Post #775686 by mikehooker on Sat, May 6, 2017 2:24 PM

Part 4.

Sunrise from our balcony.

One more day of exploration.

We began with a moderate uphill stroll from our casa to see the Monumento de John Lennon.

Several blocks later we arrived at the Colon Cemetery which was established in 1876.

We found a few monuments nearly that old. Some were decrepit with exposed remains.

While others were extremely impressive and well kempt.

Overall, this reminded me a lot of the cemeteries in New Orleans but less weathered and better maintained.

We hired a taxi to bring us back to old Havana.

We spent a good amount of time at Castillo de la Real Fuerza, a fort and museum with some awesome relics from ship wrecks and a fantastic view from the bell tower.

Then we sauntered along Obispo searching for guarapo with no such luck. Stopped in a used book store looking for old cocktail recipe books and a craft market to try and find some souvenirs but struck out at both places. We did happen upon these adorable, albeit very tired dogs.

Decided the trip would not be complete without one last stop at Floridita.

It was so packed and rowdy we contemplated not going inside. I'm so glad we thought better of it cuz this visit turned out to be a highlight of the trip for me. After several minutes we were able to finagle our way into a crammed spot at the bar and order daiquiris. In the mad rush I dared not order them "Natural" so we settled for the frozen kind. They were good and went down super fast. We noticed the couple next to us had a drink in a collins glass which threw us since til that moment we'd not even seen a drink menu and the only ones going around were daiquiris and the occasional Cuba Libre. I even heard the bartender deny someone a mojito. What was this mystery elixir? They tell us it's a Hemingway. OHHHH! Duh! Of course you could order a Hemingway at Floridita! So we did. They weren't good. Nor were they particularly strong. Shall we leave now? Nah! We had prime real estate at the bar. Let's make the most of it. Another round of daiquiris? Why the hell not!

By my estimation we'd only been there about 30 minutes and were already working on our third cocktail. The busyness and obnoxiousness of the barrage of tourists stopped bothering me. I started feeling really happy, just taking in the history and beauty of my surroundings. I felt at ease. I didn't want to leave. Ever. I tried to imagine what it must have been like to come here before it was a crazy tourist trap. What the drinks must have been like before the Revolution.

Suddenly, the band wrapped up. The crowd dissipated. There was a nice lull before the next tour bus was to drop off another swarm of thirsty patrons. I order a Daiquiri "Natural." With a soft chuckle and slight eye roll, the bartender grabs the shaker tins and mockingly blows off the dust, then goes to work on his masterpiece. A hefty scoop of sugar, a squirt of lime juice and a wee bit of maraschino liqueur is doused with a generous pour of Havana Club Anejo 3 Años. Ice is added and he gently shakes my daiquiri to absolutely perfection. What he poured into my glass was an honest to goodness reason to live. I wish those few precious sips could last forever. I imagine this is what Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic tasted in their early travels that set them on their journey to creating the perfect potions that we obsess over and still celebrate all these years later. This daiquiri gives me a new purpose and outlook on life.

Or maybe I was just really drunk. I did consume around 8 ounces of rum in less than an hour.

Anyway, Havana is a beautiful city. As others have stressed, it's also very safe. We never felt threatened at night or anywhere we wandered. The locals we encountered were extremely friendly and excited to see Americans. If anything, we were the rude ones who would initially be standoff-ish, assuming they were trying to scam us. I wish we had more time to explore and more room in our suitcases for rum. We definitely want to return at some point. We'd likely do a couple more days in Havana as we never made it to the Tropicana or Hemingway's house, and we'd spend the rest of the time in Cienfuegos, Trinidad and other areas.

Here's my rum haul.

PS - I added a couple photos to my previous posts so if you read them when they first went up, you might want to take another gander.