Thursday 11Feb 2010
The EJ's Voyage
Mike Everton-Jones
Thu 11 Feb 2010 14:47
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We enjoyed our visit to La Havana yesterday and
tasted our first mojito's! Delicious.
A lot of restoration has been done in old Havana
and the old town looks great. Magnificent churches and huge buildings. Very
crowded, people everywhere! The hotels look quite plush most of them have huge
interior patios. Of course the Spanish influence is everywhere and there are a
lot of similarities with towns like Seville or even San Juan.
We had lunch at Los Nardos, a restaurant opposite
El Capitola. We had to climb up a steep stone staircase and entering the
restaurant gave us a bit of a shock as it was very dark. Only candle light which
when you come from the bright sunshine doesn't let you see much.Of course after
a little while the eyes get accustomed to the dim light and it is amazing how it
then becomes relatively bright. Food was excellent. Mike ate red
snapper whilst I took the Cuban style shrimp (basically cooked in
garlic and tomatoes). Portions were huge, we got defeated!
Needless to say, Mike bought his first Cuban
cigars...
As soon as you get out of the old town and go
through downtown Havana the state of dereliction of the buildings is a sad
sight. No restoration work is going on here.
However we noticed quite a number of new cars on
the street. Most people look healthy and well dressed. They all very kind and
helpful.
Today we have hired a private car with driver and
will visit a cigar factory located in middle of the West part of the Isle, Pinar
Del Rio.We will be off in a few minutes so will leave you here and tell you all
about it later!
Sunny and warm. However it is very windy and it
looks like we won't be able to sail on until Sunday or perhaps
Monday.
Love
Mike and Catherine
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