La Habana

 

 

Tuesday 31 May

A big variety on offer in the dining room. Lovely bread sticks still warm from the oven. I know what I'll be having again tomorrow. The hotel has gorgeous chandeliers and a feeling of faded 1930s elegance. I could imagine Hercule Poirot walking into the lobby.

 

We were ready for the day's sightseeing at 8.30 but were picked up a bit later as the others in our group are staying at a different hotel. We are 6 in all: 2 from Melbourne, 2 from Adelaide and 2 from Ireland. Then there's the tour guide, Jose, and the driver, Vladimir.

 

We drove along the seafront to a fort which gave us a great view back across the city. There are a number of forts along here, initially built to repel pirates, but also used against the Spanish and the English. Some of the beautiful colonial buildings facing the sea are crumbling due to the salt, hurricanes and, I suppose, general weather and ageing. There's not much money for maintenance. The same applies to many of the buildings we saw on our walk around the old town, but fortunately some are in great shape.

 

Speaking of our walk, it was HOT!!!! and HUMID!!! Think of Darwin in the wet season. I had moments of wishing we had gone to cool Alaska. There were lots of pretty streets, colonial architecture, and squares. We had a tour of how rum was made and sampled a drop. We also saw places where Che made a speech or Fidel suggested revolution and it was really interesting but hard to remember. Along the way there was evidence of the Russian alliance, with a MIG jet, various missiles and even Fidel's tank from the Cuban missile crisis.

 

We visited Hemingway's bedroom at a famous pink hotel whose name I've forgotten, and saw his typewriter and other memorabilia. More importantly we sat in the bar upstairs and had a mojito and a welcome break. More walking and it was time for lunch at a restaurant facing the sea. I downed a couple of lemon drinks in seconds flat. After a big lunch (lovely fish) we returned to the bus for a tour of the more distant parts of the city, including Revolution Square, where Fidel made the famous 8 hour speech. I hope it was in a different season or there would have been mass casualties from the heat.

 

Back to the hotel for a rest and a shower before being picked up for dinner at a chicken restaurant - not KFC! Everything is government owned, including the restaurants, and this seems to be one of the ones that tour groups visit. Home by 9.30 and looking forward to an early night.

 

 

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