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Letters from Cuba: Trinidad, Cienfuegos and Santa Clara, the brightest Sparks of the Caribbean…

Adventure Travel 5 Comments

My dear travelers and lovers of unusual trips, welcome to the new series of travelogues on the Mr.M blog. The months of June and July 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 fourth travelogue about Cuba, I would like to thank the travel agency Disko Travel, better known as Disko Travel Buddies, 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 from our area 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.

If by any chance you missed reading all the travelogues from Cuba or you want to remind yourself of some interesting things, take the opportunity to visit the following links:

  1. Letters from Cuba: Havana, the most Colorful Pearl of the Caribbean…
  2. Letters from Cuba: Havana in the Footsteps of Ernest Hemingway…
  3. Letters from Cuba: Varadero, an Unique Gem of the Caribbean…

Do you want a trip that you will remember for a lifetime? Check out Disko Travel arrangements for far-exotic destinations and choose your dream adventure, 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.

Trinidad is a city in the province of Sancti Spiritus, central Cuba. Along with the nearby Valle de los Ingenios, it has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1988, due to its historical importance as a center of the sugar trade in the 18th and 19th centuries. Trinidad is one of the best-preserved cities in the Caribbean from a time when the sugar trade was a major industry in the region.

What is the story and history of this extraordinary town? Trinidad was founded on December 23, 1514 by Diego Velázquez de Cuellar under the name Villa de la Santisima Trinidad. Hernán Cortés recruited men for his expedition from the house of Juan de Grijalva in Trinidad and Sancti Spiritus, at the beginning of his expedition in 1518. This included Pedro de Alvarado and his five brothers. After ten days, Cortés sailed away, and alcaide Francisco Verdugo was unable to prevent Cortés from leaving, despite orders from Diego Velázquez.

The Narvaez expedition came to Trinidad in 1527 on their way to Florida. Caught in a hurricane, the expedition lost two ships, twenty horses and sixty men due to the strong storm. Francisco Iznaga, a Basque landowner in the southern part of Cuba during the first 30 years of the colonization of Cuba, was elected mayor of Bayam in 1540. Iznaga was the originator of a powerful lineage that finally settled in Trinidad where the Tore Iznaga tower is today. His descendants fought for the independence of Cuba and its annexation to the USA from 1820 to 1900.

The city itself is divided into barrios (quarters) Primero, Segundo and Tercero. The entire municipality counts consejos populares (wards) Centro, Zona Monumento, Armando Mestre, La Purisima, Casilda, Federacion Nacional de Trabajadores Azucareros (FNTA), Condado, Topes de Collante, San Pedro, Manacas – Iznaga, Algarrobo, Pitanes and Caracuzí.

Today, Trinidad’s main industry is tobacco processing. The older parts of the city are well preserved, because the Cuban tourism industry has benefited from the many tourists who visit this charming town every day. In contrast, some parts of the city outside the tourist areas are very dilapidated and neglected, especially in the center. Tourism from Western countries is the main source of income in the city. The city is located on the Caribbean coast near the Escambray Mountains.

The Plaza Mayor of Trinidad is an open-air plaza and museum of Spanish colonial architecture. Just a few square blocks in size, the historic plaza area features cobblestone streets, pastel-colored houses with wrought-iron latticework, and colonial-era buildings such as the Santisima Trinidad Cathedral and the Convento de San Francisco. There is also a Municipal History Museum in the city. There are several casas de musica, including one next to the cathedral in the Plaza Mayor. There are also discos, including one in the ruins of a church; the other is in a large cave formerly used as a war hospital.

Romantic Museum or Palace Brunet, get to know one of the most beautiful palaces in Cuba and admire its Andalusian style of courtyard decoration. The Museum of Romance, or Palace Brunet, is the first museum opened in Trinidad in 1973. It is located in the heart of the historic center of Trinidad, on one side of the Plaza Mayor. The building is one of the most beautiful palaces in Cuba, which previously belonged to Count Brunet, a rich Creole who completed the construction of the building in 1808. It is distinguished by its Andalusian courtyard, which at the time was considered the most beautiful in the Caribbean country. and it is characterized by a mixture of Mudejar and neoclassical styles. Inside there is a valuable collection of objects from the 19th century. It consists of fourteen rooms displaying works of decorative art, such as crockery, antique furniture, porcelain, silverware, underwear and other luxury items of the time.

