28TH APRIL.2019
HAVANA, CUBA

We arrived alongside Customs and Immigration in Hemingway Marina at 14.00 hrs.   One of the female customs officers came on board and looked in a few draws.  They also asked to see the Satellite phone to check it was still wrapped in customs tape.  Fortunately I remembered to slip it back into the bag between the tape, they took a photo of it.   We came up canal no 1 to our designated mooring area along side, its a lovely system, with all yachts along side rather than on fingers or aft to and for a change, deep water.

After sorting the yacht we went into town for the evening.  The 1950s cars are not just for tourists, the majority of cars driven and the taxis are either 1950s cars or old Russian Lada cars.  We were aiming to eat at a restaurant in the Vedado area of Havana that was recommended in the Lonely Planet book, unfortunately it had closed down.  So we pottered down various streets looking for a place to eat that looked good.  We were called out to on the street by a guy in a black apron and he pointed to the first floor of a building with a long, narrow wrought iron balcony, french windows and one could glimpse a huge glass chandelier,  he showed us the entrance to it, through a fast food cafe with formica tables and stools, not the most inviting entrance.  He lead us up stairs to the most beautiful area of old Spanish baroque interior design but with modern touches.  We were shown to a table, LOS ALTOS D’NELYS, was lovely with delicious food, attentive but not ‘in your face’ waiters.  half way through dinner we got talking with a single chap sitting on a table near us, he was a local but living in the UK and home seeing his parents and extended family.  We were talking across tables so much that we invited him to join us which he eagerly did.  His name was Humberto.  After dinner he suggested that we go to the National Hotel just to look at the old bar, gardens and room of photos of famous people who had stayed there after we went on to the Parque Central for coffee, this is a modern bar in the Iberostar Parque Central Hotel,  on a terrace looking over Havana, it was swanky and lovely for people watching as well, not all Cubans are poor, some are well dressed and have money to spend, mostly government employees, so much for communism and everyone being equal……..  We returned to Aqualuna at 01.00 hours.  The government run restaurants are the ones with awful food and tinned vegetables but over the last two years they have allowed private restaurants to start setting up where the food is good and interesting.

MONDAY,29th April, 2019

We decided to do our own walking tour around Old Havana.  Unfortunately because it was Monday, most of the museums were closed.  Consequently we decided to do the tourist thing of taking an hours tour in an open top 1950s Buick.  Photos to follow.
We met Humberto at 15.00 hours he took us back to his apartment where he, his two sisters, Father, Mother and Niece were staying so that we could meet them all.  We went with his niece, Cat, and Humberto to a market, but it was very set up for tourists and mostly crap stuff except for a beautiful wooden crab which we bought.  Humberto thought it was a good idea to go to Moros Fort later in the afternoon so that we could be there without the cruise ship toursits but unfortunately it was closing just as we arrived.  We still had a good look around the outside and it was certainly an amazing fort.  With lovely views out to sea, across the port and over Old Havana.
Humberto had booked a place at a restaurant in the Vedado region,  it was not quite as good but still fun.  We started the evening off with drinks in the garden of the Old National Hotel which was lovely.  We said ‘Goodbye’ to Humberto as he was returning to England.  We also strolled the whole way down the Malicon from the old city down to the National looking at all the modern sculptures and art work on display, about a mile and half.

TUESDAY, 30TH APRIL, 2019

Today we did a self guided walking tour of Old Havana.  My camera was working full time, I just love the old architecture of colonial Spanish and the hidden court yards.  We looked around so many houses and the old fort ‘Castillo de la Real Fuerza'  with the maritime museum which had quite a lot of artefacts that divers had retrieved from some old 16/17C Treasure fleets.  We also visited the Museo de la Ciudad, an old palace, once the residence of Spanish Captains General, then the US military governors, then a presidential palace before becoming a museum in 1968.  It is a stunning building, with a huge central courtyard with a statue of Christopher Columbus, lots of tropical greenery and verandas covering three stories looking over the square of it.  Inside are displays of how some of the rooms once looked with old mahogany colonial Spanish furniture and huge crystal chandeliers.  We spent so much of the day just wondering the streets and enjoying the architecture and lay out of the town.
Back to the yacht which was quite out of town and so was a 30 min taxi ride.  We joined a party at the Hemingway Yacht Club which was for the ‘Conch Cup’ a sailing/cruIsing race from Key West to Havana.  We were invited to join the table of the guys who were on a Catamaran moored behind us the owners were Steve Fuller and his wife Claudie.  They came second in the race.  We had great fun dancing to a good band and BBQ buffet food and loads to drink, jugs of Mojitos!!

WEDNESDAY, 1ST MAY, 2019
NATIONAL DAY IN CUBA!! Everything closed……. We had a rather lazy day.  In the evening we went for drinks at the Hotel National in the gardens to watch the sunset and then on for dinner at LA GUARIDA with Steve, Claudia, David and Shelly.    Again it was a private restaurant in an old, shabby, Spanish Baroque building, the inside of which was not too done up.  Whilst we were waiting for our table we went upstairs to the roof bar with great views over the city.  The restaurant was divided into rooms, with old colonial Spanish style decor.  I had the most delicious starter of Papya done lasagna style with shell fish and a delicious sauce followed by a delicious fish dish. Jonathan, unfortunately, ordered a bisque soup but it came with a large bread roll in the centre of it which absorbed all the soup which was not so good.  We were all going to go on for music and dancing after but after the previous night’s fun we were all too tired so headed back to the marina.  Steve had tried to book us all in to go to the Buenavista Social Club but it was fully booked until Friday night, sadly we are having to leave on Friday.

THURSDAY, 2ND MAY, 2019
We walked around the FUSTERLANDIA.  An area ‘done up’ by JOSE FUSTER, Guadi style.  His main influences were Picasso and Miro. Fascinating place, quite crazy and fun.  He did his residence first and then neighbours asked him to do theirs so much of the area is done up in colourful mosaic tiles, sculptures quite a fascinating place to wonder around.
In the evening we went to dinner at the PALADOR VISTA MAR for seafood.  On to Casa de Musica which was recommended , it was TERRIBLE…. We arrived after dinner at 9 pm.  We were told it did not open until 10 pm so we had drinks whilst we waited and in the process bumped into sailing friends from their Swedish yacht Lumma 1V, Mat and Luppa plus friends of theirs Kim and Anli.  10 pm arrived and nothing happened  Eventually an hour on we went in, just video music on the stage on repeat at 12.30 pm a stage show of street dancing by amateurs.  The band was setting up slowly…….  at 1.30 am they started!!!  Terrible, very loud music, painful to the ears, so we left.    Do not go, discovered it is a government run place.

Unfortunately we didn’t really have time to visit the out lying areas of Havana and the beautiful country side which has amazing lime stone formations and forests.  We found the city very safe and never felt threatened at all.  It appeared on the surface to be much wealthier as a city than the others we had visited in Cuba.  We didn’t have so many people asking for shampoo, soap or anything else they could get their hands on. It, as with everywhere else, was full of friendly locals who were happy to help as much as they could.  Smiles and Good morning or afternoon in Spanish nobody looked at their boots or iphones as they do in the UK.  One street cafe even had a signpost saying ‘ No Wifi as people need to talk to each other in our cafe not look at their phones’!!  People, strangers, actually talk to each other!!  Something the UK could learn to do fast.