Cuba (1): Havana

A Walking Tour of Old Havana and a Daiquiri with Ernest Hemingway

14/03/2020

Staffordshire to Havana

Cuba

Havana

Swynnerton to Havana is a hard day's travelling. Up just after three to get to Birmingham Airport for an early morning flight to Paris, several hours in Charles de Gaulle Airport and ten more hours flying brought us to Havana at 19.15 local time, our excellent Air France morning croissant only a distant memory.

Walking through José Martí airport was good for cramped limbs, but then we joined one of several 100m long, barely moving queues for passport control. An hour later, impressed by the forbearance of several plane loads of tired travellers, we reached the front. The young man at the desk, was courteous and far quicker than we had imagined from further back.

After more x-rays and surrendering our customs declaration (no, I have no explosives, pornography or meat products) we were free. We found the local travel company rep who introduced us to our taxi driver and then watched as both ATMs rejected our cards. The queue for changing cash resembled the passport queue, so leaving money for the morrow we headed into town.

Cuba, a little smaller than England, is the largest island in the Caribbean.
Havana is on the north coast in the west of the island (thanks to Lonely Planet for the map)

Our first impressions of Havana were not positive, the streets were narrow, the lighting poor and it looked dark, deserted and dangerous. The harbour area was more cheerful but then we turned into the old city along Calle Luz where except for pools of yellow light around the open doorways of broken-down buildings, all was blackness.

Thankfully our small hotel was much brighter and the management cheerfully welcoming. We checked-in in the bar/restaurant and then climbed colourful stairs draped in greenery.

The stairs to our room, Havana

Our room was a good size with a slightly spartan feel, but once Lynne had persuaded me that the scrapes of Polyfilla over the blue paint was a design feature rather than unfinished re-decorating, I was prepared to call it 'characterful'.

I am still not convinced by the decor, Havana

It was now after ten, eating was of no interest but rehydration felt important. Down in the bar they were happy to provide us with beer on a promise of money later. Bucanero, at a hefty 5.4%, is cold and wet but offers little flavour. It is not a great beer, but that did not stop us having a second before retiring to bed.

Bucanero rehydration, Havana

15/03/2020

We slept well, woke at a reasonable hour for the time zone and appeared for breakfast just after 8. The standard breakfast of omelette, toast and slabs of unidentifiable jam (Cuban jam must be carved rather than spread) was preceded by an impressive pile of fruit; papaya, pineapple, water melon, banana and more, all fully ripe and sweetly delicious.

Breakfast fruit, Havana

Havana, First Steps

The old city of Havana sits on a peninsula that forms the narrow neck of the harbour. We walked down to the waterside to see if the morning sunshine made the area look less forbidding.

The new day worked its charm, Calle Luz still looked dilapidated but much less threatening with locals and tourists going about their Sunday morning business.

Calle Luz on a Sunday moning, Havana

The street ends at the ferry dock. Here there is a memorial to Arcelio Iglesias, a dock workers' leader assassinated by hired gunmen in 1945.

Arcelio Iglesias memorial, Calle Luz, Havana

Cuba is famous for its aged American cars. More about this later, but we saw our first, a well-restored if luridly painted Chevrolet near the memorial.

Restored Windolene Pink Chevrolet, Calle Luz, Havana

A Walking Tour of Old Havana

R arrived at 9.30 to conduct our tour.

We walked away from the harbour for 50m, then turned right into San Ignacio, another dingy side street, and continued roughly parallel with the coast. The Old City has a grid-plan of sorts, but street do not always meet at right angles, and coastlines are rarely straight.

Plaza Vieja

We walked three blocks as R explained that restoration was proceeding from north to south and had not quite reached here yet. Then we emerged onto Plaza Vieja....

Plaza Vieja, Havana

....surrounded by gleaming colonial buildings…

Plaza Vieja, Havana

….with the Palacio Cueta Hotel in one corner. Constructed in 1906, Havana’s finest Art Nouveau building has been returned to its original glory after a decade of stop-go restoration.