Municipal Museum of Trinidad or Cantero Palace, don’t miss one of the best views of the city of Trinidad from the tower of the Municipal Museum. The Trinidad Municipal Museum is popularly known as the Cantero Palace. It is a building completely alien to tradition, which reflects the most cosmopolitan tastes of the 19th century. The palace’s interesting history recalls that it first belonged to the Borrell family from 1827 to 1830, until the building passed into the hands of the German Kanter or Doctor Justus Kanter, who acquired large sugar plantations after poisoning a slave trader and marrying his widow, who also died prematurely. Kanter’s wealth is on display in every room decorated in a neoclassical style.

The Cantero Palace was opened as a museum in 1980. There you can learn about the history of Trinidad from its founding, through the slave trade, the glory of the sugar industry, the struggle for independence or the crisis of the sugar sector, through documents, works of art and other objects. The museum is divided into four rooms, the first of which is set up in a similar way as the palace was in the last century. The following rooms show the development of the city’s history, the armory hall showing the harbor fortifications and artillery with cannons to protect against pirates and corsairs and another room dedicated to the sugar industry showing the basic economic basis of the site One of the greatest attractions of the Trinidad City Museum is the magnificent view of the city that extends from his tower.

Cienfuegos and Santa Clara (optional tour)

With Disko Travel Buddies, you can go on a full-day optional excursion that includes a tour of Cienfuegos and Santa Clara. The first stop is Cienfuegos, a small town that Cubans call the Pearl of the South, and literally translated into Serbian, it means “One Hundred Fires”. You will visit the city center, which is under the protection of UNESCO, and enjoy viewing the perfectly preserved Spanish neoclassical buildings.

Cienfuegos, the capital of the province Cienfuegos is a city on the southern coast of Cuba. It is located about 250 km from Havana and has about 165,000 inhabitants. Since the late 1960s, Cienfuegos has become one of Cuba’s main industrial centers, especially in the energy and sugar sectors. The city was called La Perla del Sur (Pearl of the South). Although it is known as an industrial city of factories and various nuclear-power plants, and the name Cienfuegos literally translates to “hundred fires”, the city actually takes its name from the surname of Jose Cienfuegos, the Captain General of Cuba.

In 2005, UNESCO inscribed the urban historic center of Cienfuegos on the World Heritage List, citing Cienfuegos as the best existing example of the application of the Spanish Enlightenment in the early 19th century in urban planning. In the city center there are six buildings from the period 1819–50, 327 buildings from 1851–1900. year and 1188 buildings from the 20th century. No other place in the Caribbean contains such a remarkable collection of neoclassical structures.

After visiting Cienfuegos, you continue your journey to Santa Clara, the city where one of the decisive battles for victory in the revolution took place. In Santa Clara, you go on a tour of the Che Guevara memorial complex (Memorial Che Guevara), where there is a museum on one side and the remains of the famous revolutionary and his comrades from the war in Bolivia in 1967 on the other. After that, you will visit the Armored Train museum, where Che and the local population disabled the train’s sons and intercepted and then subdued Batista’s army that went to Santiago de Cuba to help the army led by Fidel Castro and his comrades attacked.

Santa Clara was founded by 175 people on July 15, 1689. 138 of them represented two large families who already lived in the area, who owned land next to the new town. The other 37 came from seven other families, including a priest and a governor, all originally from the coastal town of San Juan de los Remedios. The population of Remedios had to choose between leaving their city, being constantly besieged by pirates, or staying. While the majority decided to stay, 37 people traveled south to the interior. According to tradition, mass was celebrated under a tamarind tree and Santa Clara was founded. Since then, the place under the tree has been known as Loma del Carmen (translation  Carmen’s Hill). The church of the second generation was built in the park along the square. A monument commemorating the event is surrounded by a fourth-generation tamarind tree. The settlement was originally called Cayo Nuevo, which was changed to Dos Cayos, Vila Nueva de Santa Clara, Pueblo Nuevo de Anton Diaz, Villa Clara and finally Santa Clara.

