Havana - a brief how-to. (Havana in Spanish is La Habana)
Havana is a magic city. You can feel it as soon as you arrive...
That is not really true; as soon as you arrive you must go through immigration and customs which is not easy and not always pleasant. But it is not any worse than any immigration service in any Latin American country,
But when you make it out on to the highway you begin to feel the magic; the Caribbean atmosphere, the warm and pleasant sun, the clean air, the strange looking cars.
And that highway, recently built to give quick access to the new airport, is also a time machine; it takes you to a city that has seen very little change over the last 40 years.
All the major roads, avenues and streets date from before 1959. Some, like 5th Avenue, have received a lot of maintenance because they are used to take visiting dignitaries to various locations around the city. Others, like the Prado, have not seen a maintenance crew in years.
Yet both are beautiful, and worth seeing. Talking about which, there is much to see in Havana.
Listen...
For touring purposes, one can divide the city into three sections, Old Havana, the city built by the Spanish and dating from the middle of the 17th century; Downtown Havana, the part of the city that flourished up until the revolution, full of narrow streets and crumbling buildings, and the newer parts of the city, Vedado and going towards the East of the city what used to be (and are still) the more affluent neighborhoods like Siboney, Atabey and Cubanacan.
Start at Habana Vieja, the old town that dates from Colonial times, it is undergoing a careful and loving restoration and is fast becoming "The" place to go at night, with restaurants that offer a variety of foods, bars with great Salsa music until all hours, etc. – If you go during the day you will find an amazing variety of handicrafts mixed in with old books, old records and almost any kind of local art you care to look for. You are within walking distance of such renowned places as the "Bodeguita del Medio" a restaurant/bar that has been a place to see and be seen since the 40's and which boasts pictures of such famous visitors as Ernest Hemingway and every Hollywood actor and actress worth his name, like Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. A few blocks away is the home of the Daiquiri, the Floridita bar, another well-known Hemingway haunt, now turned into a tourist hangout.
In between the two there are many little side streets and things to see. Not to mention the famous buildings such as the Cathedral, now undergoing some needed repairs and the Fuerte de la Cabaña where every night at 9:00PM a cannon is fired to let the people know that the harbour is closing.
As you leave Old Havana you run right into downtown Havana, a bustling metropolis rife with remnants of past glory like the "Capitolio", a scale copy of the U. S. congress that the U. S. built in Havana. The avenues and buildings of this part of town are amazing. Some say that Havana is as beautiful as Paris is. But you often have to search beneath the crumbling walls and the squalor to see the glory that this city must have been before the Revolution.
At the entrance of the Prado you will find another treasure, the Spanish Embassy, an architectural masterpiece. At the end of it you will arrive at the entrance of the Inglaterra Hotel. A grand old building and a fine hotel. The National theatre is close by too.
If you walk towards the North, you will soon reach the Malecon Habanero, the avenue that borders the sea along the coast. It is the longest such avenue in the Americas, and it will lead you past the Hotel Nacional, formerly the Sheraton Hotel and yet another masterpiece; past the monument to the Maine and on to the 5th Avenue tunnel and 5th avenue proper.
This avenue might well be called "main street" as it leads to all the major hotels, the Vedado area where the best stores and restaurants are, past the curious architecture of the once glorious Russian Embassy and on to Siboney..
Havana is a great city for walking, there is vegetation everywhere, the people are invariably friendly and helpful and crime against foreigners is still a rarity. And it must be seen now, before the Revolution ends and modernity and McDonalds restaurants sprout everywhere. Befor the old beat up American cars are all relegated to garages and museums, before Havana enters, kicking and screaming, into the 21st Century.
Written By Mr.Juan Handall
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