Havana + Hemingway

Bus trip to Havana. Visit the main attractions of the colonial part of Cuba's capital, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You will see squares, fortresses, palaces, and buildings erected by Spanish colonizers in the 16th–19th centuries. Visit places connected with Hemingway, including his House-Museum. Visit a Havana cigar factory or rum museum. Lunch in one of Old Havana’s restaurants. Free time is provided for souvenir shopping at the special market Almacén de San José and for an independent walk through Old Havana (streets, port, Almacén de Madeira y Tabaco brewery, etc.). Return to Varadero.

Price for adults $90 / children $68

You will see:

The historic center of Havana, known to all as OLD or COLONIAL HAVANA, which in 1982 was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Includes visits to:

• The Capitol, built in 1929 by Italians from Italian Carrara marble.
• The Grand Theater of Opera and Ballet named after Alicia Alonso, built in 1837 and considered among the three most beautiful and famous theaters in the world.
• Central Park, surrounded by 4 famous hotels and in the center a monument to José Martí.
• Obispo Street – Havana’s Arbat, where the bar “Floridita” is located, proclaimed in 1953 as one of the seven most famous bars in the world. This bar was Hemingway’s favorite place. The first chapters of *The Old Man and the Sea*, for which the writer received the Nobel Prize in 1954, were written there.
• The monument to Sancho Panza.
• Hotel Ambos Mundos, where Hemingway always stayed from 1932 to 1939 and where several chapters of *To Have and Have Not* and *For Whom the Bell Tolls* were written. Now it is a museum.
• Hotel Florida. One of the brightest examples of colonial style, where Isadora Duncan stayed, and Hotel Marqués Prado de Ameno. An old palace built in 1760.

The excursion also includes visits to 4 squares:

Plaza de Armas, where are located: the Palace of the General Captains, the oldest fortress on the American continent Real Fuerza, Hotel Santa Isabel – former palace of Count Santovenia (where former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and many Hollywood stars stayed twice), the monument to the Father of the Nation Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, who began the liberation war against Spain on October 10, 1868, and the chapel with the ceiba tree near which Havana was founded in 1519.

Plaza de la Catedral (Cathedral Square), where the Havana Cathedral is located, in which Columbus’s remains were kept for 103 years, and three palaces of two counts and one marquis (currently one houses the Patio restaurant, another the Museum of Colonial Art, and the third a museum, shops, and administrative centers).

Plaza Vieja (Old Square), where there are old palaces, the famous La Muralla brewery, Café Escorial, restaurants, one of which hosted American singer Madonna’s 58th birthday celebration on August 16 this year.

Plaza San Francisco de Asís, where there is a monument to San Francisco, a famous church, one of the oldest in Havana, Lonja del Comercio (former Stock Exchange), the fountain of lions, a monument to Chopin, and a monument to Caballero de París. In the inner courtyard of the square is a Greek Orthodox church.