Castillo de la Real Fuerza

Lonely Planet review

The oldest existing fort in the Americas, the Castillo de Real Fuerza was built between 1558 and 1577 on the site of an earlier fort destroyed by French privateers in 1555. Imposing and indomitable, the castle is ringed by an impressive moat and its walls, like those of other forts facing the Caribbean, are made from blocks of coral. Today, it shelters the Museo de la Cerámica Artística Cubana, along with a bar, snack stand and souvenir shop.

The west tower is crowned by a copy of a famous bronze weather vane called La Giraldilla; the original was cast in Habana in 1632 by Jerónimo Martínez Pinzón and is popularly believed to be of Doña Inés de Bobadilla, the wife of gold-explorer Hernando de Soto. It is now kept in the Museo de la Ciudad, and the figure also appears on the Havana Club rum label.

For the first 200 years of its existence, the Castillo was the residence of the Spanish captains general, until they finally got around to constructing a palace of their own across the square.