Cuba La Habana Vieja or Old Havana

“We just came back from a two week trip in Cuba where we spent the first 5 nights in Havana, 4 nights in Cayo Santa Maria and two last nights also in Havana. I had very high expectations for this country but was still absolutely blown away. Havana is a wonderful city that’s very relaxed compared to other places I’ve been to (namely south east Asia). Old Havana doesn’t have a lot of traffic and every single corner of each street, there will be a musician that is serenading you with amazing music (honestly I think I met some of the best musicians I’ve seen in my life on this trip).”

“We took a seat on the southern side of the park – our bench only had two slats missing, which made it positively luxurious compared to its neighbours – and watched as buses zoomed past, looking like the bastard offspring of long-distance trucks and Portakabins. Old men wobbled past on bicycles with no brakes or gears, families wandered along the sidewalk, towing children in various states of tantrum, and the young women of Havana sauntered past in clothes designed with the sole purpose of celebrating the posterior.”

“The oldest and most historic part of the capital was a kind of old trunk full of dilapidated palaces, churches, squares and monuments that exercised over me the power to make me feel very far away, rather than my place of origin, and even in another era. I remember that from Spain they asked me my first impressions of the city and I always answered that it seemed that I had also traveled in time.”