Cosmetically a war zone, the residential district of Centro captivates with its animated streets and combustible ethnic composite. Beginning on the western corner of Parque Central is El Prado, a leafy boulevard punctuated with bronze lions and baroque lamp posts. Flanked by flaking stately mansions, and set to a more tranquil tempo, it oozes an ageing beauty. This is where locals saunter rather than strut, kids skateboard rather than hustle, and tourists soak up the clinging aura of the belle époque. Where the Prado ends, the Malecón begins. Snaking around from La Punta to Vedado, the Malecón is Havana's seafront esplanade, beguiling, poetic and invigorating. Where the ocean crashes dramatically across the sea wall, craggy, salt-encrusted fishermen stoop, lovers meet, and clusters of boys dive off the rocks below. Across the six-lane highway stands an architectural panoply of buildings, ravaged by time, and eroded by salt. Centro's main artery is Calle San Rafael, which runs west from Parque Central. Clogged with humanity, it pulsates with a cacophony of barking dogs, cackling women and pounding salsa. Havana's 19th- century retail playground, it is spliced by ramshackle streets, strewn with rubble and lined with decrepit houses, choking in the sulphurous stench of vintage US cars as they rumble through the streets. At the cross-section of Amistad and Dragones stands the gateway to Barrio Chino, a perplexing Cuban-Chinese hybrid. In its pre-Revolutionary heyday, this ten-block zone, pivoting around the Cuchillo de Zanja, was an opium-hazed pleasure zone of sordid theatres and steamy brothels. Now, a glut of restaurants strewn with lanterns, a colourful food market, and a smattering of Chinese associations, are all that remains of what was the largest Chinatown in Latin America. A shrine to pleasures pagan and divine, the derelict barrio of Cayo Hueso lies in the triangle between Infanta, San Lázaro and the Malecón. Entrenched in Santería and energised by a rich artistic spririt, it beats to an electrifying crescendo of rumba. Rising from these rough-hewn alleyways, once crumbling apartments have been reincarnated as living artworks, their sickly façades painted with kaleidoscopic murals. SightsParque Central All roads seem to lead to the elegant central park, a 24-hour entertainment and transport hub, and the launch pad onto the tourist merry-go-round of La Habana Vieja. Surrounded by whizzing traffic, it is an eye-popping medley of social activity and majestic architecture. Populated with mojito-merry tourists, Parque Central is a quick-buck Mecca for every hustler, offering every carnal pleasure in the book. Jockeying for tourist attention, cavorting minstrels deliver routine renditions of the catchy Guantanamera, Havana’s quintessential tourist bait tune. Flanking the park’s parameters, Havana’s myriad transport options, vintage US Chevys, horse-drawn carriages, yellow cocotaxis and bicitaxis, surreally clustered in a technological time warp. The monument in Parque Central is dedicated to José Martí. On the southeastern corner is the Rincón Caliente (hot corner), a kind of speaker’s corner where Havana’s aspiring orators launch into heated debate over the serious subject of baseball. On the north side, chilling out to a more mellow beat is Havana’s Rasta community, mingling on the marble benches, in the shade of poincianas, laurels and Royal Palms. Occupying this entire north side is the much-derided Hotel Golden Tulip, considered by many habaneros to be an affront to La Habana Vieja’s colonial splendour. The Hotel Plaza is in the northeast corner, and on the west side is the newly renovated Hotel Telégrafo, flanked by the historic Hotel Inglaterra. This hotel’s pavement café, El Louvre, built in 1843, predates the hotel, and provided a meeting spot for Havana’s revolutionary youth during Spanish colonial rule. On the eastern side is the unmissable Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, with a creamy clean façade. The Parque Central’s architectural zenith is the majestic Gran Teatro de la Habana, a whimsical neo-baroque monument dating from 1838. It is used by the national opera and also houses the Teatro García Lorca. Sarah Bernhardt once performed here when the Teatro García Lorca was called the Teatro Tacón. Tours of the theatre can be arranged, but for a finer appreciation of architecture and the aura, the best option is attend a performance; details are posted in the entrance, tickets cost US$5-10. El Prado Skirting the western side of Parque Central is El Paseo de Martí, commonly known as El Prado. Leading down to the Malecón, it technically divides La Habana Vieja and Centro Habana. In the mid-19th century this serene, tree-lined boulevard was a polarized world of slave dwellings and sumptuous mansions. Aristocratic ladies made their customary jaunt along the walkway, punctuated with bronze lions and ornate lamp posts, surveying the theatrics of the masses from the splendour of their carriages. Nowadays, locals stroll or linger on the benches under the laurel trees, kids play baseball and local artists paint and proffer their work to passing tourists. Renovation work is returning the colourful residential buildings, fronted with pillars, to their former glory. Despite the peeling paint, cavernous interiors and strewn