Off to Havana

A nasty cold front made our plan to spend a few days with Kathy's sister in Varadero seem a poor idea so we headed to Havana instead. We spent three coolish days wandering the streets of Havana Vieja, sitting in cafes, listening to music and soaking up the atmosphere of the city.  We stayed in a high rise apartment casa in the Vedado neighbourhood, guests of a lovely woman of about our age. We were about a block from the Malecon, the sea wall that stretches from old Havana to west of Vedado.

Along the Malecon in Vedado - the Hotel National is in the distance

The old American cars used as taxis in Havana seemed in a bit better repair than some of the ones we saw in other places.   Lots of convertibles for the tourists to ride in.

In the Plaza de Armes where the used book sellers set up their wares every day

A beautifully restored pharmacy museum in Old Havana

A typical street in old Havana, buildings in many different states of repair and all being lived in, people going about their daily lives

A restaurant in a building that formerly housed a newspaper press

La Imprenta is filled with presses and letter art decor and furniture, like this wine rack

We came upon this group of street performers who were entertaining the Sunday afternoon crowds of tourists and Cubanos

A quiet late afternoon moment in a cafe on the Plaza Vieja

Taxis waiting for passengers along the Malecon

We ate at Paladar Doña Eutimia, where the menus were printed in the Taller Experimental de Gráfica, next door

Limousine, Cuban style

Along the Prado, a street that runs from the Capitol Building to the Malecon.  Artists set up their wares for sale on this pedestrian boulevard between the two lanes of traffic.

Some of the art for sale

A group of women were making and selling bobbin lace and we saw a children's art class being conducted by some of the artists 

Taxis waiting between the Capitol Building and the Gran Theatro de la Habana

A band playing in the crowded Bodeguita del Medio, one of the very popular small bars that was frequented by Ernest Hemingway

In the Plaza Vieja this man was making churros - a stick shaped donut that is sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon 

We had a nice chat with this young artist, who shared a space with two other artists

Che Guevara, widely considered a hero in Cuba, is pictured everywhere.  You can't walk a block in Havana without seeing his image on something - walls, t-shirts, number stickers.  This picture is on the side of the Cruise Ship Terminal. It also graces the cover of the most recent Lonely Planet guide to Cuba.