Go to Cuba to Go – Part 4

Of course, I’m talking about Havana at the time of my visit, when life was also pretty much cut short all over the world. So, I prefer to describe in a few sentences what to see and experience when visiting Havana.

Let's start with the city center, where the most pompous building is located – El Capitolio. Although it isn’t a copy, it’s in many ways similar to the one in Washington, except that it’s a meter taller, a meter wider and a meter longer. It was built between 1926 and 1929 and housed the then Cuban parliament. After the revolution, it was intended for the premises of the Academy of Sciences and Arts, but after the restoration it’s slowly returning to its original function. Of course, it’s also possible to visit El Capitolio as part of a guided tour, which of course I recommend; especially now that it’s been completely renovated.

Behind the El Capitolio building is Havana’s Chinatown, which is interesting not only for its food, but also because it’s something quite different from the rest of the city. But one of the main reasons to visit is definitely food, and not just the Chinese.

From Hemingway to wooden pavement

In the center, I already mentioned the famous San Rafael Boulevard with its many shops and restaurants, and Obispo Street, which starts with El Floridita, which is also worth a visit. At the end of the Obispo, where something interesting awaits you at almost every turn on the way from El Floridita, and from the museums to the Ambos Mundos Hotel, where Ernest Hemingway stayed, is the Plaza de Armas, where you should pay special attention to the wooden pavement in front of the building. The reason for choosing wood as a paving material was the noise of the wheels of heavy wagons and horses, as the noise becomes less noticeable than if the pavement was made of stone. At the bottom of the square is a mighty star fortress, the meaning of which is evidenced by the name itself: Castillo de la Real Fuerza.

From Plaza de Armas we can go to one side, to the Old Square or Plaza Vieja, where there’s also a Camera Obscura with which we can see the ancient Havana in great detail with the help of medieval technology. Below the square is the old port and a huge souvenir market and a pier, from which you can drive to two parts of Havana on the other side of the bay – Regla and Casa Blanca.

On the other side, we’ll be at the Havana Cathedral, which is of course worth a visit, and just a few steps away is the birthplace of the famous mojito cocktail – La Bodeguita del Medio.

It makes sense to finish the visit to the old part of Havana in the Museum of the Revolution, where you’ll get a lot of information about the reasons and the meaning of the Cuban Revolution. The museum will also help you understand the rest of Havana and also Cuba.

Although slightly outside the center, when visiting Havana, we shouldn’t miss Revolution Square, where the tallest building in Cuba is located – the monument to Jose Marti, a Cuban patriotic poet – to the top of which you can take the elevator and from where you can see all of Havana. There’s also the famous depiction of Che Guevara and Camillo Cienfuegos in the square, and above it is Cuba’s largest cemetery, Necrópolis Cristóbal Colón, which is on the must-see list of many visitors.

The best ice cream in the Caribbean hits the spot in the heat

There are many modern monuments scattered in the new Havana, exemplary avenues and, of course, Coppelia, where we can sweeten up with the best ice cream in the Caribbean; travelers who haven’t yet visited Slovenia even describe it as the best ice cream in the world. Before leaving this part, it’s worth visiting the Hotel Nacional, where you probably won’t be able to afford an overnight stay, but you can drink some coffee or have one of the Cuban cocktails and take a walk through the history of this important place. The hotel is also classified as a monument of national importance.

Havana is also an important port, with the cruise ship port being located literally downtown. The port was guarded in the previous centuries by the fortresses of Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña and Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro with the famous lighthouse, both located on the other side of the bay and representing one of the most visited points on any sightseeing tour especially at night, when the cannon show or "Ceremonia del cañonazo" takes place here. In front of the fortress is an open-air military museum, and not far away you can see the house where Ernesto Che Guevara lived during his stay in Havana and where there’s a small museum dedicated to the revolutionary and a megalomaniacal white statue of Jesus Christ nearby. To visit the mentioned fortress, castle, museum, statue and everything else, you can take a boat across the bay, which connects Havana on both sides of the port with a line that leads to the port of Casablanca.

Regla – a completely different Havana

From the same port we can also sail to the port of Regla, the starting point for the eponymous part of the city, where, next to the port, is one of the most important churches in Havana – Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Regla, which was built in the place where pagans worshipped the goddess of the sea.

Although Regla is a part of Havana, it functions as a stand-alone city with its main square with a town hall, a theater, a large and well-stocked market, numerous shops, restaurants and even one of a few Lenin's monuments in Cuba, which has become a popular tourist attraction in recent years and is located on a hill with a great view of old Havana from the other side of the bay.

Regla is an exact opposite of downtown Havana, where tourists are often addressed by souvenir sellers, restaurant owners and taxi drivers. Regla also doesn’t have shops or restaurants adapted to tourists, which is a great advantage, as we can experience authentic Cuba right in the capital, so when visiting Havana, I warmly recommend at least a short escape to Regla.

Before returning to Europe, a few more snapshots from Varadero, Cuba's tourist magnet

Before concluding with this travelogue, I can’t get past the most touristy place in Cuba – Varadero.

Varadero is located on a peninsula a few hundred meters wide and about 20 kilometers long, where there are many hotels, restaurants, golf courses and of course endless sandy beaches.

Varadero has a population of 27,000, most of whom are engaged in tourism; from private accommodation and restaurants to the organization of excursions, taxi transport and the sale of souvenirs.

Varadero enjoys normal conditions for almost all 24 hours, but this time the conditions were unfortunately not normal and so restaurants and guests had to be content with the TO-GO offer, and discos and clubs had to close their doors. But even in these circumstances, they didn’t give up and so I listened to the waiter, who suggested the best mojito in town. Of course, it isn’t easy to resist such a temptation, which is why I ordered the mojito, although I didn’t expect such a service. But measures to contain the coronavirus have aroused an incredible degree of ingenuity in caterers, and so I got my first mojito TO-GO, which also gave rise to the title of this travelogue. The mojito with all the ingredients was prepared in a transparent bag from which a straw protruded, and so, as if carrying a goldfish from the store to the home aquarium, I headed towards the beach with a bag of authentic mojito.

Varadero is thus a great destination for a holiday or entertainment, but not a place to experience authentic Cuba. Given that Varadero also has an important airport, which can often be reached for a cheaper price than Havana, it may make sense to taste this tourist center on the last day or two before returning. I was even forced to do so myself, as my return flight from Havana was canceled due to the pandemic, and so I accepted the only replacement offered, a day later from Varadero.

Finally, just a word of advice: GO TO CUBA! But go when Cuba will no longer be just a TO-GO place, when masks will no longer hide smiles, when public transport between provinces restarts as well as theaters, music houses, bars, clubs, museums and everything that makes us decide to travel to Cuba.