Walking Old Havana Part 1

La Habana Vieja (as it is called in Spanish), founded by the Spanish in 1519, is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  Come let's take a walk.

Roughly, La Habana Vieja is the area bound by the Paseo de Marti (which locals call "Prado") to the west and encircled by the Havana Bay from all other directions.  The Prado is a long boulevard...going north, there is a big island in the middle where many people relax.  Many trees provide shade.  It's just like Las Ramblas in Barcelona! :-)

Many artists sell their works here.  

The south end of Prado is a collection of elegant structures.  The blue building is the Hotel Telegrafo, named for the fact that it is the first place to have a telephone line connected in Cuba!  Next to it is the Hotel Inglaterra and beyond is the Gran Teatro.  When we were there, there was a ballet performance.  We saw elegantly dressed people entering.  We also met with scalpers selling extra tickets.  They breed everywhere!!! 

We had lunch at the cafe of the Telegrafo.

The sidewalk outside of the Hotel Inglaterra was fun to walk on!

...and this is a closer view of one of the steeples of the Gran Teatro.

Past the theatre, you have El Capitolio (completed in 1929)...quite a resemblance to that famous building in Washington D.C.!

Across the street is Parque Central (Central Park)...no resemblance to New York's.  There is a monument to Jose Marti, the national hero of Cuba.  Somehow, his life has some parallels with that of Jose Rizal, the Philippine national hero...both were intellectuals and both fought for independence from Spanish rule.  Both countries got rid of Spain in 1898...only to fall into the hands (though in different forms) of the Americans at the end of the Spanish-American War.  That Treaty of Paris was as significant to the Cubans as it was to the Filipinos.  That's enough history for now... :-)

Now that we've sort of skirted the boundary of Old Havana, let's go in.  

(To be continued...)

(All photo credits: Yours truly.  All rights reserved.)