Santa Clara was the site of the last battle of the Cuban Revolution at the end of 1958. Two guerrilla columns attacked the city, one led by Ernesto Che Guevara and the other by Camilo Cienfuegos. Guevara’s column first captured the garrison at Fomento. Using a bulldozer, Guevara’s soldiers destroyed the railroad tracks and derailed a train full of troops and supplies sent by Batista. At the same time, Cienfuegos’ column defeated a military garrison at the Battle of Yaguay just outside the city. On December 31, 1958, the combined forces of Guevara and Cienfuegos, along with other revolutionaries under William Alexander Morgan, attacked Santa Clara. The battle was chaotic, and the defenders were demoralized. Some fought, others surrendered without a bullet. By afternoon the city is occupied. This victory for Castro’s troops is considered a defining moment in the Cuban Revolution, as Batista fled Cuba less than 12 hours later.

Che Guevara Mausoleum is a memorial in Santa Clara, located in “Plaza Che Guevara” (Che Guevara Square). It houses the remains of revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara and 29 fellow fighters killed in 1967 during Guevara’s attempt to foment an armed rebellion in Bolivia. The entire area, which contains a nearly 7-meter bronze statue of Guevara, is called the Ernesto Guevara Sculpture Complex.

Guevara was buried with full military honors on October 17, 1997, after his remains were discovered in Bolivia, exhumed and returned to Cuba. In that place there is a museum dedicated to Guevara’s life and the eternal flame lit by Fidel Castro in his memory. Santa Clara was chosen as the location to commemorate Guevara’s troops who captured the city on December 31, 1958, during the Battle of Santa Clara. The result of this last battle of the Cuban Revolution was the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista who fled into exile. Nearby, in another part of town, Fulgencio Batista’s military supply train that Guevara derailed during the battle also remains in its original location.

Work on the complex began in 1982, and it was officially opened upon completion on December 28, 1988 in the presence of Raul Castro. The project was conceived by the architects Jorge Cao Campos, Blanca Hernandez and Jose Ramon Linares together with the sculptors Jose de Lázaro Bencoma and Jose Delara (its main creator). In addition, Santa Clara’s 500,000 residents contributed more than 400,000 hours of volunteer labor to the construction of the sculptural complex, working alongside the skilled artisans of the Eliseo Diaz Machado Foundry in Guanabacoa.

Many different aspects of Guevara’s life are presented throughout the complex. For example, his time in Guatemala and the United Nations is sculpted, while his farewell letter to Fidel is written in full. An adjacent decorative wall depicts him in the Sierra Maestra conferring with Fidel, next to Camillo Cienfuegos, and in the mountains on horseback. The second part shows Guevara as Minister of Industry doing his usual volunteer work. Finally, literacy teachers, school children and young pioneers are shown daily greeting all Cuban children reciting “We will be like Che.” every morning.

The complex of structures rests on a rolling hilltop overlooking the city of Santa Clara and features a large tiled plaza. At the end of the square there are two large billboards with quotes from Fidel Castro announcing “Che – it was the star that put you here and made this nation”, and “We want everyone to be like Che” carved into the stone below the statue is good Guevara’s famous statement that “One thing I learned in Guatemala from Arbenz is that if I want to be a revolutionary doctor, or just a revolutionary, first there must be a revolution.

At the end of this incredible Cuban adventure, treat yourself to a visit to the island of Cayo Iguana by catamaran, it is an unforgettable experience during which you will be able to enjoy the blue of the Caribbean Sea. Kayo Iguana (Iguana Island) which is known for having hundreds of iguanas living there who are already used to humans and are eagerly waiting for them to steal part of their lunch. In addition to iguanas, there are also beautiful beaches with fine white sand where we will lie down while the waves of the turquoise sea wash over us. On the way back from the island, you will go snorkeling in one of the hidden lagoons, where you will explore the underwater world rich in different species of fish and coral.

People say that yellow is color of optimism and happiness and attracts positive energy, so I decided to take my FPM Milano Bank Zip Spinner 55 glacier grey cabin suitcase with grey leather details on my trip to Cuba which brought me good luck this year. Not only is it practical, lightweight, but it’s also a photogenic suitcase that many people asked me about at the airport where I bought it.

