Havana, capital of Cuba and the largest city oin the Carribean, is a city of stark but pleasing contrasts. It is probably best known for its historic quarter which was designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO in the early 1990s. As beautiful and impressive as "Vieja Habana" is, this is just one aspect of this bustling and energetic city.

To begin to navigate Havana's streets you MUST have a street map. The streets of Havana (in all three districts) follow a grid system. In part of Centro and all of Vedado the streets have numbers and letters rather than names, in Old Havana the streets are named although even that can be confusing. After the revolution many of the streets in Old Havana were re-named to commemorate heroes of the revolution but some signs still exist from the old days. Added to this is UNESCO's encouragement to revert to the old colonial names - it can be very confusing! In Vedado "Calles" (streets) have odd numbers and "Avenidas" (avenues) have even numbers. Addresses are very specific so in old Havana 506 O'Reilly street is written as "O'Reilly no. 506 between Bernaza and Villegas" - Bernaza and Villegas cut across O'Reilly, number 506 lies between these two streets. If the place you're looking for is on the corner of a street, the name of the street is given as well as the name of the street it abuts, for example "where Monserrate meets Obispo". It sounds pretty complicated but makes perfect sense once you've got to grips with it.

Since there is so much to see and do in Havana I have opted here to give a brief overview of each of the three areas, mentioning the main sights and attractions in each along with my thoughts on the feeling generated in each. Havana has an exhausting selection of museums and galleries - it would take many weeks to see them all before you even began to think about fortresses, monuments and gardens. My advice would be to check out what is on offer and pick only a few museums or galleries making sure that they are open when you visit. Cuban museums often close at short notice for seemingly inexplicable reasons.

While the colonial streets of Havana are very beautiful and contain some of the most visited attractions in the city, I would suggest that if your travel plans include Trinidad de Cuba on the south coast you should limity the time you spend here and concentrate on other areas of the city instead. For me, Trinidad's streets are mor attractive and more pleasant to stroll around. Many of the old colonial buildings in Havana are currently under restoration and so it can be difficult to appreciate their beauty under several tonnes of scaffolding whilst battling against the noise of the machinery. However, there are some must see attractions in Old Havana so it would be crazy not to spend at least a few hours here.

Nearby is the Partagas Cigar factory and I would thoroughly recommend this even to non-(Cigar) smokers. The 10 CP entrance fee is higher than you'll pay at any other attractions but is certainly worth it. Tours leave every half hour or so, just check when the next tour is in your langage (unles you speak good Spanish of course). The factory is quite small but you aren't rushed around and get plenty of time to see at close hand how these luxury items are made.After the tour its back to the factory shop to pick up some souvenirs or presents for family at home, the prices though are not reduced just because it is the factory shop - some of these cigars go for 700 Dollars a box!!

Cuba has museums to suit any traveller - fine arts and furniture, coins and bank notes, mediacal history, education under the revolution, music - you name it, there's probably a museum dedicated to it in Havana. We tried the Museum of the Automobile - an old building containing a few dusty old vintage cars, badly lit and half not captioned in any language. We had heard that Che Guevara's Cadillac was displayed here so we asked an attendant who shook her head but gave no explanation as to why we could not see it. She did though point out a rusty old vehicle in almost darkness at the back which she said had belonged to Castro - unlit, unlabelled - so typical of Cuban museums! We left four CP worse of, not really knoing what we'd been looking at other than " some dirty old cars".

A great way to pass an hour or so is to walk down to the waterfront where the bay cuts into the city and watch some of the fisherman at work. The Bay of Havana was once one of the most polluted waterways in the world but is starting to be cleaned up. Since it is forbidden for unlicensed fishermen to take boats out (for fear of people trying to escaper to Florida) young men fish from decrepit old boats moored in the bay, standing on the edge of the boat and throwing out huge weighted nets. Its a long, laborious and rarely fruitful task but you can't tear yourself away, wondering whether the next cast of the net will yield something. Occasionally, the men willl don snorkels and disappear under the boats to fetch up some more bait but usually the nets still remain empty.

This are does contain some older buildings but is on the whole a mix of newer apartment buildings (although still pre-revolution) interspersed with those older buildings which have not yet fallen down. (Many buildings in Havana simply collapse each year - while Old Havana is benefitting from UNESCO money to rebuild other areas are not so lucky and so you'll probably pass at least a few piles of rubble here and there.)