washing, this architectural panoply oozes belle époque magnificence. Museo de la Revolución Refugio entre Monserrate y Zulueta, facing Av las Misiones. T 624091/6. Daily 1000-1800. US$4, guided tour 1030, US$10, recommended, cameras allowed, US$1 extra. Allow several hours, explanations are mostly in Spanish. One of Havana’s premier attractions, this museum is audaciously housed in the former presidential palace. It charts, in often overwhelming detail, and with vivid iconography, the history of Cuban political development from slave uprisings to joint space missions with the ex-Soviets. Built in 1920, the huge, ornate building, topped by a dome, was home to more than 20 Cuban presidents before it was transformed into a museum in 1974. The lavish interior was designed by Tiffany of New York. The liveliest section displays the final battles against Batista’s troops, with excellent photographs and some bizarre personal mementoes, such as a revolutionary’s knife, fork and spoon, and a shower curtain worn in the Sierra Maestra campaign. Look out for the bullet holes as you walk up the stairs. At the top of the main staircase are a stuffed mule and a stuffed horse used by Che and Camilo Cienfuegos in the same campaign. The yacht Granma, from which Castro disembarked with his companions in 1956 to launch the Revolution, has been installed in the park facing the south entrance, surrounded by planes, tanks and other vehicles involved, as well as a Soviet-built tank used against the Bay of Pigs invasion and a fragment from a US spy plane shot down in the 1970s. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Palacio de Bellas Artes The Arte Cubano is at Trocadero entre Zulueta y Monserrate. The Arte Universal is at San Rafael entre Zulueta y Monserrate, both T 8613858/620140, http://www.museonacional.cult.cu Tue-Sat 1000-1800, Sun 0900-1300. Both museums cost US$5, but a same day entrance to both sites is US$8, reduced rates for children and students, no photography permitted. An exceptional museum, the Museum of Fine Arts is essential viewing for anyone interested in colonial and modern art and well worth a look even if you are not a keen art buff. The art collection is valued at more than US$500 million and consists of 47,628 works of art, from an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus to contemporary Cuban paintings. The exhibits are divided between the original 1954 museum in Trocadero, housing the Cuban art collection from colonial times to the 1990s including a section on the post-Revolution Art Schools, and the former Centro Asturiano, housing European and ancient art. Cuban art collection Start on the third floor with the colonial art and work your way down to the present day. Colonial art, spanning the 17th-19th century, is separated into four sections devoted to religious and landscape paintings and portraits. There are portraits by José Nicolás de la Escalera (1734-1804) and Victor Patricio Landaluze and 19th-century landscape paintings by Frederico Fernández Cavada. The high point is Victor Manuel’s sensational painting Gitana Tropical. There are representations of modern-era Cuban paintings from René Portocarrero and Wilfredo Lam, Cuba’s most famous painter. After living for many years in Spain and France, he was encouraged to explore primitive art by the Parisian art circle, including, Picasso, André Bréton and Benjamin Péret. The diverse influences upon Cuban art during the 1940s are apparent in the work of Amelia Peláez and Carlos Enríquez. The influence of the colourful murals of Mexico can be seen in the striking Naturaleza Muerta Con Piña, Flores Amarillas and Pez. Cuba’s answer to Andy Warhol, pop artist Raúl Martínez (1927-95), is well represented. Rather than featuring the capitalist and 60s iconography of its US counterpart, Cuban pop art, not surprisingly, was inspired by the ubiquitous images of revolutionaries. Exhibited works of more recent Cuban artists include those of Roberto Fabelo, Zaida del Río and Alfredo Sosabravo. The International collection The colonial building designed by the Spanish architect Manuel del Busto in the early 20th century, has been fabulously renovated with huge marble staircases giving access to five floors. The large collection of European paintings, from the 16th century to the present, contains works by Gainsborough, Van Dyck, Velázquez, Tintoretto, Degas, et al. One painting by Canaletto, in the Italian room on the fifth floor, is in fact only half a painting; the other half of the 18th-century painting Chelsea from the Thames is owned by the National Trust in Britain and hangs in Blickling Hall, Norfolk. It is believed to have been commissioned in 1746-48 by the Chelsea Hospital, which is featured in the Cuban half, but the artist was unable to sell it and cut it in two just before he died in 1768. The left half was sold to the 11th Marquis of Lothian, whose family owned Blickling Hall, where it has stayed ever since. The right half was bought and sold several times until it ended up with a Cuban collector, Oscar Cinetas, who donated it to the museum before the Revolution. The museum also has Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Etruscan sculpture and artefacts, many very impressive. The unharmed Greek amphora from the 5th century BC is considered remarkable. The