Letters from Cuba: Havana, the most Colorful Pearl of the Caribbean…

My dear travelers and lovers of unusual journeys, welcome to the new series of travelogues on the Mr.M blog. The month of June will be dedicated to an unusual island country in the Caribbean, a country known for tobacco and rum – Cuba. At the very beginning of this series of travelogues, I would like to thank the travel agency Disco Travel, which is more than a travel agency, it is a real traveling family that provides an incredible experience. This is my first time cooperating with a travel agency and I must admit that it was an unusual experience. With their help, travelogues from Cuba and fashion stories were created that you will have the opportunity to read this June and July, and I sincerely hope that you will enjoy the new adventure.

Do you want a trip that you will remember for a lifetime? Check out Disco Travel trip arrangements for distant exotic destinations and choose your adventure that you could only dream of, just don’t forget your camera and phone to capture unforgettable moments from Zanzibar, Bali, Thailand, Cuba and other destinations that Disco Friend Travel can take you to.

How to get to Cuba? The best and fastest way to get to Havana is through the City of Light with Air France. Even in addition to the rich flight network of the KLM group covering almost the entire world, Belgrade is a very important destination for Air France. Namely, since the founding of Air France in 1933, this airline has been flying to Belgrade. I’m sure you’re wondering how long was the flight from Paris to Belgrade back then? It is interesting that one daily flight in 1936 from Paris-Le Bourget airport left at half past seven in the morning, stopped in Strasbourg at 8:35, Nuremberg at 11:10, Prague at 12:40, Vienna at 2:15 p.m., Budapest at 3:35 p.m., while arriving in Belgrade at 5:25 p.m. Conclusion: the flight from Paris to Belgrade took almost 11 hours, much longer than my flight to Havana! 🙂

KLM Group, founded in 2004, consists of three independent airlines Air France, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Transavia. The KLM group has a loyalty program FLYING BLUE that is important for all frequent travelers of KLM and Air France airlines. When you become a member of this loyalty program and start collecting miles every time you fly with Air France and KLM or members of the Sky Team alliance, you have the opportunity to achieve numerous benefits, and as your status increases, your benefits increase with it. Membership is completely free, and you can spend the miles you earn as money and use them to pay for additional services on the flight, on the ground, services of numerous partners such as hotels and car rental agencies, but also the airline tickets themselves, for more information about this program loyalty, read on the LINK.

When I read the travel program for Cuba put together by the Disco Travel travel agency I was very excited to spend a few hours in my favorite city in Europe – Paris. If you decide on this program, be sure to take the opportunity to visit Paris, don’t worry about time, but schedule your Uber ride and enjoy the charms of Paris for at least a few hours.

Use your precious time to walk down the avenues, enjoy the beauty of the displays of the world’s most famous fashion houses and be sure to buy the power adapters that are needed if you want to use your electronic devices in Cuba. Just look for Fnac in Paris or their store at the airport and you’re free to relax. Of course, in addition, do not forget to buy mosquito spray, but the special one for exotic species to protect yourself and your loved ones on this long exotic trip. If you have done your shopping, then you can sit in the garden of one of the many cafes and enjoy your morning cappuccino and croissant.

After the extraordinary Paris, get ready for a completely different contrast of colors and social arrangements that you don’t get a chance to see in Europe. The flight from Paris to Havana takes about 10 hours and make sure you are comfortable because it is extremely important on these long flights. When you land in Havana, you are entering a tropical climate zone and be prepared when you step out of the Havana airport and use your Spanish language skills that we have all learned well over the years with series like Cassandra, Rubi, Esmeralda and others. Cubans are extremely pleasant and hospitable people, you will win their heart, you only need to say “Hola!” and your adventure in Cuba has officially begun.

All arrangements organized by the Disco Travel travel agency for Cuba include a visit to Havana, Varadero and Trinidad, so you will have the opportunity to get to know this island country in the best possible way. Today’s post will be dedicated to the capital of Cuba – Havana, and this is also the first part of the story about the colorful pearl of the Caribbean.

