Cuba 2009

In January 2009, we flew via Air Canada to Havana for a snow-free week in the middle of a Canadian winter. It was so cold in Hamilton that the QEW was a sheet of black ice: we almost missed the plane and got to the gate with just  (literally) one minute's grace.

Arriving midday, a taxi ride from the airport to the city gave us our first taste of the sad, deteriorating nature of the city (and the country.) Little evidence remains of the what were, for some, "the better days".
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We had booked a room for the first three nights at Park View Hotel, Calle Colón esq. a Morro,http://www.hotelparkview-cuba.com,on the edge of Old Havana. Near the former presidential palace and now the home of the Museum of the Revolution, it was reasonably well located but a little to far from the heart of Old Havana. Street lighting is minimal and one evening, while walking to a restaurant in the Vieja, Tana was robbed of a necklace by a young man who rode past her on a bike.

The first day we hired a superb guide and driver and took a 4 hour tour of Marianao (the up-scale residential area, home of embassies and wealth foreigners) and Central Havana with its university and hotels that were formally owned by the mobs. For an interesting read on those times and the fall of Batista, see Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba…and Then Lost It to the Revolution, by T. J. English http://www.harpercollins.com

The University of Havana >

The next day taught us that, while controlled and trained by Habaguanex S.A., the government tourism company, not all guides are the same. Hired for a tour of Hemingways farm and Cogimar, the fish village depicted in The Old Man and the Sea, our young guide was more fascinated by the driver's cell phone than with guiding us.

Much is made of Hemingway's stay in Cuba. We were shown his hotel room in the Ambos Mundos and the hacienda he owned in the outskirts of the city.

Then we were driven to Cogimar, an non-descript village with more reputation than substance, and even less with a poor guide.

The third day, as planned, we moved to Hotel Los Frailes, Calle Teniente Rey No. 8 e ( http://www.hotellosfrailescuba.com ) in the old city (Habana Vieja)

Los Frailes Inn where all of the staff are dressed as monks, is the former mansion of the fourth Marquis and Captain of the French Navy, Don Pedro Claudio Duquesne.

Located on a quiet pedestrian 'alley' it is just a few steps away from the plaza and majestic convent of Saint Francis of Assisi >

Frailes and Hostal Valencia, Calle Oficios No. 53 esq. a Obrapía, Habana Vieja, ( http://www.habaguanexhotels.com/en/hotels/hostalvalencia.asp ) became our bases for the next five nights as we walked and explored the old city :

The popular Old Square with its reclaimed architecture:

Havana's Cathedral and plaza:

The Prada, Collanades and Capitola:

Havana's coastline (The Malecon and Harbour):

The Malecon	Bay and Castillo del Morro

Havana's people and animals:

A local bar for Havana Specials	Playing dominos
Corner musicians	Three legged "Hoppie" who followed me all over
Dog of a phone call	Tana and one of her many cats