Plaza de San Francisco de Asís, Havana
After breakfast in the hotel, your guide and driver will pick you up at the appointed time and take you for a walking tour around Old Havana. Let’s begin with an exterior visit to the Doric-style chapel of El Templete, and then go on to stroll the four major squares symbolic of Old Havana’s spirit.
Plaza de Armas, the oldest that dates back to the 1520s, is where you can find the Baroque magnificence of Palacio del Segundo Cabo and
City Museum Palacio de los Capitanes, which we will enter to admire its
colonial decorations and historical relics. Walk south towards Havana Port and we will reach
Plaza de San Francisco de Asís, where you get to appreciate white-marble Los Leones Fountain and colonial heritages like San Francisco de Asis Convent from their outside. But it’s only at
Plaza Vieja (Old Square) that you will be greeted with a colorful feast of colonial architecture: buildings of Baroque, Neo-Classical, Art Nouveau styles are sitting seamlessly next to each other. You will then be taken to
Museo del Ron Havana Club to learn about and have some tasting of Cuban rum. Next, visit
Plaza de la Catedral for its Havana Cathedral, the oldest and most beautiful cathedral in Cuba.
For lunch, according to our experience we highly recommend you eat at Restaurante 5 Sentidos. If you think Cuba is a desert on the culinary map given supply shortages, your eyes would light up seeing this place, with delicately-prepared food and friendly English-speaking service. Now that we are talking about food in Cuba, we’d want to remind you that you should always avoid taking in tap water, unless it is boiled; if you are ordering cocktails, make sure the water has been at least filtered.
Stroll less than a hundred meters down a beautiful alley named Empedrado, and we will arrive at the restaurant La Bodeguita del Medio (a glass of mojito included), which Ernest Hemingway often visited for a drink when he was in Havana. Later, walk through Obispo Boulevard and Central Park - here a statue of the freedom fighter José Martí will greet you - to see Grand Theater of Havana and National Capitol of Cuba. A visit to Partagás Cigar Factory is also in store if today is a day between Monday and Friday.
See National Capitol of Cuba on Vintage Car, Havana
In the afternoon, your guide will escort you to
take an old American vintage car to explore modern Havana. We will drive out of Old Havana to first have a joy ride along the
Malecón. After admiring the exterior of
Morro Castle at the seaside, continue to appreciate the outside of
University of Havana and
Colón Cemetery.
Revolution Square will be our last stop. Built during dictator Batista’s era, the square was named Plaza Civica first and changed to its current name after Fidel Castro took over in 1959. Here, to the north you can find the statue of José Martí and Che Guevara’s famous giant steel mural, which beckons from the façade of Ministry of Interior; just a few hundreds of meters away, there is Camilo Cienfuegos’s mural of the same size as Che’s installed on the edifice of Ministry of Communications. A square where three biggest revolutionary heroes of Cuba are honored, it is evocative of history and makes one think.
Please note:
Almost all the running vintage cars in Cuba - including yours - are convertibles, which means they are trustworthy in general as the outworn parts have been replaced with the newer. However, the basic structure is still the product of five decades ago, with no seatbelts for passengers or the driver. On your way through modern Havana, you will find these antiques running at up to 100 km/h; for your own safety, we highly recommend you ask your driver to keep your car at a lower speed.
Finally, your guide and driver will transfer you back to the hotel.
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Hotel NH Capri La Habana (4 stars)
photos) where there are no signs of warning, unknown drippings from above, and even foul waste water misplaced on the streets. These hidden sides of Cuba, however, are not something that’s beyond expectation, given Cuba is still fighting an uphill battle to provide a decent life for its people, the majority of which are still depending on the government’s rations to survive.