Parque de Enamorados

Preserved in ‘Lover’s Park, ’ surrounded by streams of speeding traffic, lies a surviving section of the colonial Cárcel (Tacón Prison), built in 1838, where many Cuban patriots, including José Martí, were imprisoned. A brutal place that sent unfortunate prisoners off to perform hard labor in the nearby San Lázaro quarry, the prison was finally demolished in 1939, and the park that took its place is dedicated to the memory of those who had suffered so horribly within its walls. Two tiny cells and an equally minute chapel are all that remain of the hated prison today. The beautiful wedding cake-like building (art nouveau with a dash of eclecticism) behind the park, flying the Spanish flag, is the old PalacioVelasco (1912), now the Spanish embassy.