Cueta Palace Hotel, Plaza Vieja, Havana

In the centre of the square is some forgettable municipal art (see above) while two more interesting pieces occupy the corners. Natura is a 10m high Cuban marble flower by Juan Narcisco Quintanilla. Created for the 492nd anniversary of Havana’s foundation it was unveiled in November 2011. Why 492nd? Allegedly Quintanilla doubted he would make to the 500th in 2019. I believe he is still alive, he was only born 1950, the same as me, so he should be in his prime.

Natura, Plaza Vieja, Havana

In the opposite corner is Viaje Fantástico (fantastic journey); a bald woman, naked apart from her high-heeled shoes is riding a huge cockerel while carrying a giant fork over her shoulder. Or should we see her as tiny and the fork and cockerel normal size? This is one of many questions sculptor Roberto Fabelo has declined to answer. Why should he? It is what it is, and it is up to us to make what we will of it. I find it unsettling, mysterious and beguiling.

Viaje Fantástico, Plaza Vieja, Havana

An open space since 1559, Plaza Vieja was once called Plaza Nueva. Over the years it has witnessed processions, bullfights, fiestas – and executions. Today, however it seemed quiet. Cubans, R explained, rise late on a Sunday morning.

The Raquel Hotel, Havana

A short distance away, the Raquel Hotel, built in 1908 as a textile warehouse, is another Modernist building.

Raquel Hotel, Havana

The inside is elegant…

Interior, Raquel Hotel,Havana

…and the ceiling magnificent.

Ceiling, Raquel Hotel, Havana

The Raquel has a historical Jewish connection, there is a Jewish restaurant and a display in the lobby. The current owners, though, are the Gaviota Group who are connected to the Cuban military so the American government bans its citizens from staying there.

A nod to Havana's Jewish community, Raquel Hotel

The CUP and the CUC

We needed to solve our money problem and had to visit two money changers to find one open on a Sunday morning, detouring a little from R's intended route. Perhaps uniquely, Cuba has two parallel currencies, the Cuban Peso (CUP) and the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC). As foreigners we could only purchase CUC. 1 CUC is pegged at 1 US$, a somewhat inflated rate allowing the government to extract full value from tourists – though even then Cuba is relatively cheap. A CUP is worth 4 cents, but we never saw any, everywhere we went prices were quoted and change given in CUC. In 2013 it was announced that this system would end, yet it still endures. Both currencies have one endearing oddity – a 3 Peso note.

Che Guevarra on the 3 Convertible pesos note

Plaza de San Francisco de Asís

Our detour brought us to the Plaza de San Francisco de Asís, the former Church and Convent of St Francis is now a museum and concert hall.

The former church and convent of St Francis of Assisi

Outside is a statue of José María López Lledín, known as El Caballero de Paris. Brought to Havana from Spain by his parents aged 11, he had mental problems in later life which led to him living on the street. He believed he was a French aristocrat, hence his nickname, but despite his loose grasp of reality he was a man of charm and education and became a well-known and popular figure. He died, aged 85 in 1985 and the statue by José Ramón Villa Soberón was placed here in 2001. Good luck will undoubtedly attend those who stroke his beard.

El Caballero de Paris outside San Francisco de Asís

The Plaza de Armas and Around

On our way to the Plaza de Armas we passed a Bodega La Caridad Consejo Popular. Every Cuban has a ration they can buy monthly from these shops at very low prices. R described the ration as being just about enough for survival. All but the poorest supplement the ration from shops and markets, and there are currently arguments as to whether the well-off should continue to receive a ration. It sounded reminiscent of our winter fuel allowance debate.

Bodega la Caridad Consejo Popular

The Plaza de Armas, laid out in the early 1520s, is Havana's oldest square and acquired the name - ‘Square of Arms’ - in the late 16th century, when the colonial governor used it for military exercises.