FPM Milano luggage offers travelers practicality and style, all in one trolley and backpack. Designed by Mark Sadler, these lightweight aluminum-clad and reinforced suitcases are inspired by vintage trunks, purpose-built to give you the durability you need on your travels. The combination of Avante-Garde materials and Italian design motifs give these FPM suitcases a robust and secure look.

This incredible FPM Milano Bank Zip Spinner 55 is made of 100% Makrolon© polycarbonate. The 4 wheels guarantee great stability and smoothness. The suitcase has a TSA lock incorporated (ideal for travelers to the USA) combined with a zipper closure with water resistant treatment. The elastic belt comes with the suitcase and closes with the iconic butterfly lock. The two handles are in Italian fine leather and are embellished with the FPM logo. The internal organization comes with a soft elastic belt with a buckle with FPM logo engraved on one side, and a zip pocket in the other side.ideal for 1-2 day trip.

This cheerful yellow butterfly elastic belt has changed the look of this trolley and it is an interesting accessories. You can choose your favorite color red of yellow and I believe you will be satisfied like me.

If you want to stay up to date and find out which models of suitcases and travel accessories the FPM Milano brand has in its offer, visit their official online store and follow them on the social networks Facebook and Instagram.

My dear adventurers, we have come to the end of this fourth 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 have been possible without the selfless help of the tourist agency Disko 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 Disko 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 Trinidad, Cienfuegos and Santa Clara which adorns the heart of 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 Trinidad,

Mr.M

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

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Letters from Cuba: Havana in the Footsteps of Ernest Hemingway…

Adventure Travel 4 Comments

My dear travelers and lovers of unusual trips, 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 second travelogue about Cuba, I would like to thank the travel agency Disko Travel, better known as Disko Travel Buddies, 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 from our area 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 arrangements for far-flung destinations and choose your dream adventure, just don’t forget your camera and phone to capture unforgettable moments from Zanzibar, Bali, Thailand, Cuba and other destinations that Disco Travel Buddies can take you to.

In the previous travelogue about Havana, you had the opportunity to get to know Havana and learn some basic information about the capital of this interesting island country in the Caribbean. Today’s travelogue will be dedicated to Havana from the point of view of the famous Nobel laureate – American writer and journalist Ernest Hemingway.

His economical and understated style—which included his iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his adventurous lifestyle and public image earned him the admiration of later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and in 1954 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He published seven novels, six collections of short stories and two nonfiction works. Three of his novels, four collections of short stories and three non-fiction works were published posthumously. Many of his works are considered classics of American literature.

With an unblemished reputation for serving delicious cocktails, El Floridita was already popular in Cuba, but it was Hemingway who eventually catapulted the bar to astronomical status. The story goes that after Hemingway first came across El Floridita, he was mesmerized by the daiquiri (cocktail) and the bar’s charming atmosphere. In fact, as his love affair with El Floridita blossomed, it became more about her setting than the daiquiri.

It was the wild heidei of famed Havana, and while the American mobs ruled much of the city, El Floridita was still largely run by the self-made Constant – who lived for his work. He didn’t need mob influence to attract customers, and when word got out that this was Hemingway’s favorite haunt, the entire Hollywood elite from Clark Gable, Ava Gardner to John Wayne followed, it wasn’t a matter of who came to El Floridita, but the second question was asked, who has not yet visited this cocktail bar in the heart of Havana?

In early 1939, Hemingway crossed over to Cuba in his boat to live at the Ambos Mundos Hotel in Havana. This was the separation phase of a slow and painful separation from Pauline, which began when Hemingway met Martha Gellhorn. Marta soon joined him in Cuba and they rented “Finca Vigia” (“Viewing Farm”), a 15-acre property just outside of Havana. Pauline and the children left Hemingway that summer, after the family reunited during a visit to Wyoming, when his divorce from Pauline was finalized, he and Martha were married on November 20, 1940, in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Hemingway moved his primary summer residence to Ketchum, Idaho, just outside the newly built Sun Valley Resort, and moved his winter residence to Cuba. He was disgusted when a Parisian friend allowed his cats to eat off the table, but he fell in love with cats in Cuba and kept dozens of them on the property. The descendants of his cats live in his home in Key West. Gellhorn inspired him to write his most famous novel “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, which he began in March 1939 and finished in July 1940. His pattern was to move around while working on the manuscript, and he wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls in Cuba, Wyoming, and the Valley of the Sun. It became a Book of the Month Club selection, sold half a million copies within months, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and, in Myers’ words, “triumphantly re-established Hemingway’s literary reputation.”

