| Tips and photos of unusual, out-of-the-way Havana attractions, posted by real travelers and locals. Havana Map |
 | Havana Off the Beaten Path | Tips 1 - 10 of 97 |  |
Right on the end of 23rd street, where Vedado neighborhood ends and begins Marianao and Playa U'll croos a 100m bridge. This is the Almendares bridge.
Almendares is the longest and biggest river in Havana, very poluted 10 years ago. Thanks to the big efforts of the comunity now days this river is not so smelly. In it's border U'll find the Havana forest. Is a big area conserved by the government where U can wonder around trought the trees away from the noisy city.
Here U can see how has the vegetation 500 years ago when Cristobal Colon arrived for the first time. Huge trees full with lianas, everything is green and the earth is covered with grass. There is a cultural movement trying to develop the aerea, to bring more people and kids here. It's called "Almendares Vivo" or "Almendares it's alife".
Concerts, birthday parties for small kids, a small golf course, rent a horses ofr kids. There is an amphitheater where concerts take place. Rap movement is strong here. Each last sunday the famous jazz player Bobby Carcasses has it's monthly gahering where he usual invites other jazz players together with new musicians promesses. Leave a Comment
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Located just to the left of The Capitolio is 2 blocks park with plenty of shadow beneath its big trees.
Built en the site of the former Campo de Marte (Mars Field), used for military exercises since the l8th century. The two main spots in this place are the statue of "La India" who is believed to be one that gave the name to the city.
It became the Park of the American Fraternity for the Pan American Congress held in 1928 in Havana. A God tree was planted in its carter with earth from all the countries of the continent. Each president brough earth from their countries and that's way the place is named Fraternity Park. Busts of the most important personalities of our regional history are located in this place. Leave a Comment
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Half of all the haul of Olympic Gold by Cubans over has come from the noble art of boxing.
One of the main training grounds is the outdoor gym in Old Havana called Trejo.
If you can pay to see a fight then great (which will cost next to nothing), but if you are not in town for that it's still worth visiting the place and seeing new hopefulls being put through their paces.
The ring is open air and faced on two sides by some rather precarious tiers of seating.
Some of the coaches may try solicit some money from you, but most seemed just happy to chat if you have a genuine interest. Leave a Comment
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Take a cab, a bike or just go walking and visit the country side. The "campesinos" in cuba are very kind, gentile and respectful. The usual stress of havana here U'll not feel it. They live their lifes quiet and guided by the sunrise, the sunset, the wheather and their roosters fight. Visit any "bohio" their contry houses, totally made from the Palma real, our national tree that grows everywhere in Cuba. Have a chat with them if U're fluently in spanish, they'll be glad to share their experiences and to hear your opinion about cubans, their lifes and other cultures. Leave a Comment
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Che Guevara had Irish ancestors - from the surname 'Lynch'.
According to the Irish historian O'Muircheartaigh, Guevara's Irish links can be traced to Galway and one Patricio Lynch, the founder of the Argentine branch of his family, was said to be born in Galway in 1715. From there he spent some time in Spain before eventually settling in Argentina. I won't trace the family tree further but suffice to say there is a direct link, and Che always had a strong interest in the history and struggles of the Irish people.
The relationship Ireland and Cuba is summed up in the words engraved on the plaque in Calle O'Reilly street in Old Havana, which says in Spanish, Irish and English; 'Two island peoples in the same sea of struggle and hope, Cuba and Ireland.
I'm not sure if the parallels are that strong - but you get the point.
The O'Reillys have a long history of involvement with this area of the world, and the successful financiers even put out their own currency at some time - hence the possible origin of the term 'the Life of Reilly'. Leave a Comment
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The Arms Square is regarded as the heart of the old city, since the expansion of the Village of San Cristóbal de La Habana started from there.
It is closely linked to the tradition of the first town council, held on November 16 under the shadow of a big ceiba, near the coast, in order to take the first steps in the creation of the current capital of the country.
It was precisely near that tree, renovated by several generations of Cubans, that the first square of the village was built. However, it was not until 1584, when the Spanish troops began using the plaza for their military exercises, that it was called Arms Square.
The area's charm is complemented by buildings and institutions such as the Palace of the Captain Generals, Palace of the Second Corporal, which was the venue of the City Council and the Post Office House during colonial times, the former residence of the Counts of Santovenia, wich became the Santa Isabel Hotel, the Museum of Natural History, the House of Water and the La Mina Restaurant, which form part of a blend that transports visitors to colonial times. Leave a Comment
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There is a camera obscura on the top of a building on Plaza Vieja (Old Havana). In clear days it provides a very nice view of the city (it's funny, too, as all the moving cars and people look like little ants). It doesn't seem to be very visited even though every tourist in the old town passes by. Leave a Comment
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I went to this place a second time in the year 2003 and was impressed again.
The year my beloved father died - but at this moment, we were together for a few seconds only - but it was a great moment - thanks daddy - i will never forget you - even when i'am so far away from my home country and your beloved wife and my mom. Leave a Comment
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Havana remember the gentleman which became with his non-senses, the most well known "loco" or crazy. A bronze gentleman strolls, with his typical suit, it castrates, loaded with its humble jolongo (a small sac) in front of the Basilica where rest his remains. The "walking" sculpture, as the evoked character, it was carried out by the artist José Villa Soberón, also author of John's Lennon statue sat down in a park of Havana.
It happens that that gentleman from Havana, José López Lledín had begun to stroll for the city in the decade of the years 20´ of the XX century. They count the legends that the young emigrant of Spanish origin had lost the reason due to an injustice made against him. The most extended version is that it was accused of a robbery that never made and it suffered several years of jail, and when leaving prison his head had strayed forever.
He walked in the city offering small pieces of newspapers and magazines, assuring that he was a gentleman, King or Emperor, and that he came from Paris. Those that met him left the testimony of their gracefulness and nobility of character, they say that it really possessed the ways of a gentleman and he was not begging, although there was always Havanan generous people that were in charge of giving him something to eat, and it rewarded them with some detail of scarce or zero material value, but probatory value of his sense of the honor.
It used to frequent the corners of 23 and 12, San Lázaro and Infanta and the old area of Havana. In 1977, when his health had deteriorated vastly, hi was interned in the National Psychiatric Hospital, to instances of Celia Sánchez Manduley. There he died in July of 1985, 11 they say that herecovered the mental health, although it continues being a mystery the cause of his long years of insanity. Leave a Comment
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I wish I had a girlfriend at the time I went to Cuba.. Havana is easily the most romantic place I've ever visited. The pace is slow, the atmosphere laid back, and with the old cars and the horse and buggies driving around, you really feel like you're living in a different era.
Here's a black and white I took of a horse and buggy near the Artisan's market. Leave a Comment
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