One of the more interesting parts of Centro is the now quite small Barrio Chino area. At the beginning of the twentieth century some 10,000 Chinese men were brought to Cuba as man-power and the area in which they lived was quite large. Now it just covers a few streets and you see very few Chinese looking people there. This is because those Chinese men who decided to stay in Cuba married cuban women and several generations on this ethnic group has largely dissolved into the wider population.

The highlight of Centro is a stroll along the Malecon - the route along the sea front which links Centro and Vedado. This is especially fun in the evenings. Street musicians play Cuban folk music, a variety of street food is for sale and young and old alike (but mainly young) enjoy the sunset. Since entry to clubs is beyond the reach of young Cubans, many sit on the sea defence wall sharing a bottle of rum with friends. If this happened in England there would be uproar - young people drinking on the streets! In Cuba the atmosphere is friendly and safe. This is the only part in Centro where money for restoring the buildings is starting to filter through. Years of being battered by the Atlantic have wreaked destruction on the wonderful buildings which overlook the sea and work is starting to gentrify the area. Indeed, the waves which crash over the sea wall can be huge and it's terrific fun to take a walk next to the wall, getting soaked by the waves which crash over without warning. When it's really rough yopung Cubans lads like to stand on manhole covers and wait for the surge of the water under the storm drains to lift them off the ground!

Vedado is the most refined and essentially the middle-class area of Havana, if Cuba could be said to have a class-system. This is where you'll find the National Theatre, the Galeria Habana (a contemporary art gallery focussing only on Cuban art since the revolution) and schools of music.

Across the road is a memorial to another revolutionary hero, though one some time before Che. Jose Marti would have been the first President of Cuba had he not been killed in his first battle against the Spanish in 1895. He had been a journalist who had led the demands for the retreat of the Spanish to let Cubans have the right of self-determination but was exiled in the late nineteenth century. When he returned his life was sadly cut short before he saw his dream become reality. There are busts of Marti outside every public building in Cuba, in parks and in public squares and gardens - everywhere! At the Palza de la Revolucion there is a huge marble star-shaped tower dedicated to him in which is a museum in the lower floors. Visitors can take the lift to the top for great views over the entire city. At the base of the obelisk is a massive head and shoulders statue made of brilliant white marble which is more attractive than the tower though both are breath-taking.

On a more serious note the Necropolis de Colon is certainly worth a visit. This is a huge cemetery which is the resting place of many notable Cubans including a particular heroine of mine. Celia Sanchez was instrumental in the revolution, running and underground movement that helped get supplies of food, medical goods and weapons to the rebels as they hid out in the mountains. A brave and principled woman, Celia was for many years until her death the companion of Fidel Castro.

ACCOMMODATION (See Review on Cuba:General for explanations of types of accommodation)

Basically Cubans working in the state sector of tourism have no customer service skills or any awareness of customer expectations. No-one apologised for the uncomfortable night we'd spent in the hotel even though we said it was our last night and we'd booked the hotel because it was supposed to be more comfortable. A partial refund would never have even been considered like it may have been in other countries more used to pleasing customers.

EATING AND DRINKING

For good value Cuban cooking stick to paladares (see Cuba:General review) of which there a few in Old Havana and Centro but many more and better quality paladares in Vedado. In Old Havana, though, I can thoroughly recommend La Moneda Cubana near the Cathedral - a tiny place with only three tables offering a choice of four set menus for only ten Covertible Pesos (including, bread, salad, beans and rice as well as main course choice, plus fruit for dessert). On the wall are pinned thousands of banknotes from Cuba and all over the globe.

There is no dedicated nightlife area, bars are scattered all over the city and you'll see plenty you'd like to try. Service is almost always at table. Imported spirits can be had in the bars of bigger hotels, otherwise its rum and beer.

TRANSPORT

As well as the factory shops there are stores all over Havana selling high quality rum and cigars. Do not be tempted to buy cigars from street hustlers, you are likely to be ripped off.

Havana is a truly amazing place. If you had five pairs of eyes it wouldn't be enough. There is so much to see without even thinking of visiting tourist attractions or historical sites. Despite its age Cuba is a living city and a thriving city despite the hardships sufferds by many of its citizens. It is, for me, proof that community and society do matter and that with a little imagination people can make the best of things and move forward. If the revolution comes to an end all this will disappear; for me that would be a tragedy.