Hemingway once stated that he “was out of work as a writer” from 1942 to 1945 while in Cuba. The following year, in 1946, he married Mary, who five months later had an ectopic pregnancy. The Hemingway family suffered a series of accidents and health problems in the years after the war: in a car accident in 1945, he “broke his knee” and suffered another “deep gash on his forehead”; Mary first broke her right ankle and then her left ankle in successive skiing accidents. A car accident in 1947 left Patrick with a gash on his head and left him gravely ill.

In the following year, 1948, Hemingway and Mary traveled to Europe, staying in Venice for several months. While there, Hemingway fell in love with the then 19-year-old Adriana Ivancic. The Platonic love affair inspired the novel “Across the River and into the Forest”, written in Cuba during the conflict with Mary, and published in 1950 with negative reviews. The following year, enraged by the critical reception of “Across the River and Into the Woods,” he wrote a draft of “The Old Man and the Sea” in eight weeks, saying it was the best he could write in his entire life. The Old Man and the Sea became Book of the Month, made Hemingway an international celebrity, and won the Pulitzer Prize in May 1953, a month before he left for his second trip to Africa.

In January 1954, while in Africa, Hemingway was nearly fatally injured in two consecutive plane crashes. He chartered a sightseeing flight to the Belgian Congo as a Christmas present for Mary. On their way to photograph the Murchison Falls from the air, the plane hit an abandoned pole and “landed in heavy brush”. Hemingway’s injuries included a head wound, while Mary suffered two broken ribs. The next day, trying to get medical help to Entebbe, they boarded another plane that exploded on takeoff, and Hemingway suffered burns and another concussion, this one severe enough to cause a cerebral fluid leak. They eventually arrived in Entebbe to find reporters covering the story of Hemingway’s death. He notified the press and spent the next few weeks recuperating and reading his mistaken obituaries.

Despite his injuries, Hemingway accompanied Patrick and his wife on a planned fishing expedition in February, but his pain made him irritable and difficult to get along with. When the fire broke out, he was injured again, suffering second-degree burns on his legs, front of his torso, lips, left hand and right forearm. Months later in Venice, Mary reported to friends the full extent of Hemingway’s injuries: two ruptured discs, a ruptured kidney and liver, a dislocated shoulder, and a fractured skull. The accidents may have accelerated the physical deterioration that was to follow. After the plane crash, Hemingway, who had been “a poorly controlled alcoholic for most of his life, drank more than usual to combat pain from his injuries.”

In October 1954, Hemingway received the Nobel Prize for Literature. He modestly told reporters that Carl Sandburg, Isaac Dinesen and Bernard Berenson deserved the award, but he gladly accepted the prize money. Mellow says that Hemingway “craved the Nobel Prize,” but when he received it, months after his plane crashes and the resulting worldwide press coverage, “there must have been a lingering suspicion in Hemingway’s mind that his obituaries played a role in the academy’s decisions .” Having suffered from misfortunes in Africa, he decided not to travel to Stockholm. Instead, he sent a speech to be read, defining the writer’s life:

“Writing is, at best, a lonely life. Writers’ organizations alleviate a writer’s loneliness, but I doubt whether they improve his writing. He grows in public as he gets rid of his loneliness and often his work gets worse. Because he does his job alone, and if he’s a good enough writer he has to face eternity, or the lack of it, every day.”

Hemingway’s Nobel Prize award speech

From late 1955 to early 1956, Hemingway was bedridden. He was told to stop drinking to ease the liver damage, advice he initially followed but then ignored. In October 1956, he returned to Europe and met the Basque writer Pio Baroja, who was seriously ill and died weeks later. During the trip, Hemingway became ill again and was treated for “high blood pressure, liver disease, and arteriosclerosis.”