The current square and surroundings are mostly late 18th century, though the marble statue of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes only replaced one of King Ferdinand VII of Spain in 1955.

A tourist group gathers to hear about Carlos de Céspedes
The brightly dressed women to the right of the group are not tourists, they are 'local colour' and are here to be photographed (for a small fee)

Carlos Manuel de Céspedes (1819-74), known as the "Father of the Fatherland" was a plantation owner who freed his slaves, made the declaration of Cuban independence in 1868 and played an important part in the Ten Years' War (1868–78), the first of three wars that ultimately secured that independence.

On the side of the square behind the statue is the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales. Once the governor’s residence it was built by slave labour between 1776 and 1792, the bricks were brought from Malaga, the wrought-iron grilles from Bilbao and the marble from Genoa. It is now an art and history museum. The road outside is the last street in Havana surfaced entirely with wooden blocks.

Palacio de los Capitanes Generales and a road of wooden blocks, Havana

Opposite the Plaza, El Templete was built in 1827 on the site of Havana’s founding in 1519.

El Templete, Havana

The three paintings in the small interior, behind a bust of their painter Jean Baptiste Vermay, depict the first mass and the first council held on this spot, and the blessing of El Templete on its inauguration.

Vermay and the first mass in Havana, November 1519, El Templete

Behind the temple is the harbour’s Canal de Entrada. We sat on the wall with the Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña as backdrop. In 1762, in the Seven Years War, the British took this ridge and from it bombarded the city into submission. They were soon gone, returning Havana to Spain in exchange for Florida in the Treaty of Paris (1763). The Fortaleza was built to ensure no one could take Havana that way again.

On the wall by the harbour's Canal de Entrada. The entrance is away to our right, the Fortaleza is on the ridge behind us

A little to the right is the 17m high Christ of Havana. The work of Jilma Madera, it was inaugurated in December 1958, fifteen days before Fidel Castro’s entry into Havana ended the Cuban Revolution. R generously admitted it was smaller than Rio’s Christ the Redeemer, but claimed it was equally important, being the world’s largest statue by a female sculptor.

El Cristo de la Habana

Havana Cathedral

We walked from the harbour along Calle O’Reilly, named for Second Corporal Alejandro O'Reilly of the Spanish army who worked on improving Havana’s defences after the brief British occupation. Pausing on our way to Cathedral Square we viewed the Hotel Ambos Mundos. Ernest Hemingway rented room 511 from 1931-37 where he wrote For whom the Bell Tolls.

Hotel Ambos Mundos, Havana

The construction of the Cathedral of San Cristobel started in 1748 and it was consecrated in 1782. The Jesuits, who began the process were expelled from Cuba in 1767, even so 34 years is pretty quick for a cathedral.

Cathedral of San Cristobal, Havana

We could not look round inside as it was Sunday morning. ‘Cubans are all Catholics’, R had said, ‘though very relaxed Catholics’ – but not so relaxed we could interrupt mass. Mass was being said in German, with a Spanish translation, presumably a visiting prelate, but I have been unable to discover whom.

Mass in the Cathedral, Havana

The remains of Christopher Columbus came here from Hispaniola in 1796 when that island was ceded to the French. He was removed to Seville in 1898 after the Cuban War of Independence – the Spanish were ‘out’ so they took their bat and ball home.

Along Calle Obispo to New Havana

We stopped for a morning espresso - Cuban coffee is good and strong – and continued at a leisurely pace up Calle Obispo, visiting the ETECSA office and patiently worked through the process of buying internet cards. To access the web in hotspots, cafés or restaurants you need a temporary password. Cards cost 1$ for 1 hour, enough to exclude many Cubans.

New Havana starts where Calle Obispo meets Avenida Bélgica; both are mentioned in Graham Greene’s Our Man in Havana. Greene’s Wormold is a more believable spy than his exact contemporary, James Bond,though his comedy of MI6 incompetence and corruption was set in the very different world of pre-revolutionary Cuba.

