Hotter Havana
We woke up fairly late and had slim pickings at breakfast. We hopped straight into a taxi for the newer part of Havana to visit Revolutionary Square. It is a large, empty area where they hold rallies and meetings. There is an outline of Che Guevara’s face on the side of the Ministry of the Interior, where he had worked. Across the road there is the Jose Marti Memorial. He seems to be revered throughout Cuba as there are pictures and posters of him everywhere. I guess he is fairly important as he was responsible for Cuban independence. There are excellent views of the city from the top of the tower.
We got an Egg-Taxi back to La Rampa and on the way we got to see the University and the famous mural on the Havana Libre Hotel. As a treat we had ice-cream at Coppelia. There was a huge queue for ice-cream, which confused us because there was a another café selling the same ice-cream round the corner and had no queue at all. Afterwards we walked down La Rampa, which had a market and we purchased some Cuban dominoes.
At the Malecon, the waterfront walkway we tried to get a taxi, eventually getting into a local’s car without realising it wasn’t a taxi. He gave us a lift to the Revolution Museum though. The museum was previously the Presidential Palace and you can see the bullet holes in the wall from 1957 when revolutionary students tried to kill President Batista. Batista escaped with a cache of gold through a side door. At the back of the museum there is an exhibit of planes, tanks and used cars from this period.
We went to a tobacco factory hoping to do a tour but there weren’t any available. Instead we bought one cigar and marvelled at the prices. Some boxes were $1000 or more! Opposite the tobacco factory is the Capitolio. The building is loosely modelled on the White House and was the home of government until 1959. It is extremely grand inside. We got an excellent aerial picture from the top of the Saratoga Hotel having talked one of the bellboys to show us around. If we visited Havana again we would stay here as it is a lovely hotel and the hotel staff are lovely.
Prior to dinner we popped into the Vintage Car Museum. We were ravenous as we hadn’t eaten since our spartan breakfast and headed for and Italian restaurant on Prado and Neptune. They were actually closed but let us in to sit in the blissful air-conditioning and have a couple of drinks at the bar. We watched the Germany v Italy game and enjoyed the Italians reaction to the win! After the match we walked around in the Fratenidad Park as the guide book had said there are lots of vintage cars parked there but there weren’t. Maybe they had driven off.
We went back to the Italian restaurant for dinner and had our best meal in Cuba. The pizzas were great. We were quite full and enjoyed a stroll up and down Paseo del Prado watching 8 kids playing a game like ‘It’. Obviously we had to end the evening with a daiquiri at la Floridita!
We got an Egg-Taxi back to La Rampa and on the way we got to see the University and the famous mural on the Havana Libre Hotel. As a treat we had ice-cream at Coppelia. There was a huge queue for ice-cream, which confused us because there was a another café selling the same ice-cream round the corner and had no queue at all. Afterwards we walked down La Rampa, which had a market and we purchased some Cuban dominoes.
At the Malecon, the waterfront walkway we tried to get a taxi, eventually getting into a local’s car without realising it wasn’t a taxi. He gave us a lift to the Revolution Museum though. The museum was previously the Presidential Palace and you can see the bullet holes in the wall from 1957 when revolutionary students tried to kill President Batista. Batista escaped with a cache of gold through a side door. At the back of the museum there is an exhibit of planes, tanks and used cars from this period.
We went to a tobacco factory hoping to do a tour but there weren’t any available. Instead we bought one cigar and marvelled at the prices. Some boxes were $1000 or more! Opposite the tobacco factory is the Capitolio. The building is loosely modelled on the White House and was the home of government until 1959. It is extremely grand inside. We got an excellent aerial picture from the top of the Saratoga Hotel having talked one of the bellboys to show us around. If we visited Havana again we would stay here as it is a lovely hotel and the hotel staff are lovely.
Prior to dinner we popped into the Vintage Car Museum. We were ravenous as we hadn’t eaten since our spartan breakfast and headed for and Italian restaurant on Prado and Neptune. They were actually closed but let us in to sit in the blissful air-conditioning and have a couple of drinks at the bar. We watched the Germany v Italy game and enjoyed the Italians reaction to the win! After the match we walked around in the Fratenidad Park as the guide book had said there are lots of vintage cars parked there but there weren’t. Maybe they had driven off.
We went back to the Italian restaurant for dinner and had our best meal in Cuba. The pizzas were great. We were quite full and enjoyed a stroll up and down Paseo del Prado watching 8 kids playing a game like ‘It’. Obviously we had to end the evening with a daiquiri at la Floridita!
posted by Ian @ 11:41 pm
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