Now I’ll tell you a little more about the country we’ll be visiting together on the Mr.M blog for the next few weeks. Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island nation that includes the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several smaller archipelagos. Cuba is located at the point where the northern Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean meet. Cuba is located east of the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico), south of the US state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Hispaniola (Haiti/Dominican Republic) and north of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Havana is the largest city and the capital; other big cities are Santiago de Cuba and Camaguey. The official area of the Republic of Cuba is 110,000 km2, excluding territorial waters, but a total of 350,000 km2 including the exclusive economic zone. Cuba is the second most populous country in the Caribbean, after Haiti, with over 11 million inhabitants.

Havana is the capital and largest city of Cuba, it forms the heart of the province of La Habana. Havana is the main port and commercial center of the country. The city has a population of almost 2.5 million inhabitants and covers a total area of 730 km2, making it the largest city by area, the most populated city and the fourth largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean region. How was Havana created? The city of Havana was founded by the Spanish in the 16th century. It served as a springboard for the Spanish conquest of the Americas, becoming a stopover for Spanish galleons returning to Spain. Philip II of Spain granted Havana the title of capital in 1607. Walls and fortifications were built to protect the city. The city is the center of the Cuban government and is home to various ministries, corporate headquarters and over 100 diplomatic offices.

Urban Havana can essentially be described as three cities in one: Old Havana, Vedado and the newer suburbs. The city extends mainly to the west and south of the bay, which is entered through a narrow bay and which is divided into three main ports: Marimelena, Guanabacoa and Antares. The Almendares River runs through the city from south to north, entering the Straits of Florida a few miles west of the bay. The interesting thing is that Havana attracts over a million tourists a year. Old Havana (the old part of the city) was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982. The city is also known for its history, culture, architecture and numerous monuments.

Havana has different styles of architecture, from castles built in the 16th century, to modernist high-rises. The current condition of many buildings has deteriorated since 1959 or many have even been demolished, including the demolition of the Plaza del Vapor, built in 1835 by Palacio de la Marquesa de Villalba architect Eugenio Raineri Sorrentino, father of Eugenio Raineri Piedra, architect of El Capitolio in 1929 . years. Plaza del Vapor was demolished in 1959 by the new, revolutionary government. Due to the country’s dire financial situation, there have been numerous building collapses across the city that have led to serious injuries and deaths of local residents due to lack of maintenance.

With an experienced local guide in English, your first encounter with Havana will be a tour of the old part of Havana (La Habana Vieja). It is one of the best-preserved colonial complexes in America and has been under the protection of UNESCO since 1982. Old Havana is mostly a pedestrian zone, and at the same time, it is the most visited touristic part of the city. There are many parks, squares and narrow streets. You will be surrounded on all sides by old buildings, painted in vibrant colors.

You may notice that the paint on the facade is worn and that the walls of the buildings are cracked, but the age of the buildings in no way detracts from their beauty. We walk to the Plaza de Armas, one of the oldest and most important squares in Cuban history. It was built at the beginning of the 16th century, recently after Havana was founded. In the center of the square there is a marble statue of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, a national hero and fighter for Cuban independence. Then follows a tour of the Museum of the Revolution. Previously, this building was the presidential palace where Flugencio Batista lived, who was ousted from power by the Cuban Revolution.

The walk continues to the Cathedral of San Cristobal in the Plaza de la Catedral. It is interesting that the remains of Christopher Columbus were kept in this cathedral from 1796 to 1898, after which they were transferred to the Seville Cathedral in Spain. El Template chapel, where Havana was founded, is also worthy of attention. If you want to get to know Havana and feel the true spirit of Havana, make an effort to visit some other major sights such as the Museum of the City of Havana – Palacio de los Capitanes Generales, the Rum Museum, the so-called Havana Club, the Cuban Art Factory – a place where exhibitions, concerts and film screenings are held. projections.

