Cuba: Old Havana

Got a small mini bus to Havana, journey was 5 hours so spent most the day travelling. Never travelling by mini bus again though, between the dirt track roads, then the bumpy highway in such a small bus I felt motion sickness the whole time. Never had it before so of course thought I was dying, only to step off the bus for it all to clear. Big coaches all the way! We stayed in a casa in old Havana, we didn’t know where to stay in Havana as there are so many different areas to choose from, but old Havana turned out to be the best as that is where there is a lot going on. Spent most the time just wandering the streets exploring, eating and drinking. Went to the Havana Rum Museum, tour was really interesting but maybe should not have done it at 9am before having breakfast as we ended with a shot of 7ry old rum!... When in Havana!





There are lots of squares in old Havana. Visited Plaza Vieja, the old square, for our peso pizza and to chill by the water fountain. Plaza de Armas, had lots of book stalls around the edge and a garden in the middle. All the books are ancient, found a national geographic magazine from 1925. Plaza de San Francisco had a huge cathedral.









Walked up to the harbour front and sat along the wall, watching Cubans chilling out fishing, chatting or jumping into the sea. Here we could see the famous Havana drive to Miramar and Vedado and Havana's forts.


Visited the Amondos Hotel, the hotel that Hemingway stayed in. It has a rooftop bar which we had a cocktail in for $3 and cool views of the city. Went up in one of the old style cage lifts to the sixth floor.
Conversation with the lift concierge;
How was your day?
Good, been to the cigar factory
Do you want to buy any?
We are thinking about it
We sell them on the 5th floor if you are interested? (There was a museum on the 5th floor of Hemingway’s room so we thought it was a gift shop)
Ok (get out of the lift to only see rooms, and the concierge picks out a key card and shows us into a hotel room with a suitcase on the bed full of cigars and closes the door behind us)
That was some quick thinking to get out of that one!