Famed for cigars, Castro and vintage cars, Cuba is an intriguing country. Sue Dobson likes the historic core of its capital, Havana


Music is Cuba’s lifeblood. Rumba and salsa, a melodic mix of Spanish songs and African rhythm, drifts from open windows in the crumbling backstreet homes of Old Havana. It pours from the open doors of lively bars and filters through the crowds at the hands of street corner musicians. The sound is irresistible, guaranteed to lift the spirit, start feet tapping and set the body swaying. It’s the spirit of Cuba.

A long, thin island, poised between North, Central and South America, Cuba’s geographical position made it a crossroad for trade, prized especially by the Spanish, who arrived here in 1492 in the form of Christopher Columbus, and stayed for 400 years. Its shores and archipelagos of myriad islands and cays are washed by the Atlantic, the western Caribbean Sea and the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Its political history spans colonisation, domination and dictatorship. Through it all, Cubans created a vibrant, complex culture and have retained their own, quite individual, identity. It is a fascinating country to visit.

Havana
Cuba’s capital city, home to around a third of the country’s population, sprawls for miles around the bay and harbour. The highlight for visitors is Habana Vieja (Old Havana) a UNESCO World Heritage Site that’s a mix of magnificent architecture and a maze of narrow backstreets packed with buildings in a state of disrepair, crumbling from neglect. Restoration shows how splendid this city must once have been – and how it could be in future.


Elegant Plaza de Armas is where Havana began in 1599, under the shade of a ceiba (kapok) tree. Overlooked by a 16th-century moated castle, this leafy square is edged by a Baroque palace turned museum and restored colonial homes, one of them now a five-star hotel. At its centre, a park shaded by tropical trees and bright with flowers is popular with locals. The atmosphere is relaxed with entertainers and musicians mingling among the crowds.

At the edge of the park the secondhand book market is a magnet for browsers. Here you can pick up 1950’s Picture Post, revolutionary political pamphlets, biographies of national heroes, Cuban literature and poetry, and innumerable tomes of Fidel Castro’s speeches.

The whole area, colour-washed and beautifully renovated, is thronged with people simply enjoying life. Cafés and restaurants have umbrella-shaded patios, the doors and windows of bars are flung wide open.


Lively Calle Obispo with its wrought iron balconies, blue-painted doors and shuttered windows, feels like a living museum of the best of the colonial period. Among its shops, a magnificent old pharmacy sells Cuban-made natural cosmetics and homeopathic remedies. Its pastel interior has fine wood fittings, a display of antiques and 17th-century glass, and shelves stacked with Italian majolica jars.


Ernest Hemingway began writing For Whom the Bell Tolls at number 153, the Hotel Ambos Mundos. He stayed there for long periods during the 1930s before moving out to Finca Vigia, the country villa where he entertained such Hollywood movie stars as Ava Gardner and Gary Cooper. His favourite room, 511, is a mini-museum and while the hotel has been renovated and updated, it has kept its Thirties’ feel.

Hemingway seems to have patronised most of the bars in the area, but the famous one to head for is El Floridita. It was in this luxurious restaurant that the daiquiri – a cocktail of white rum, lemon, sugar, maraschino and ice – was invented by the then barman, Constante, with input from Hemingway, naturally. He drank mojitos in the legendary Bodeguita del Medio in a sidestreet off the Plaza de la Catedral. The walls are hung with photographs, graffiti, and autographs of famous patrons from the days when intellectuals, artists and politicians made it a favoured meeting place.




Outdoor cafés spread across the Plaza which, while dominated by the Baroque façade of the Cathedral of San Cristóbal, is also filled with some splendid 18th-century mansions. They now house interesting museums, in particular the Museo de Arte Colonial.


However, there’s no need to visit the motor museum in Old Havana. The streets are the place to find the vintage cars for which the city has become famous. Lovingly cared for, washed and polished Forties’ and Fifties’ Cadillacs, Mustangs and Chevrolets are testimony to the welders’ art and the ingenuity of motor mechanics for whom spare parts are just a dream. Cubans are nothing if not resourceful.

Only in Cuba can a Lada look modern – indeed, a highlight of our car spotting was a ‘stretch’ Lada. Public transport is a nightmare for locals, who crowd on to buses and the strange, lorry-pulled and aptly named ‘camel’ transport. Our tour bus, in contrast, was air-conditioned, had plenty of leg room even for this six-footer, and boasted an on-board loo.


We travelled across the bay by a road tunnel nicknamed ‘the sweet tunnel’ because its construction was paid for with sugar cane. Emerging by a fortress on a rocky headland, over lunch there are sweeping views of the city from the cannon-flanked Holy Shepherd restaurant. A 60ft-high statue of Christ in Italian marble overlooks the cruise ship terminal that once provided safe harbour from hurricanes and pirates.


At the Museum of the Revolution in Central Havana, Cuba’s history and long struggle for independence is displayed in the grandiose surroundings of the former presidential palace. Decorated by Tiffany of New York, it was from here that the dictator Fulgencio Batista fled on New Year’s Eve, 1958.


Rum and cigars are synonymous with Cuba. We’re taken to a rum museum and a cigar factory, both of which turn out to be much more interesting than we’d imagined. The hand making of cigars is a revelation. There’s a lot to see in Havana, and it’s well worth spending a few days exploring the city independently before joining a tour to see more of the country.