SALSA AND SOUL
November 1, 2008 – 12:00 amON THE DAWN OF THE REVOLUTION’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY AND THE RELEASE OF TWO CHE FILMS, LYDIA BELL SAVOURS THE BEST OF CUBA FROM HAVANA TO BEACH
Cuba attracts a lot of travel clichés, most of which are accurate. It really is a tropical paradise of swaying palms, sugar-white sands and turquoise seas, where you can indulge in a decadence of exquisite rum, wild salsa, and unrivalled cigars. The romance of the leader who defied the most powerful nation in the world and his poetic slogans, daubed on walls everywhere, cannot be denied. Buicks, Chevys, and countless other cool-finned cruisers rumble down the crumbling streets – many abandoned by their American owners when they fled in 1959 and kept going by Cuban ingenuity. There are indeed macho men and cigar hustlers on every corner, and siren-like women with a penchant for Lycra and countless virtuoso musicians frittering their talents away on Guantanamera for the tourists.
But since Fidel Castro handed over power to his slightly less ancient brother, Raul, last February (11 months shy of the Revolution’s 50th anniversary), there have been signs that the much-anticipated winds of change might soon blow over this Caribbean island. Yet so far, the destination has entranced outsiders precisely because it appears unchanged from the time when a bunch of handsome revolutionaries took over.
But Cuba is in an optimistic mood. Tourism has allowed Habana Vieja, the city’s old colonial heart, to flourish. The city is run down, but its main streets and squares have been brought back to life. Atmospheric cafés and restaurants have opened, and dilapidated historic buildings have been converted into boutique hotels. The island George Bush dismissed lately as a “tropical gulag” feels anything but.
In Havana, it’s worth spending as much time as possible outside. Cubans are social souls. So life is lived on the street, and a short walk will give you a sensory snapshot of everyday life: musicians playing; women gossiping; lovers kissing; dogs howling; mothers scolding their children and bringing in the washing; old men arguing about baseball, or enjoying a Cohiba cigar, or playing dominoes. And wherever you walk, there’s a soundtrack, whether from a pair of tinny speakers or a street-corner rumba.
So give yourself a day’s walking tour. Start at Plaza Vieja, a restored 16th-century marketplace, and home to the Fototeca de Cuba photo gallery and the Camera Obscura. Walk via the picturesque Plaza de San Francisco de Asis and Calle Oficios north to Plaza de Armas, which has a lush tropical garden in its centre, and is banked by museums, boutique hotels, alfresco cafés and buskers. By day, booksellers flog vintage tomes about the Revolution. From here, you can see El Castillo de la Real Fuerza, the oldest extant fortress in the Americas. And just north, in the harbour-side park, a daily market sells sweet souvenirs: vibrant paintings, wooden crafts, and crocheted children’s clothes, shawls and tablecloths.
Walk via this market to la Plaza de la Catedral. A baroque cathedral overlooks the lovely Bougainvillea square, where relaxed tourists puff on Romeo Y Julietas under the colonnades of El Patio restaurant (San Ignacio 54, Plaza de la Catedral. Ciudad de La Habana, +537 8671034), serenaded by genial musicians. After a strong Cubano coffee there, head south on Calle Ignacio and turn right onto Calle Obispo, the closest you’ll get in Havana to a shopping street, with a little street market, music shop, bricà-brac tourist shops and bookstores. Obispo will take you west until you reach El Parque Central, passing La Floridita, Hemingway’s old daiquiri joint, on your left. You’ll pass the baseball fans arguing vehemently in the same spot in the park every day, and El Grand Teatro de la Habana, stunningly ornate and one of Havana’s landmarks. As is El Capitolio next door, the old seat of government and spookily reminiscent of Washington’s Capitol building.
At the theatre, make a right down El Prado, smaller and more beautiful than its Madrid original, with rhythmic tree-shaded arcades that lead down towards the Malecón, a boardwalk-style footpath that hugs the shoreline for seven kilometres, a magnet for friends and lovers who sit on the seawall and gaze in the direction of Florida while swigging Havana Club or strumming guitars. In hot weather, children jump off the rocks into the salty surf to cool off. It’s the best place to walk at dusk, when the air is cooler. Finish at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba (Calle 21 and O, Vedado, Plaza, Ciudad de la Habana, +537 8363564), which towers over a giant rocky outcrop on the seafront. It’s the old gangster’s den, and its colonnaded bar and luxuriant gardens are a fine spot to indulge in a mojito.
But you can’t come to Cuba and just stay and wander around the backstreets of Havana, however enchanting they are. The island’s other main draw is its virgin beaches. The best is Varadero, an hour and a half east of Havana by road, a wispy peninsula of white sand and turquoise water. Here, if it’s beach volleyball, bars and a slice of the action you’re after, you’ll find it.
For a bounty-island paradise with mod cons, Cayo Largo is the finest cay (coral island) in Cuba, but is on the way to the Cayman Islands, so it’s best to take a plane, unless you fancy the six-hour boat ride. Its reefs offer spectacular diving and shallow reef gardens. But don’t expect to imbibe local culture – it was off-limits to Cubans until recently. Flamingo-filled Cayo Coco, one of about 400 cays that make up the Jardines del Rey, halfway across the island is linked by a 10-mile causeway to the mainland, and sits on the world’s second largest coral reef.
And diminutive Cayo Levisa is nothing but a string of thatched cottages on a small beach, two hours west of Havana. There’s little else to do but make like a Cuban and find your own fun in the simple bar. Or do what the Habañeros do. In sultry weather, they hop on an east-bound bus and head to Las Playas del Este, beachy jewels right on their doorstep. The most honky tonk is Playa Santa María, with rum shacks, grills and musicians galore. Take a cab there for about CUC30 (£17) for the half-hour round-trip.
Change or not, one thing will remain: Cuba will always have a lot to teach the rest of us about taking pleasure in life.
Lydia Bell is deputy travel editor of Harper’s Bazaar
INSIDER HAVANA
Drink La Bodeguita del Medio
Drink - La Bodeguita del Medio
(Empedrado 207), is where Hemingway drank mojitos. It’s touristy but fun, with graffiti scrawled over the walls, decent food and perky music. Or spend nights in the bar at the Hotel Florida (Obispo 252, + 537 8624127). The best salseros work the floor here.
Eat - La Guarida
(Concordia 418, +537 8637351) (you’ll need to take a taxi) is a bric-à-brac-filled paladar (private restaurant) with a Euro-Cuban fusion menu, where the cult film Fresa y Chocolate (Strawberry & Chocolate) was filmed. Or, the roof-top restaurant at Hotel Ambos Mundos (Obispo 153, +537 860 9530), where Hemingway started writing For Whom the Bell Tolls, has the best views, and does all the Cuban classic dishes.
Dance -La Casa de la Música
in Central Habana (Galliano, between Concordio and Neptuno) has the biggest and best sessions for live salsa – afternoons and evenings. The cheaper afternoon session is popular with locals.
BOOK A CUBA HOLIDAY
FOR MORE ON HOLIDAYS IN CUBA, VISIT A THOMAS COOK OR GOING PLACES STORE, CALL +44 (0)844 412 5966, VISIT THOMASCOOK.COM OR TUNE IN TO THOMAS COOK TV ON SKY CHANNEL 655
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