In November 1956, while staying in Paris, he remembered the trunks that he kept in the Ritz Hotel in 1928 and never returned them. After retrieving and opening the trunks, Hemingway discovered they were full of notebooks and writings from his Paris years. Excited by the discovery, when he returned to Cuba in early 1957, he began to shape the restored work into his memoirs, “The Moving Holiday.” By 1959, a period of intense activity had ended: the Mobile Holiday (planned to be published the following year) had ended; brought True at First Light to 200,000 words; added chapters to the Garden of Eden; and worked on the Islands in the Stream. The last three were stored in a safe in Havana while he focused on the finishing touches to A Moveable Feast. Author Michael Reynolds claims that during this period Hemingway fell into depression, from which he could not recover.

Ernest Hemingway’s pet cemetery at his home in Havana

Finca Vigia became overcrowded with guests and tourists as Hemingway, who had begun to grow dissatisfied with life there, considered moving permanently to Idaho. Later in 1959, he bought a house overlooking the Big Wood River outside of Ketchum and left Cuba—although he apparently remained on good terms with the Castro government, telling The New York Times that he was “delighted” by Castro’s ouster of Batista. He was in Cuba in November 1959, between his return from Pamplona and a trip west to Idaho, and the following year on his 61st birthday, however, that year he and Mary decided to leave after hearing news that Castro wanted to nationalizes property owned by Americans and other foreign nationals. On July 25, 1960, the Hemingways left Cuba for the last time, leaving the art and manuscripts in a Havana bank vault. After the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, Finca Vigia was expropriated by the Cuban government, along with Hemingway’s collection of “four to six thousand books.” President Kennedy arranged for Mary Hemingway to travel to Cuba where she met Fidel Castro and received papers and a picture of her husband in exchange for donating the Finca Vigia to Cuba.

If you want to experience Havana in the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway, there is a special tour that you should take advantage of and see some of the buildings that this famous Nobel laureate loved. Hotel “Ambos Mundos” is located in the old town of Havana. Hotel room 511 was Hemingway’s first accommodation in Havana. From 1932 to 1939, he was a frequent guest at this hotel. He enthusiastically wrote to his friend John D. Passos (also a writer): “At this hotel you can get a good, clean room with private bath overlooking the harbor and the cathedral – you can see the whole entrance to the harbor and the sea for $2.00 – 2 .50 for two people.” For Hemingway, the hotel was “a very good place to write,” as he himself said. In his hotel room, he finished the book “Afternoon of Death” (1932) and began the novels “The Green Hills of Africa” (1935) and “To Have and Not to Hide” (1937). Hotel room 511 is now a small museum. You can visit it every day from 9 am to 5 pm. The ticket costs 2 dollars.

Havana is a city that cannot be easily described, you have to experience it to understand the essence and way of life in Cuba. Havana is not only made up of old-timers, tompus and rum, but smiling people who will welcome you with open hearts and open arms because they really want to show you their country.

Havana has long been considered one of the most romantic cities in the world. Cubans and foreigners (and sometimes together) are overcome by the beauty, charm and intimacy of the city and people, making Havana the place where millions of couples have fallen in love with each other. Sunsets on the Malecón, couples embracing with crashing waves, passing traffic and the sun setting in the distance. The shops and cobbled streets of Old Havana, moving in a beautiful European setting, the charm of the Old Town is a lover’s paradise. Locals don’t just dance, they walk, talk and greet with rhythm, attitude and love. From the bars and households you can hear the piercing and ecstatic sounds of salsa, reggaeton and pop, where you can see almost everyone doing some head movements, smiling and often dancing their hips to the rhythm.

The Museum of the Revolution is located in the Old Havana section of Havana, Cuba, in the presidential palace of all Cuban presidents from Mario García Menocal to Fulgencio Batista. The building became the Museum of the Revolution in the years following the Cuban Revolution. The palace building was attacked by the Revolucionario 13 de Marzo (activist group) in 1957.

The presidential palace was designed by the Cuban architect Rodolfo Maruri and the Belgian architect Paul Belau, who also designed the Centro Gallego, today the Gran Teatro de La Habana. The presidential palace was opened in 1920 by President Mario García Menocal. It remained the Presidential Palace until the Cuban Revolution in 1959.

My dear travelers, we have come to the end of this second 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 have been possible without the selfless help of the tourist agency Disko 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 Disko 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 Disko Travel and Air France airline as well as other local partners. This post is my personal and honest review of the destination experience.

SHARE THIS POST

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

Adventure Travel 4 Comments

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.

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