If you want to go back to the golden age of Havana, I recommend you to pay for the optional tour of the panoramic view of Havana and driving in convertibles. You will have the opportunity to drive through the streets of Havana along the Malecón, an 8 kilometer long promenade, one of the main symbols of Havana. There is a beautiful view of colorful houses of different styles, and on the other side you will see the turquoise sea. The promenade is usually crowded with artists, bohemians and couples who come to wait for the striking sunset.

During this excursion, the Disco Travel group stops at Revolution Square to take authentic pictures. After that, we continue with the sightseeing of the Avenue of the President, the University of Havana and the Malecón. After visiting the modern part of Havana, we will go to the old part of Havana, which is under the protection of UNESCO, and visit the Great Theater, Central Park, Capitol, Avenida Del Prado and finish sightseeing in Moro.

Plaza de la Revolucion – “Revolution Square”, is a municipality and square in Havana. The municipality, one of the 15 that make up the city, stretches from the square to the sea on the Malecón and includes the district of Vedado. The location of the monument was agreed upon by Fulgencio Batista at Loma de Los Catalanes, taking into account the urbanization studies of architect Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier from 1926 which indicated the location as ideal for a larger city. The avenues were conceived to connect Vedado with Serra and Jesus del Monte, as planned by the architects Otero, Varela and Labatur. It would be like the center of a system of avenues and squares, surrounded by large public buildings, such as the National Library, various ministries, a museum, the School of Fine Arts, etc. This is exactly what was done to give birth to the famous Plaza Civica, which is its real name.

This project was conceived as part of a wave of architectural and infrastructural works carried out by the government of Fulgencio Batista. Plaza Civica, as it was originally called, was built during the decade of the 1950s and was part of an old and ambitious project that aimed to make Plaza Civica the center of the city’s traffic with four avenues that would connect the main points of the city. starting from him. The square and the memorial were completed in 1959 and were originally called Plaza Civica. An elevator provides access to the top of the monument at 109 m, one of the highest points in the city.

Revolution Square is the 60th largest city square in the world, with an area of 72,000 square meters. The square is significant for the fact that many political rallies are held, and Fidel Castro and other political figures have addressed Cubans on this square. Fidel Castro addressed more than a million Cubans on many important occasions, such as May 1 and July 26 each year. Pope John Paul II, during his first papal visit in 1998, and Pope Francis in 2015, held high masses there during papal visits to Cuba. The square is dominated by the José Martí Memorial, which has a tower 109 m high and a statue of 18 m.

The National Library, many government ministries and other buildings are located around the square itself. Behind the monument is the Palace of the Revolution, the seat of the Cuban government and the Communist Party. Opposite the monument are the offices of the Ministries of the Interior and Communications, on the facades of which there are corresponding steel memorials to the two most important deceased heroes of the Cuban Revolution: Che Guevara, with the quote “Hasta la Victoria Siempre” (Always forward to victory) and Camilo Cienfuegos, with the quote ” Vas bien, Fidel” (You are doing well, Fidel). It is also home to several cultural institutions.

Hotel Nacional de Cuba is a historic Spanish eclectic style hotel in Havana, Cuba, opened in 1930. Located on the seafront in the Vedado district, it is located on Taganana hill, offering a fantastic view of the sea and the city. It has been declared a national monument and has been granted the status of Memory of the World at the national level by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

In the garden of the hotel, you can still see the two cannons of the Santa Clara battery that belonged to the defense system of Havana at the end of the Spanish colonial period, and are now included in the UNESCO World Heritage List together with Old Havana.

In its 92 years, the magnificent Hotel Nacional de Cuba has witnessed some of the most important events in the history of Cuba, linking the republican and revolutionary stages, and has a long list of famous guests, including Gary Cooper, Johnny Weissmuller, Buster Keaton, Errol Flynn, Duke of Windsor and Jose Raul Capablanca in the 1930s, Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth, Winston Churchill, as well as Italian-American mob bosses and Mexican film stars such as Maria Felix, Jorge Negrete and Agustin Lara in the 1940s and Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, Nat King Cole and Walt Disney in the 1950s, Yuri Gagarin, Gabriel García Márquez, Jean-Paul Sartre and his wife, Fidel Castro and Ernesto “Che” Guevara in the 1960s.