museum also includes paintings from private collections left behind by rich Cuban families (including the Bacardí and Gómez Mena families) and members of the former dictator Fulgencio Batista’s government who fled Cuba soon after the 1959 Revolution. The origin of these works, including Spanish artists Sorolla and Zurbarán, has been included in the catalogues. It had been rumoured that some of these collections had been sold by the Cuban government during the economic crisis of the Special Period. Additionally, there are rooms dedicated to Latin American art and 18th- and 19th-century paintings from the United States. Parque Fraternidad The park was originally called Parque de Colón, but was renamed to mark the VI Panamerican Conference in 1892. It has been landscaped to show off the Capitolio, north of it, to the best effect. At its centre is a ceiba tree growing in soil provided by each of the American republics. Also in the park is a famous statue of the Amerindian woman who first welcomed the Spaniards: La Noble Habana, sculpted in 1837. From the southwest corner the handsome Avenida Allende runs due west to the high hill, on which stands El Príncipe Castle (now the city gaol). The Quinta de los Molinos, on this avenue, at the foot of the hill, once housed the School of Agronomy of Havana University. The main house now contains the Máximo Gómez museum (Dominican Republic-born fighter for Cuban independence). Also here is the headquarters of the association of young writers and artists (Asociación Hermanos Saiz). The gardens are a lovely place to stroll. North, along Calle Universidad, on a hill that gives a good view, is the university. Capitolio Paseo de Martí entre San Martín y Dragones, T 610261. 0900-2000 but often shuts early, US$3 to go in the halls, tours available, camera and video charge US$2. Entrance for visitors is to the left of the stairway. Gracefully dominating the Havana skyline, the Capitolio serves as an ironic reminder of US neocolonialism. It was built in the style of the US Capitol in Washington DC by the dictator Machado in 1926-29 an attempt to impress his US paymasters with his loyalty. It was initially used as the seat of parliament for the Senate and the House of Representatives before they were dissolved after the Revolution. A 24-carat replica diamond is set into the centre of the floor of the exquisite entrance hall, which pinpoints zero for all distance measurements in Cuba. The interior has large halls and stately staircases, all lavishly decorated. The Salón de las Pasos Perdidos (Hall of Lost Steps) is embellished almost entirely with marble, and drips with exquisite copper and bronze detailing. It was the custom following the Revolution to turn emblems of neocolonialism over for public benefit; the Capitolio now houses the Cuban Academy of Sciences and the National Library of Science and Technology. There is a restaurant and café overlooking the park and an internet café. Partagás Industria 520 entre Dragones y Barcelona, behind the Capitolio, T 338060. Tours every 15 mins 0930-1200, 1330-1500, US$10, English, Spanish or French speaking guides available. Shop and bar, 0900-1700. This interesting, if rather pricey, 30-minute tour of the cigar factory unfortunately destroys the erotic myth that cigars are rolled on the thighs of dusky virgins. You are taken through the factory and shown the whole production process from the storage and sorting of the leaves, to rolling, banding, packaging, labelling and the final sealing with the government’s guarantee. Following a nine-month course, the skilled torcedores are expected to roll around 100 cigars per day as they listen to daily press or novel readings, a tradition continued since 1865. A rigorous quality control is enforced by the not surprisingly nicotine-stained quality controller, at the end of the production line, with substandard cigars being returned to the original roller. Many different brand names are made here: Partagás, Cohiba, Ramón Allones, Romeo y Julieta and Bolívar. These and other famous cigars and rum can be bought at the shop here, credit cards accepted, where you can enjoy a sample smoke, with a cooling mojito in the bar. The lightest and cheapest option is the Romeo y Julieta, US$3.40 each, the strongest is the Bolívar and the finest, to be savoured at US$12.90 each, is the Cohiba – first created just for Fidel. Cigars are also made at many tourist locations, for example the Palacio de la Artesanía, the airport and at some of Havana’s more upper-crust hotels. Chinatown Just west of Capitolio, at the intersection of Amistad and Dragones, is Barrio Chino, once the largest Chinatown in Latin America. The first wave of Chinese immigrants came to Cuba in 1847, and by the end of the century there were more than 10,000 Chinese inhabiting a ten-block area. They suffered the same discrimination as Afro-Cubans, working on the sugar plantations under what the government termed as ‘colonial contracting’, to all intents and purposes, slaves. In the 1940s and 1950s, this murky warren of opium-hazed streets was the playground of America’s hedonists. With a warp factor way beyond the titillation of today’s cabarets, the notorious Shanghai Theatre featured live sex shows. Graham Greene, who was all-too-familiar with the Havana underbelly, brought