Somewhere around the western end of thriving Bishop Street (Obispo) in Havana, Habana Vieja merges into Habana Centro. With Centro being within close walking distance of the Old Town, its firmly entrenched on the Havana tourist route. There’s history – Capitolio and the Museum of the Revolution, and diversity – El Barrio Chino (Chinatown), the grimy, rubbish-strewn back streets and the upmarket five-star hotels and museums. Architecturally, the buildings in Centro are a mix of the old and the new (or newer)✱. Many survive from the colonial past, including some elegant classical examples of Cuban Baroque, together with those erected during the post-Soviet era.
Paseo de Prado, the city’s main boulevard, is a good place to start exploring Centro. Down one end is the solemn and imposing Capitolio Nacional building, Cuba’s most significant political symbol which formerly housed the national capital seat of government. When we visited the building was closed for renovations, it’s famous replica “White House” dome was receiving a facelift. El Gran Teatro next door is an equally impressive vintage building. North along Prado is where all of the big international hotels are located, overlooking a verdant leafy refuge, Parque Central, a city park which is a bit short on grass but nonetheless is a good spot to chill out away from the buzz and high activity of Old Havana’s Obispo.
Prado is also where you’ll find amble evidence of something else Havana is famous for these days, its classic old American cars. Carefully restored, spotless and immaculately maintained Chevs and Dodges (pink seems the preferred colour but blue is well represented too) line up in the parking lanes next to Parque Central. Stand anywhere along Prado during the day and you’ll be able to observe a constant parade of (mainly open-top) autos zooming up and down the boulevard (many of the classic cars are available for hire to chauffeur sightseers around Havana).
If you venture from Parque Central over the Prado to the western side streets, you’ll find a very different side of Habana Centro. The grand, showcase buildings of Paseo del Prado give way to lots of decrepit old structures that look decidedly the worst for wear, many are the crumbling casas of the city’s poor. The neigbourhood here take on a much more grimy and squalid appearance, characterised by dirty, rubbish-strewn footpaths, broken sewerage, potholes, markets bustling with people, noisy street vendors, numerous roaming stray dogs and the rotting remains of food. Sanitation appears a low priority in this rundown part of Centro. Just a short distance away is Chinatown, its entrance marked by an impressive pagoda-style gate but the neighbourhood, ironically, is populated by very few residents of Chinese ancestry!
A leisurely drive along the Malecón is another “must-do” when in Havana…the route west out of the city towards Pinar del Rio will usually take you via the Malecón. The Malecón (or Avenida del Maceo) snakes its way for some seven kilometres along the city seafront, bordered by a long seawall to protect the coast and city against the often wildly crashing waves. Local convention attests that the ideal way to do the Malecón drive is in a hired classic American convertible in the afternoon…the sight of these glistening Chevys, Buicks and Cadillacs on the wide coastal stretch of road against a backdrop of the setting sun of themselves earn a place in the highlight reel of Havana’s special features, as are the views afforded of Havana’s impressive harbour (Bahia de la Habana).
The long promenade’s other attractions include the historically and strategically important Castle Morro and views across the bay to the historic San Carlos de la Cabaña fortifications on the eastern peninsula (Habana del este). Dotted all along the foreshore are bunches of fishermen trying to land a catch with their lines and nets – usually with a botella de ron (rum bottle) close at hand. When the Malecón reaches the district of Vedado you’ll likely catch sight of the odd, remaining architectural ‘eyesore’ – ugly, monolithic apartment buildings, leftover examples of the brutalist Soviet architecture that imprinted themselves on the Havana landscape from the 1960s to the 90s. The most notorious of these Malecón monstrosities is the high-rise Edificio Girón, dubbed by many Habaneros “the ugliest building in Cuba”!
Fort of St Charles (La Cabaña) Habana del este ▽
While you are in the vicinity of the Malecón, you might be curious to find out more about the sugar cane-based alcoholic beverage that Cubans are obsessed with, a visit to the Club Rum Museum (Museo del Ron) would fill in a lot of the background for you. You can find the Rum Museum on Avenida del Puerto (south of the Malecón and past the Cruise Ferry Terminal).
Footnote: Hemingway drank here…maybe?
I was intrigued to notice that there are quite a few drinking establishments in Havana (and elsewhere on the island) purporting to have been the “watering hole” of American writer Ernest Hemingway. I observed that El Floridita Bar in Monserrate Street has Hemingway’s signature and countenance as well as the inscription “Hemingway Drank Here!” plastered all over its walls⊡. It is well documented that Hemingway was a prodigious drinker of daiquiris and mojitos (amongst other things) and that Havana’s Floridita was his preferred Cuban abode when it came to downing copious amounts of its trademark daiquiri. I was kind of half-hoping though to find at least one Havana bar using a left-field marketing strategy that proclaimed loudly “Hemingway Never Drank Here!”
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✱ like the Art Deco Moderna Poesia building and the modern Parque Central Hotel which are within a three-iron of each other…though most of the Beaux-Arts, Art Noveau and Art Deco architecture is located in nearby Vedado
⊡ features imitated by the state-run Floridita Bar in Trinidad (Western Cuba)