Post #775601 by mikehooker on Wed, May 3, 2017 3:33 PM

Well we did it! Fresh back from our Havana trip and already planning a return visit. My wife and I were joined by our friend Jonny, and they should both be given credit for the majority of the photos here. They not only have better cameras than me, I was too absorbed in the beauty of my surroundings I rarely remembered to pull out my camera.

We stayed in a very clean and updated casa in the Vedado district ($50/night), just a couple blocks from the Riviera Hotel which overlooks the Malecon. We ended up at the Riviera every day, multiple times a day. That place is spectacular. Oh, and we saw Anthony Bourdain there picking up a wifi card.

There were so many other incredible architectural and design features there that we didn't capture.

I can't understate how friendly the people of Havana are. Our host noticed my birthday was two days after our arrival so he left me a very welcome gift.

Our first full day on the town we took a taxi to Habana Vieja. Most every ride we took during the course of our stay cost 5 CUC for the three of us. Typically they'd ask 6, 8 or 10 and we'd negotiate down to 5.

Our first stop, Floridita.

Notice the doors are not open yet. Same at Sloppy Joes.

Cubans appear to start their day late. We did return to both, though. Twice.

The Bacardi building was roughly in between those bars. Such a glorious sight.

I love that the bat still proudly adorns the roof top.

And details like this still exist.

I thought there was a bar inside but the guy at the door said it was just offices. What does a guy gotta do to get a daiquiri around here?!

We ventured onward to the Museo de la Revolucion.

EDIT: Forgot to post this photo of the magnificent Dome ceiling.

And this mural just below it.

We very nearly missed the wall of Rincon De Los Cretinos!

While getting a good chuckle here some Americanos informed us of some street art nearby that we might also enjoy.

Next stop, Castillo San Salvador de la Punta, a 16th century fortress with some breathtaking views

Alright, enough dicking around, let's get a drink!

Sloppy Joe's, celebrating 100 years of service was absolutely dead. We took a seat at the bar and ordered daiquiris, "Natural," which means shaken. You have to specify or they make them frozen. Not only do I prefer my daiquiris that way, we had some concern about ingesting too much water there and figure there's less dilution in a shaken daiquiri than a slushy one.

Next stop, La Floridita!

The place is completely unchanged from the photos I've seen from the 50s.

The live entertainment was wonderful. And unlike Sloppy Joe's a few blocks down, the place was PACKED!

We couldn't get seats at the bar so we joined a table with a friendly couple from England. Now, during the rush at Floridita they whip up a dozen or more frozen daiquiris at a time in multiple blenders and have an assembly line of glasses lined up. It's a very efficient way to feed and please the masses. We were the jerks that asked for our Daiquiris "Natural" in the height of a rush. Abel gave a quick dirty look to us, then went to work.

Such a trooper!

This day is only half over but I'm gonna give this post a rest for now, leaving you with one final image.

Part 2, tomorrow.

[ Edited by: mikehooker 2017-05-06 14:24 ]