Wormwold here in Our Man in Havana. Following the Revolution, Chinatown’s debauched excesses were curbed, or creatively concealed at least, and a mass exodus decimated the Chinese population. In the 1960s, a flurry of Chinese immigrants arrived from California and the area was rejuvenated. The revival was short lived, however, and it is estimated there are fewer than 500 pure bred Chinese left in Cuba. The entrance to Chinatown is marked by an immense gateway crowned with a pagoda-style roof, the largest of its kind in the world. Continuing south, the area commonly known as Cuchillo de Zanja is decked out with colourful lanterns strewn above a vibrant ensemble of cheap restaurants, some rather less salubrious than others, and peso stalls serving up glutinous concoctions in cajas, or takeaway boxes. Both Hemingway and Fidel were patrons of the Pacífico restaurant, unmissable in the guise of a Chinese temple, but unsatisfying in the quality of the not-so-Chinese gastronomy. There are vestiges of this once ebullient Chinatown; an excellent colourful peso food market, Chinese pharmacy, herbal shops, arts centre and newspaper. Cayo Hueso Dating back to the beginning of the 20th century, Cayo Hueso is a run down barrio lying in a triangle between Infanta, San Lázaro and the Malecón. It was named by cigar factory workers returning from Key West and has nothing to do with bones (huesos in Spanish), although it was once the site of the Espada cemetery and the San Lázaro quarry. There are about 12,000 homes, mostly tenements, which have been earmarked for a slow-moving project to halt their deterioration. The project also involves educating the community in its own culture and history. In 1924, the factory workers built a place for their social activities on San Lázaro, which became the site of the José Martí People’s University. San Lázaro, with the Universidad de Havana’s wide stairway at its top, was the site of fierce and determined student movement demonstrations from the late 1920s onwards. By the mid-1950s, Infanta was the Maginot line where the students faced Batista’s troops. In July 1953, Fidel Castro departed from Calle Jovellar 107 for the attack on the Moncada Garrison in Santiago de Cuba. There is now a memorial plaque on Calle Jovellar. Callejón Hamel Salvador González Art Studio, Hamel 1054 entre Aramburu y Hospital, T 781661, ppaula@yahoo.com Cayo Hueso has lots of little alleyways, one of which, Callejón Hamel, an extension of Calle Animas, between Aramburu and Espada, unites two art forms: music and visual arts. It is home to Salvador González Escalona’s art studio. González is a self-taught painter and sculptor, inspired by the history of the neighbourhood, which is no stranger to Santería. He has painted large, bright Afro-Cuban murals on the walls of Hamel with a mixture of abstract and surrealist design. The murals also carry several phrases giving advice and warnings about danger, death and life. For example, “¿pa’que tu me llamas, si tu no me conoces?” (Why are you calling me, if you don’t know me?), a reference to bad spirits. The community-based project, with the first open-air mural in Cuba dedicated to Santería and reflecting Afro-Cuban scenes, opened in 1990. As well as murals there are other surprises such as a typewriter pinned to the door of the gallery, painted drums and sculptures of corrugated iron and bike wheels. Each time a mural was completed a rumba party was held to honour the different orishas, called Toque de Tambor (playing of the drums). This tradition has been continued and every Sunday from 1200-1500 there is a free Peña Cultural Alto Cubana, la Rumba de Cayo Hueso. These are very popular events within the community, and outside, attracting large, enthusiastic crowds. Every month there are activities, including on the last Friday at 2000 a cultural event called Té con featuring poetry, theatre, painting and music. On the third Saturday at 1000 there is a children’s activity called El Niño de Hamel, including clowns, theatre groups and educational games. During the activity a child is chosen to represent Callejón Hamel. This is a neighbourhood of filín, rumba and tango. Calle Horno was the site of the first cultural circle dedicated to Carlos Gardel (the Argentine maestro of tango), and is another centre for cultural activities. Cayo Hueso has the reputation of being a bit of a rough neighbourhood and not a tourist attraction, but it is well worth a visit for its rich cultural and historical associations. It is an easy stroll from the Hotel Nacional, Habana Libre and other nearby hotels. Hamel 1108 is the home of singer-songwriter Angel Díaz, and the birthplace of the musical genre known as filín (from ‘feeling’). Iglesia del Santo Angel Custodio Peña Pobre. Entrance also on Av de las Misiones. The Jesuits built this church in 1672 on the slight elevation of Peña Pobre hill. The original was largely destroyed by a hurricane in 1844 and rebuilt in neo-Gothic style in 1866-71. It has white, laced towers and 10 tiny chapels, no more than kneeling places, the best of which is behind the high altar. There is some interesting stained glass depicting the conquistadores. During the Christmas period some impressive figures around a manger are placed at the entrance.
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