Cuba - Day 3, January 5th

Don't forget to click on any photo to see a larger version.

Today we walked to Hotel Parque Central where we purchased our internet/wi fi cards at $8 per hour and spent several minutes posting our blogs and sending a couple of emails. Then we visited the roof top swimming pool area (on a later visit we learned, when we were refused entry, that it was for hotel guests only) and took some photos. I can't recall if these photos from on high were from here or the Hotel Sevilla - but no matter, really.

The askew photo shows part of the Parque Central, the Capitolio and, on the right, the street near the beginning of the Prado.

Next is a view looking down on the Prado and the following is a view looking northwest toward the Strait of Florida in the distance.

From here we went back down Calle Obispo to the handicraft market near our hotel. We explored but did not patronize.

Café Lamparilla

Back at the hotel we had a bit of a rest before continuing on our walking tour. As we had not yet had lunch, we stopped at the Café Lamparilla where we had a beer and some food while enjoying relaxing music in the attractive outdoor part of the café. 

From the Café we went by the Plaza Vieja which we had visited earlier. Here we found a couple children's street entertainers with a small audience of children and parents. Very soon after we arrived the program ended and the audience dispersed but I did get a couple of photos of the entertainers. 

Plaza Vieja

This plaza seemed to be the place for activities - on another occasion we saw a stage and large speakers, presumably in preparation for some event though we never did learn what. And, in the evenings there were streamers of lights, people eating and drinking at tables on the plaza and others selling and playing with some light toys which were somehow launched into the air and during descent created a swirl of coloured light. I was tempted to buy one to find out how they work, but resisted.

Plaza San Francisco de Asis

We went next to the Plaza San Francisco and the Iglesia y Monestario de San Francisco de Asis. In the 1700's the plaza served as the main shipping dock for passing Spanish galleons. The Iglesia y Monestario, built in the early 1700's ceased to have a religious function in the mid 1800's and today serves as a children's theatre, museum and concert hall.

Iglesia San Francisco de Asis

In front of the Iglesia is a bronze statue of El Caballero de Paris. José María López Lledín (30 December 1899 – 11 July 1985) known as El caballero de Paris (en: The gentleman from Paris) was a well-known and popular street person in Havana in the 1950s. In his later years he was hospitalized with the diagnosis of a form of schizophrenia and died in hospital in 1985. His remains rest in the Iglesia de San Francisco. In the photo you can just make out the statue to the left of the person pushing the stroller.

While at the church of San Francisco we learned of a concert scheduled for that evening-  Concierto - Orquestra de cámara - Nuestro Tiempo playing Mozart Conc 13 for piano and orchestra and Beethoven' Emporer's Symphony. We decided that we would come back for the concert that evening.

Across from the Iglesia was a small art gallery and garden, with a particularly interesting wall at the far end, which we visited briefly before going to make reservations at the Restaurant el Templete, which the Lonely Planet book praises..

Then we went on to the Plaza de Armas, Bob's favourite plaza in Havana. Here there is a very pleasant park in the centre of the plaza and in the centre of the park is a statue of Carlos Manuel de Céspedas, the man who, it is said, set Cuba on a track to independence in 1868.

The plaza surrounding the park is filled with book stalls and displays where you can buy all manner of used books and magazines. There is a predominance of books on Cuban history especially the Revolution. On the west side of the plaza is the Museo de la Cidade, originally the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales which has served a variety of purposes for the Spanish and U.S military since its origins in the 1700's. 
 

Castillo de la Real Fuerza

On the seaside of the plaza is the Castillo de la Real Fuerza, with the Giraldilla tower mentioned in the last blog post - Day 2 and here, unlike the earlier photo of the tower, you can actually see the weather vane.

Here we found, as we did frequently elsewhere in both Havana and Cienfuegos, serious games of chess or dominoes with accompanying attentive audiences.

After a brief tour of the Plaza de Armas we headed home for a bit of rest before returning to the Plaza San Francisco for the concert which was excellent. Both soloist pianists were very good but Sergio Pita was outstanding - a flamboyant showman and, to my limited ear, an extraordinary pianist. After a wonderful concert and two rousing encores by Pita we enjoyed a very good meal at the Templete.

(I am writing the blog several days late so the chronology may not be accurate but no matter really.)