Havana, Cuba

Cuba was one of those places that I had always wanted to visit for many years and in particular I wanted to visit while Castro influence was prevalent on the island as this means it offers a rare experience as it one of only two socialist command economy systems left in operation after the opening up of many other new markets. My concern that once Castro goes the Americans will begin to move in again, not this time with guns and tanks but Starbucks and McDonalds, a far more sinister form of invasion in my opinion.

No visit to Cuba is complete without spending time in the time warp that is Havana and this was our first port of call when we landed. We stayed at the Hotel Nacional De Cuba which I have already reviewed so I will spare you the details however even if you are not staying there it is well worth a visit as there is plenty to see with a fine history, not sure yet whether my own picture is up there alongside all the other famous visitors like Ali, Sinatra and Colin Farrell but it is just a matter of time I'm sure before you can stay in the Freediveheaven / Atticusuk (delete depending on which site you are reading this) suite.

Havana is a vibrant city that exudes energy and excitement, visually it fluctuates between bright stucco buildings, secluded little squares and large imposing buildings to looking like a war torn bomb site here the national speciality is scaffolding and home improvements. It is fair to say that many of the buildings in Havana have seen better days and particularly in the old part of town a lot of work appears to be in the process of happening, I say appears because often you saw the evidence of work starting but no actual builders around doing it anymore. For me this sense of renewal and the mixing of old and new adds to the colour and attraction of the city, it is certainly a city of contrasts.

It is also worth remembering that Havana is very much a residential city, what I mean by that is the fact that all around you are people living their lives, when the revolution happened and the rich people either fled to America or found themselves in jail their large palatial properties were often taken over by their servants and other workers and converted into smaller living quarters, this means you can walk out of the ornate National Theatre in Habana Vieja and look across the road to see washing hanging from balconies and people sitting on their front step watching the tourists file by.

Havana itself is separated into municipos and the three main ones that we were either staying in or visited are Habana Viejo, Vedado and Centro Habana. The Nacional was located in Vedado while the majority of the places of interest are located in the UNESCO World Heritage Site that is Habana Viejo.

Getting around Havana is best achieved either on foot or by taxi, there is a bus system which is very cramped and I would not even begin to try and understand what the routes are. Most of the time we walked once we were in Viejo or Centro however to get from Vieja to Vedado a taxi is best as it is a 4km walk at least. There are a range of cabs services available, some are state sanctioned and metered while others are privately owned and open for negotiation although make sure you agree a price in advance. One of the fascinating things about Havana is the range of cars you will see with the old 1950's American convertibles being a tourist attraction in themselves. You will also see loads of Lada and Trabants as well and one thing all the cars have in common is that they spew out pollution as they go and are prone to breaking down. However one sign of the times is you will also see a fair few modern cars and one of our cabs was a Merc. The fare from Vedado to Vieja was under 5CUC one way. Another option to consider is hiring a driver for an hour, we did to get around and see some of the further out places and we negotiated 20CUC for an hours driving and this was a great way to see parts of the city.

Habana Vieja is the part most people head towards and it takes a good couple of days exploring to do it justice. Part of the pleasure is just wandering the tight little streets, navigation is pretty easy on the one hand as the whole area is on a grid system however the bit that is confusing is that street will sometimes have two or more names, both pre and post revolution. There is lots to see, be aware that there are loads of museums in Havana and the quality does vary dramatically, also do not expect any English translation on the exhibits so sometimes you are exploring in the literary dark.

For me and the kids the most enjoyable and interesting place we visited was the Fabrica de Tobacos Partagas which is a working Cuban cigar factory, it was fascinating to take a tour to see the whole process, it takes nine months to train to make the cigars and the jobs are highly sort after as employees can make three times the national average wage and the three cigar allowance gives them access to the black market. The factory is behind the old haunt of Baptista the Capitolio Nacional which is worth a visit and is a splendid building similar in look to the Capital Building in Washington.

The other must see in this area is the Museo de la Revolucion which is an impressive display but the novelty does wear thin after a while. There are many other attractions in this area but as I said earlier take the time to walk about, the Cathedral Square is nice and there are plenty of good places to eat and explore.

While Vieja is the old part Vedado has carved out a niche as the cultural heart however for the kids the highlight was to have been a visit to Coppelia the huge ice-cream parlour about ten minutes walk from our hotel. The queues were really long however as a tourist you are whisked past these but then just as we were about to reach the main building we were ushered off to a small booth with some outside seating and a couple of mangy dogs loitering around. This experience for me just typified Cuba, no explanation is given nor an alternative, as a tourist this is where you go, not sure if it was to keep you apart from the locals, to be able to charge you more for your ice-cream or maybe they just reckon al fresco options is what the tourist wants rather than the long queues for the locals, anyway the ice-cream was delicious which after all is what we went for.

For me the highlight of our day exploring Vedado was the Plaza de la Revolucion. Here Jose Marti and ad Che Guevera are honoured however it was a little disappointing. The monument to Marti is spectacular however I was disappointed that for some reason you could not travel in the lift to the top as the view would have been impressive. If you want to take pictures in the square you do have to buy a ticket and video is extra I think, there is a museum at the base of the Marti monument which held limited interest and took less than twenty minutes to see. Even more disappointing was the Che Guevera monument, it is the iconic pose of Guevera however as I approached I never actually realised it was the monument, the square in front looks like a bus park with cracks in the cement and grass growing through and basically I thought it was the frontage to a hotel, only when I saw all the people taking pictures did I realise it was the monument itself.

The other area we visited was Centro Habana, this is an interesting largely residential area, no significant things to see other than a chance to experience Cuban city life and it is a bit more off the beaten tourist track. Sandwiched between the other two areas it is nice to take in the atmosphere and then to come out on the long coastal road called the Malecon which is the centre of Havana nightlife, the place where locals come to parade at night with their families, kids come to hang out on the pull and there is are plenty of cafes spewing out music and making it a must do event.

In this review I feel like I have only scratched the surface and certainly I wanted an extra day on top of the four we had in the city. It is a pretty safe place to explore, there are a lot of hustlers who try to sell you fake cigars or get you to use a particular taxi or restaurant, if you do you can bet the price will go up to reflect their commission however to ignore these people is to also mean you do get to speak with the locals who just want to talk as the people of Cuba are friendly and I enjoyed the fact that people were happy just talking about mundane things about life outside of their island.

The food is of variable quality and it pays to check out the plates of others before sitting down yourself but we had some lovely meals especially outside in the warm weather. Havana does get hot and dirty with a fair bit of pollution mainly from the old cars so best to avoid the height of summer, sun block a hat and bottled water are an essential.

For me it was everything I had hoped for, family friendly, vibrant and exciting with old convertibles jostling with Lada and cramped buses. The nightlife is great although unfortunately the world famous Tropicana Cabaret is over eighteen only so we never got to experience that although we did get to hear some great salsa music in one of the bars.

Certainly I would recommend seeing Havana and to do it before it opens up even more as some of the regeneration could turn it into a bit of a theme park rather than an historical city. It does take a bit of planning as there is lots to see but it is well worth the effort.

Hope you like the pictures especially the balck and white ones.

Thanks for reading and rating my review.