Havana, A Great Time!

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

Buses are always very crowded but its good fun to try them. In Havana, look out for camellos -- a very long bus with curious humps in the middle. They do get extremely crowded however so hold onto your valuables.

Official taxis are plentiful and cheap - usually old Ladas and highly recognisable. The best place to catch one is in front of the Capitol building where the Coco taxis also have a rank.

Hitching is common and expected in Cuba. If you have a hire car you should check the rules since the insurance may be void if you pick up a hitcher. If you want to hitch yourself you should read my free form article giving some useful tips.

There were two large beds, a bathroom with a bath, and a lovely wash basin set in an old dresser at the far end of the room. There was a TV with all the US, stations as well as some Cuban ones. A small fridge was very useful for chilling some much-needed water.

Breakfast was very disappointing - some coffee, some weak orange juice, and toast with butter or jam. We got much better breakfasts when staying in casas, so this was a real letdown considering we had paid around 70€ for the room.

Our other gripe was that the air-conditioning was not working and the room was so stifling and airless that we would have left had we not paid in advance by credit card and thought a refund unlikely. We asked for a fan, and the receptionist said that there were none but he would phone the other hotels and see if he could borrow one. He also said he would call out the engineer for the air-conditioning, but he never came. Returning to our room after a night out, the room was horrendously stuffy, so we went back to reception to be told there would be no fan. After some argument about the whole thing, he said we could have his fan (there was no fan in reception to be seen) and that he would bring it to the room, but he had to have it back by 8am (we had not been thinking about such an early call). Reluctantly, we accepted the offer, but were bemused on checking out the next afternoon to find that the fan was used inside the locked store cupboard in which our luggage had been stored after checking out. The precious fan was doing nothing more than blowing air around our rucksacks! Very odd indeed.

So long as the air-conditioning is okay, this is a lovely place to stay: full of character, clean, and comfortable. The okay breakfast was mean, but otherwise it was a lovely way to end our trip to Cuba.

The reason for this restaurant's name is that the walls are covered with banknotes from Cuba and all over the world; there's also an interesting bit of wall which is covered with business cards from all over the world.

Food is La Comida Criolla--good, hearty Cuban cuisine. There is a set menu of four choices--fish, pork, omelette (vegetarian), or "gammon steak"--all come with fried plantains, rice and beans, bread, and a super salad (which actually comes dressed--this is a rarity in Cuba). A plate of tropical fruits as a dessert was included in the price.

Beer is available, as well as soft drinks and a limited, but good selection of spirits.

Service is swift and friendly. There were no tables when we arrived, but there is a bar next door, and the owner of the paladar was happy to come and call us when a table became free. A lovely paladar serving some delicious food!

This is not one of Havana's more attractive paladars and would be quite difficult to find without recommendation. The dining room is straight off the street and consists of three tables. The decor is not especially remarkable--more shabby chic than anything else--and the owner's family troops through the restaurant to the living quarters at regular intervals.

While the food was also not amazingly spectacular, you could do far worse than choosing La Julia. For a start, there was a "complimentary" soup--a delicious Chinese-style soup with chicken, rice, and spring onions (my veggie partner was sorry to find the chicken--he had been enjoying the soup so far!). Since we had not ordered a soup, we mistakenly thought we were getting a freebie and so did not question it--it appeared on the bill at the end, though it was reasonably priced and, I have to say, one of the tastiest things I ate over the three weeks in Cuba!

My pork main course was also tasty, though the meat itself was perhaps a little tough. My partner chose fish and was presented with a sizeable platter of fish fillets. Rice and beans, a dressed salad (salads in Cuba rarely come dressed!), and fried plantains were all excellent.

Service was great--very friendly and polite--and despite our initial annoyance at being duped over the soup, I would not hesitate to recommend this paladar, one of Havana's cheaper paladars, which serves good, basic "comida criolla".

