution, Revolution Square.

Big Jesus on the hills above Havana.  He has African 

features and was created by a Cuban artist.

The capital, based on the American capital

 building, only slightly taller and wider.

National Theatre

Nike atop one of the four towers of the National Theatre. 

Camera Obscura

The Camera Obscura was designed by Leonardo DaVinci.  It is a series of mirrors that reflects the scene outside down into a darkened room, onto a broad, shallow dish-shaped screen.  The mirrors are controlled with ropes and pulleys so you can rotate the view around 360 degrees.

Guard Dog at the Camera Obscura

 

Renaissance technology: this is what you see (only clearer, it was moving when I took this photo)

View from the roof: Russian Orthodox church with 24k gold dome.

Havana isn't really that pretty from above.  It is mostly cement block buildings and many are in disrepair.

Hemingway

Hemingway liked to hang out in Cuba.

The Floridita Bar where Hemingway hung out.

Inside the Floridita you can get your picture taken with Hemingway's statue

Here is Hemingway's ghost posing for a pic...

...and here is the ghost disappearing a blur of light.

 

This is the hotel Hemingway stayed at.  

His room is a museum. 

Plazas and street scenes

As we drove into Havana our guide told us, "This is New Havana."  The buildings looked historic to me.  Of course, Cuba is older than Canada. Our oldest buildings (locally) are 1800s.  Theirs are 1500s.

Streets in Old Havana are narrow, brick-paved, and many are closed to traffic.

Church on Pigeon Square, where the pigeons will eat out of your hand.

Buildings are often built out over the sidewalk to provide shade.

Plaza Vieje, oldest church in Havana

Plaza Vieje

Plaza Vieje, Military Museum

The Banco de Credito y Commerico, where neither our 

bank cards or credit cards would work for a cash advance. 

Door (from the inside) of the bank.