Central Havana

R left us and we lingered long enough to photograph the Capitol Building, (‘Bigger than the American one’ R had told us proudly),...

The Capitol Building, Havana

… the Great Theatre, its parking space filled with carefully maintained American classic cars, all waiting to take tourists for a spin round the city…

The Grand Theatre and some interesting cars, Havana

…and the statue of José Martí. Martí was a poet, philosopher and political theorist who became the "Apostle of Cuban Independence." He died in battle in 1895.

José Martí

La Floridita and a Daiquiri with Ernest Hemingway

We made our way back to the junction of Obispo and Bélgica and the Floridita. La Floridita was mention by Greene, but is more famous as the bar where Hemingway drank his daiquiris - and he is still there, in his favourite seat by the bar.

Bar Floridita, Havana

It opens at 12.00, we arrived at 12.15 and it was rammed, though strangely there were two vacant stools, rather too close to the band but exactly the right distance from the bar. I must now admit that my 50+ year drinking career has involved very few cocktails (unless you count G&T, and I don’t). I was, as I settled on the bar stool, a daiquiri virgin; that state was doomed.

The crowd thinned and a stool became vacant next to the great man, so I slid round to occupy it. And why the scowl? Hemingway was a serious drinker but José Ramón Villa Soberón (he of the Caballero de Paris) has given him an avuncular look, so I am adding gravitas.

A serious daiquiri with Hemingway, Bar Floridita, Havana

I read a lot of Hemingway in my youth, and recently reread A Farewell to Arms. For a renowned curmudgeon I thought it overly sentimental, but I will share a drink with him, regardless.

James Bond’s cocktails had to be ‘shaken not stirred’, but there was no shaking in the Floridita, they were producing them as fast as they could, and that involved blenders and measurements by eye.

However it was made, we enjoyed our daiquiri; there was plenty of rum, the citrus added sharpness and the ice and sugar blunted the edge of what was becoming a warm afternoon.

I asked for the bill. 6$, he said, each, (1CUC = 1USD and both are denoted $). I was shocked, the last time I bought cocktails (Nov 2016, Sheraton Sky Lounge, Hong Kong) they cost around 150HK$ each, that’s 20US$. Even more shocking, the Floridita’s daiquiris were the most expensive we met in Cuba, the usual price was 2$!

The Afternoon

On the way back we paused for a light lunch - it did not turn out that light, but it was cheap.

There was so much we could have done in the afternoon. Museums of history, chocolate, tobacco and rum, and the bar where Hemingway drank his mojitos, were all within walking distance, but yesterday had been a long hard day, so a nap was unavoidable. Later we made our way back to Plaza Vieja for a cold coffee with ice cream…

Coffee with ice cream, Plaza Vieja, Havana

…and a different angle on Viaje Fantástico.

Another angle on Viaje Fantástico, Plaza Vieja, Havana

On the way home we observed that old American cars are not just a tourist attraction, many are in everyday use.

No all old American cars are kept to impress tourists

Dinner at Our Havana Hotel

We ate in our hotel. Lynne liked her tuna salad and my garlic prawns were very fresh and very garlic-y. Rice and beans is a Cuban standard accompaniment, the beans much firmer and more flavourful than the ubiquitous black beans in Mexico, and the amusingly named fufu of plantain was a fritter of layered plantains; it had a pleasant crunch but little taste.

Garlic prawns, Havana

Cuba

Part 1: Havana
Part 2: Havana to Viñales
Part 3: Walking the Viñales Valley
Part 4: Viñales to Trinidad de Cuba
Part 5: Trinidad (1) The Town
Part 6: Trinidad (2) Valle de Los Ingenios
Part 7: Santa Clara and Che Guevara
Part 8: Jibacoa and a Strange Trip Home