central havana

We walked several miles through and around Central Havana and really enjoyed it. The cars are amazing -- mostly from the 50's and 60's and in mint condition. Take a taxi ride in an old Pontiac convertible! The buildings are beautiful and I hope as they modernize, the government will require any renovation to keep their magnificent facades. Even basic English is non-existent with the locals, so brush up on your Spanish. There seemed to be two sets of prices in most places, one for tourists and one for locals, so be careful. Be sure to go to their craft/art/warehouse/center.(I don't remember the name) You can find all kinds of items, and loads of beautiful, local art.

There are many interesting spots in Havana. The buildings are a mix of renovated and dilapidated. Very interesting for the camera buff. The people are very friendly and sincere. It's the old cars that make the trip. Like stepping back in time.

You just must walk around Havana to experiance alk it has to offer, yes parts of it are ramshacklled and crumbling, yes some streets are dark and dirty but at no time did we ever feel threatened or unsafe its a must when you travel to see how the locals live In my opinion to truly understand a place and its culture.

if you are ready to mix with locals, it is a must to walk it through, cath a taxi (not as elegant as in touristic places) and just be with people. It is busy. Much less expensive, than Old Town. You can find a local beer place or buy a sandwich on a street. interesting experience.

Any visit to Havana should encompass a few hours at least, walking around the old town with hundreds of restored as well as crumbling facades to see and experience. A great deal of restoration is ongoing so with each passing year the city is changing. We felt very safe walking around and were not hassled at all. The worlds largest open air classic car display is as unique as the city itself. You should not visit any of the nearby resorts without coming to see the real Cuba, the city of Havana.

Lots and lots of old American cars.Fabulous old buildings.Bars with jazz groups and impromptu salsaMohitos to die forCheap snacks on roadside stallsWonderful Cuban people to chat to

very enjoyable. We were a group of 8 walking through centro and found it to be interesting. The Cubans were in no way bothersome. Rather we felt welcome in the neighbourhood.We were invited into one persons place as he was very proud of it. We graciously accepted and the walls were fully adorned with items that I certainly would not put on my wall but he sure was proud of his possessions. It was a great glimpse into a cuban neighbourhood.

With Malecon and ocean on North and Old Havana on East, Central Havana is a big neighbourhood where there is no big hotels but lot's of casas which tourist can rent and emerge into real Cuban life as much as possible with good level of comfort.Our suite (a room with a private shower and bathroom) turned out to be quite small, but more than ample for a good night’s rest and refreshment between our numerous escapades into the city. We dropped our bags in the room quickly, remembering to stash our personal documents and money in the PackSafe we bought especially for this trip, and took a shower (the water pressure was not very strong, but the water heated up very quickly with the help of some device installed in the showerhead and stayed very warm), and left for Malecón, a famous Havana boardwalk. It was already getting dark and there were still a few city blocks to walk to get to Malecón. Exiting the doors of the casa, we were immediately immersed in the Saturday life of central Havana, both beautiful and terrible at the same time. We were faced with the broken narrow sidewalks hugging the weathered skins of aged houses, which were no doubt beautiful at some point but now lay forgotten and disfigured by a half-century of disrepair. Dust lines the streets and is transformed into black sludge with the slightest rain, along with dog feces which the dog owners (even those who have their thoroughbred pets on leashes) never pick up. Every few blocks there are huge modern trash cans which, at night, are tipped over with loud crashes into garbage trucks and during the day are sifted through by old men searching for stray cans and bottles to exchange. Yes, it smells throughout the whole quarter, but from down the Malecón the smell of the sea breeze constantly manages to break through the stink and looking down the narrow streets you always see the small window of the blue Gulf of Mexico shimmering off in the distance. The stench of garbage and dog feces mixed with the salty sea air and diluted with the heavy gasoline vapors is more like something from the old USSR, not like our own, clean, American air. After two days, this odor started to nauseate me, but so far that first night we made our brave moves towards the Malecón, sidestepping “dog-bombed” ground and jumping over many pits in the streets. Ah, Malecón, which I wanted to see so badly live after seeing it on so many images, first on Havana postcards brought back from Cuba by my father in the sixties and then on the internet! Street life is simple. Cubans sit, half-naked or in t-shirts, in their apartments with the doors flung wide open. Children play outside, concerned with each other, and other just sit on chairs right in the street and watch the passers-by as some men repair an old Lada. Some teenagers stare with interest at my camera, trying to make out the brand. Nobody bothers us. The last street before Malecón is very busy. There are no traffic lights, you have to just time the crossing carefully. Then, ruins – and that was the once-great street looking out at the sea! To the right – my favorite view of the fortress of El Morro and the lighthouse. There was an old photo, which is now lost, where my father is standing at the end of Malecón, with El Morro in the background. To the left are the high-rises of the Melia and other hotels in the distance. On the Malecón there is an endless stream of cars, but it never gets to the point of traffic jams – everyone is racing. A lot of the cars are modern, but the majority is still made up of old, antiquated American and Soviet cars. There are no crosswalks, so you have to find the right time and run across the road to the midpoint, where you balance on the thin traffic line and then wait for another moment to run across. The sea was not all that calm that day. Sometimes fierce waves would gush over the concrete walls of the esplanade. It’s cold. It seems we’ve brought the cold and gray weather to Havana from the Grand Caymans…Because of the bad weather, there is almost no one on the Malecón. On an empty street we were stopped by workers from a café called “Pablo Neruda” and invited for dinner. Carlos later told us they have good food and large portions, but we never actually got to have dinner there. “Do you know who Pablo Neruda is?” asked a man in a white waiter’s apron. Of course we know. He was very surprised, and asked us where we were from. Upon learning that we were Russian, he remarked, “See, it is only the people from the third world who know who Pablo Neruda is, but the so-called civilized countries don’t know a thing about him.” We had to return to the casa, upon Carlos’s orders, exactly at seven for dinner. Carlos cooked for us a lobster served with some delicious sauce of his own recipe.We climb the steep, metal staircase to the roof, where there is a covered terrace, painted by Carlos himself, with a bar and two dining tables surrounded by old record players, seashells, and tropical vegetation. Here we will have breakfast every day and sometimes dinner, too. The night was rough. Saturday’s Havana sang and partied all night long. Even the whirring of the loud air-conditioner couldn’t drown out the sounds of the neighbors conversing across the streets and the crashes of the garbage cans and the klaxons of car horns. Different bachatas and latin rap music occasionally added to the din and then melted away. In the end, exhaustion forced us to sleep. Breakfast was scheduled for 8 A.M. and we climbed out of bed only out of respect for our hosts, who were already clattering the pans upstairs, preparing our morning meal.

lots of people's everywhere you can see a buildings museum outstanding construction,very unfortunate how the buildings deteriorated because of the embargo,inhuman very little food a lots of dirt but very safe people's friendly,they are proud of Cuba

Not the shiny side of Havana like Old Havana, but the people's area. No tourist stuff, just people living and working(?) every day. Great for photos. We walked even at night with camera equipment, never felt threatened, even though you hear there is petty crime in the area, we spent many days wandering the photogenic streets of "Centro". Nothing is refurbished here, for that go to Old Havana with the tourists. Old Havana is also great, just different.