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Havana
On first impressions, Havana can seem like a confusing jigsaw puzzle, but work out how to put the pieces together and a beautiful picture emerges.
It's Complicated
No one could have invented Havana. It’s too audacious, too contradictory and – despite 60 years of withering neglect – too damned beautiful. How it does it is anyone’s guess. Maybe it’s the long history of piracy, colonialism and mobster rule. Perhaps it's the survivalist spirit of a populace scarred by two independence wars, a revolution and a US trade embargo. Or possibly it's something to do with the indefatigable salsa energy that ricochets off walls and emanates most emphatically from the people. Don’t come here with a list of questions; just bring an open mind and prepare for a long, slow seduction.
A Great Art City
It may not be like the scene in Paris or New York quite yet, but Havana's art culture is one of the city's biggest surprises. The creativity is nothing new: Cuban artists have been quietly challenging cultural elites since the age of José Nicolás de la Escalera and his depictions of enslaved black people. Today the work of Escalera and others is splendidly displayed in the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, while newer, racier crews congregate for electrifying 'happenings' at the Fábrica de Arte Cubano or take to the streets with their rollers and brushes in Habana Vieja.
Cool Cafes & Bohemian Bars
Despite recent economic difficulties, there's rarely been a better time to visit Havana. Private businesses (from trancey cafes to indie T-shirt makers) have sparked a creative renaissance, while big-name brands from that well-known 'frenemy' in the north have yet to dilute the cultural magic. As a result, the city bursts with experimentation: here a boutique hotel where bar stools are fashioned out of bicycles, there a community project where the barbershop is also a museum. Maybe it's something they put in the mojitos, but the ability of habaneros to endure and persevere is one of their most inspiring traits.
A 500-Year History
In Havana, history is piled up like hoarded treasure in a dusty attic – except these days, thanks to proactive City Historian Eusebio Leal Spengler, the colonial thoroughfares look a little less dusty. Leal Spengler has been nailing Havana's exhausted infrastructure back together piece by piece for more than 30 years. The results are startling. Walk the streets of Habana Vieja today and you'll quickly feel a genuine connection with the past in imposing coastal fortifications and intimate, traffic-free plazas stuffed with museums. Equally engrossing are the scattered leftovers from Cuba's more recent marriages with the USA and the USSR.
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Planning Toolkit
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Top attractions
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Havana.
Cemetery
Necrópolis Cristóbal Colón
Havana's main cemetery (a national monument), one of the largest in the Americas, is renowned for its striking religious iconography and elaborate marble statues. Far from being eerie, a walk through these 57 hallowed hectares can be an educational and emotional stroll through the annals of Cuban history. A map (CUC$1) showing the graves of assorted artists, sportspeople, politicians, writers, scientists and revolutionaries is for sale at the entrance.
Waterfront
Malecón
The Malecón, Havana's evocative 7km-long sea drive, is one of the city's most soulful and quintessentially Cuban thoroughfares, and long a favored meeting place for assorted lovers, philosophers, poets, traveling minstrels, fishers and wistful Florida-gazers. The Malecón's atmosphere is most potent at sunset, when the weak yellow light from creamy Vedado filters like a dim torch onto the buildings of Centro Habana, lending their dilapidated facades a distinctly romantic quality.
Historic Building
Capitolio Nacional
The incomparable Capitolio Nacional is Havana's most ambitious and grandiose building, constructed after the post-WWI boom ('Dance of the Millions') gifted the Cuban government a seemingly bottomless vault of sugar money. Similar to the Capitol in Washington, DC, but actually modeled on the Panthéon in Paris, the building was initiated by Cuba's US-backed dictator Gerardo Machado in 1926 and took 5000 workers three years, two months and 20 days to construct, at a cost of US$17 million.
Square
Plaza de la Catedral
Habana Vieja's most uniform square is a museum to Cuban baroque, with all the surrounding buildings, including the city's beguiling asymmetrical cathedral, dating from the 1700s. Despite this homogeneity, it is actually the newest of the four squares in the Old Town, with its present layout dating from the 18th century.
Fort
Castillo de los Tres Santos Reyes Magnos del Morro
This wave-lashed fort with its emblematic lighthouse was erected between 1589 and 1630 to protect the entrance to Havana harbor from pirates and foreign invaders (French corsair Jacques de Sores had sacked the city in 1555). Perched high on a rocky bluff above the Atlantic, the fort has an irregular polygonal shape, 3m-thick walls and a deep protective moat, and is a classic example of Renaissance military architecture.
Public Art
Fusterlandia
Where does art go after Antoni Gaudí? For a hint, head west from central Havana to the seemingly low-key district of Jaimanitas, where artist José Fuster has turned his home neighborhood into a masterpiece of intricate tile work and kaleidoscopic colors – a street-art wonderland that makes Barcelona’s Park Güell look positively sedate. Imagine maximal-impact Gaudí relocated to a tropical setting.
Square
Plaza Vieja
Laid out in 1559, Plaza Vieja is Havana's most architecturally eclectic square, where Cuban baroque nestles seamlessly next to Gaudí-inspired art nouveau. Originally called Plaza Nueva (New Square), it was initially used for military exercises and later served as an open-air marketplace.
Museum
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
Spread over two campuses, the Bellas Artes is arguably the finest art gallery in the Caribbean. The Arte Cubano building contains the most comprehensive collection of Cuban art in the world, while the Arte Universal section is laid out in a grand eclectic palace overlooking Parque Central, with exterior flourishes that are just as impressive as the international-art collections within.
Museum
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes – Arte Cubano
The Bellas Artes' 'Colección de Arte Cubano' houses purely Cuban art. Works are displayed in chronological order, starting on the 3rd floor, and are surprisingly varied. Artists to look out for include Guillermo Collazo, considered to be the first truly great Cuban artist; Rafael Blanco, with his cartoon-like paintings and sketches; Raúl Martínez, a master of 1960s Cuban pop art; and the Picasso-like Wifredo Lam.
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A street food tour through Old Havana
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