If the history of the Spanish rule of the island is of more interest, start on the top floors for exhibits and information on the colonial period, moving right up to the wars of independence at the end of the 19th century, which were led by Jose Marti.

The majority of captions are in English and Spanish, and the staff is mostly here to supervise, not to elaborate with extra information.

Crossing the courtyard to the newer annex, you can see (although not very well since it is virtually hidden under a bizarre glass construction) the Granma - the boat that carried Castro, Guevara, and the other rebels to the coast of southern Cuba, where they disembarked to begin the revolutionary struggle. There is also a display of military vehicles used by leading members of the government when the Americans tried to invade by way of the Bay of Pigs in 1961.

A small gift shop sells books and fairly tawdry souvenirs, and there is an equally uninspiring café selling limited refreshments.

I would recommend this museum to adults and to older teenagers with some interest in the revolution, but would hesitate to recommend to those with younger children. This is a fairly formal museum with no interactive elements, so it can become heavy after a time. I loved it, but I'm fascinated by the revolution.

After you've settled in, a woman comes into the bar with a basket containing a selection of B del M merchandise--T-shirts, ashtrays, mugs, etc., all fairly reasonable values, but if you are short on cash, go for the matches at only 10 cents!

Through the back is another room, this time with tables and chairs, where meals are served--all the usual comida Criolla typical of Cuba. Can't comment on prices or food, as we did not eat here, though there were some locals dining, which would indicate it's probably not bad at all.

The most eye-catching thing about the B del M is the wall as you enter, which is covered with the signatures of previous visitors, famous and not-so-famous. Why not add yours?

A band plays here at around 3pm and then again in the evening. They're actually quite good, although they tend to play the same songs as every other bar band in Havana!

Such is the popularity of this place that you may have to share a table with someone in the evenings, but the place has a friendly atmosphere and attentive staff.

The usual array of drinks is on offer, with Cristal beer and the obligatory Cuba Libres being the most popular.

Cafe de Paris is decorated in the typical Cuban style, with simple wooden chairs and tables and a plain wooden bar--no frills here, but it is pleasant and comfortable nonetheless.

What a disappointment. We went to this museum for two reasons. Well three really. One is that we felt we'd not done enough museum-wise and felt a bit guilty. We knew this was small so we liked that point. Number two - it was hot and we needed to get into the shade but not another bar. And finally we had read that Che Guevara's Car was there. The opening hours of this place are erratic. You really have to just take a chance. They close for lunch but lunch is not the times advertised outside. The museum opens every day but I would say only go if you are passing and it happens to be open. Entrance is around $3 and is vastly overpriced. Then you have to pay another Dollar or so for photography. Another rip -off - its not until you get in you see that the lighting is terrible and there's not much photographing anyway.

All the exhibits are in one space and are behind a rope. Some cars are stuck behind others and several look like old wrecks. Only a couple of vehicles - vintage fire engines - have captions. The staff follow you closely (like you are going to put one of these heaps of metal in your pocket) and just shrug when you try to ask something. As a result, you wander round for ten minutes looking reverentially at these piles of junk and end up taking photos just because you have spent your Dollar. (If you have a bag, put your camera in it if you think you won't take pics - they charge you in advance and don't ask whether you want to take pics - they just assume). We asked someone where Che Guevara's car was. They just said "Che Guevara? Non!" But as we turned to leave, she called back to us "Castro y Cienfugos", pointing to two old wrecks hiding at the rear of the display, an inch think with dust and obscured by the shadows. Apparently these vehicles had belonged to Fidel Castro and Camille Cienfuegos. And they couldn't even be bothered to display them properly with signs. In all there are between fifteen and twenty-five vehicles displayed here. But it is really a sorry sight. Havana is famed the world over for the old cars which are on its roads; they are spectacular and so well looked after - a real credit to the mechanics and owners. To see the best of Havana's motor vehicles one need look no further than the roads. You'll get a much better display than in this sorry excuse for a museum.