So in my last post, I talked about the resort we stayed at — Las Morlas, and visiting the tallest bridge in Cuba (I won’t repeat the name just because I can’t spell it). But now, I’m gonna talk about touring Havana; the capital of Cuba. The drive from Las Morlas to Havana was around one-two hours, but the drive wasn’t boring at all. Part of road there was bound by the ocean, and the entire way, we got to look at pretty vintage cars. (The car on the left looked like a bunch of what was on the road and the green one was just pretty-looking).
So the same day, right after going to the bridge, we went here:
And now I know to take pictures because I have no idea what or where this was. I just went on Wikipedia to do a fact check. True story.
Our tour guide called this the “Great Wall of Cuba,” except this ain’t got nothin’ on the Great Wall of China. In the second photo from the bottom, there were just a whole bunch of goats congregating and eating grass. FACT ATTACK: Well anyways, the fortress we went to was called the Fortaleza de San Carlos de La Cabana. Or, for typing purposes — The Fort of Saint Charles. This 18th century fort is located at the entrance to Havana — the capital of Cuba. Interestingly enough in 1959, Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, two of the leaders of the Cuban Revolution captured the fort to use as a military prison. Oh and for those that don’t know, those two men led a rebel group that opposed the dictator, Fulgencio Batista, of the time. Unfortunately, the reformed government was extremely communist. Or to me, at least.
So afterwards, we visited the national hotel of Cuba. The place where all the famous people go to stay: Walt Disney, Ernest Hemmingway, Frank Sinatra, Fidel Castro, and other politicians and celebrities. It’s a beautiful building, kinda the equivalent of our Banff Springs Hotel… and we have no actual pictures of the hotel. Woops. But here are pictures of the courtyard facing the ocean and picture of the bar where they hung photos of famous visitors.
Well, it just happened so that Havana was all busy with the Pope coming the next day, they had the press set up at all the best landmarks. Fencing and yellow tape kept us out. So yep, we were disappointed. We got the best view of landmarks by driving by slowly and snapping as many pictures behind the car windows as possible. It didn’t really work, but it’s the thought that counts. Here’s a decent picture taken behind the tinted windows of the car. FACT ATTACK: We got a picture of Revolution Square which was famous for the political rallies where many politicians addressed Cubans. This time, the Pope was going use this space to address the masses.
It was an awkward tourist moment because we weren’t allowed to hang around any of the nice picture perfect locations… So we kinda just went and ate lunch, which was okay, because I like food. We had yummy Cuban food in the heart of Havana. EVERYONE, like every member of my family and my friend’s family got lobster and I got a hamburger. So much regret T_T. I should’ve given into peer pressure that time. The picture doesn’t do the food justice. But anyways, the restaurant actually used to be a mansion. Dang, son. The ceiling was open and arched, it was blue and colorful, it was well preserved. Take a look.
So the exploring didn’t just stop after lunch. We kept going and going and going. But since this is turning into a wall of text, a Part Tres will be on it’s way. Toodle-loo~