From 1979 to the present, it has been the venue for the International Latin American Film Festival, becoming a meeting place for contemporary actors and filmmakers such as Robert De Niro, Robert Redford, Francis Ford Coppola, Danny Glover, Steven Spielberg, Imanol Arias, Geraldine Chaplin, Kevin Costner and Gloria Pires. Hundreds of famous people, including more than 100 heads of state, have been guests of the hotel, their photos, as well as historical objects are displayed in the Hall of Fame, a must-see place when in the capital of Cuba.

El Capitolio or the National Capitol Building (Capitolio Nacional de La Habana) is a public building in the heart of Havana. The building was commissioned by Cuban President Gerardo Machado and was built from 1926 to 1929 under the direction of Eugenio Rainieri Piedra. It is located on Paseo del Prado, Dragones, Industria and San Jose streets in the very center of Havana. The building of the Capitol of Havana was built on land that was a railway terminal and once belonged to the Villanueva Railway. The project began in April 1926, during the administration of Gerard Machado. The construction was supervised by the American firm Purdy and Henderson.

Before the Cuban Revolution of 1959, Congress was housed in the building, Congress was abolished and dissolved after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 and the building fell into disrepair. Although its design is often compared to the United States Capitol, it is not a replica, locals claim that it is similar to the one in Washington, D.C., but a meter taller, a meter wider and a meter longer, and much more detailed. To complete its construction, they needed more than 5000 workers, 3 years, 3 months and 20 days, as well as approximately 17 million US dollars. Completed in 1929, it was the tallest building in Havana until the 1950s. It houses the third largest indoor statue in the world.

Viñales – tobacco valley

During this full-day excursion, you have the opportunity to visit the Viñales Valley, located in the province of Pinar del Río and known for the largest tobacco production in Cuba. The main feature of the valley is the limestone formations – mogotes, which emerge all around like sugarcane heads hidden under lush vegetation. The first stop is Los Hazmines viewpoint, which offers an extraordinary view of the valley.

After the lookout, you continue to the Cueva del Indio cave (Cave of the Indians) where you will go boating and see very interesting rock formations. This is followed by a visit to a rural household engaged in tobacco production. While you listen to an interesting story about tobacco production, the host’s wife serves you coffee and tompus. After you have learned a lot about tobacco, you continue to explore the surroundings and enjoy the untouched nature at lunch prepared for you by friendly locals.

My dear travelers, we have come to the end of this first special travelogue in the series of travelogues about Cuba where we had the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of this unusual country in the Caribbean. Today’s travelogue would not be possible without the selfless help of the tourist agency Disco Travel in cooperation with local partners who allowed me to feel the spirit and beauty of Cuban culture and tradition. Of course, as always, I tried my best to convey to you my impressions of this unusual experience from Cuba.

A person is rich in soul if he has managed to explore the world and I am glad that I always manage to find partners of my projects who help me to discover new and unusual destinations in a completely different way.

I am honored to have the opportunity to cooperate with many companies and businessmen in the tourism sector and I would like to thank the Disco Travel travel agency once again for this incredible adventure and for allowing me to experience the beauty of this unusual Cuban culture in a completely different way.

How did you like my story about Cuba and the presentation of the capital of Havana, which adorns the heart of this unusual country in the Caribbean? Have you had a chance to visit Cuba so far?

If you have any question, comment, suggestion or message for me you can write me below in the comments. Of course, as always, you can contact me via email or social networks, all addresses can be found on the CONTACT page. See you at the same place in a few days, with some new story!

In the following stories from Cuba, we will discover some other interesting sights that you should visit if your journey leads you to this far away Caribbean country!

With Love From Havana,

Mr.M

This post is sponsored by Disco Travel and Air France airline as well as other local partners. This post is my personal and honest review of the destination experience.