Adrian Brown. Special to The Globe and Mail. Saturday, March 18, 2000
La Habana Vieja, full of charming, weather-worn buildings and narrow, intriguing roadways, both disarms and delights
Havana -- Perhaps nowhere else but in the streets of Old Havana can one admire so much Spanish colonial architecture alongside so many vintage Chevrolets and Fords limping along on battered shocks and tired old whitewalls. The grinning drivers and their passengers seem undistracted by the
mechanical secrets that keep these antique beasts moving through beautiful, surreal cityscapes. Everywhere you look in Havana, there is a singular, unique image waiting to be recorded.
Declared a World Heritage Site in 1982, La Habana Vieja is one of the oldest settlements in the America's -- full of charming, weather-worn buildings and narrow, intriguing roadways. You needn't be an architecture buff to be instantly disarmed by the delightful atmosphere enveloping this city.
Walking the streets of La Habana Vieja will sweep even the most unsentimental of travellers from their feet.
Founded in 1514, what was called then San Cristobal de la Habana was moved to its present location in 1519 beside the Bay of Havana. For over 200 years, it was the most important Spanish port in the Americas -- serving as a gateway to Spain's vast colonial empire. Great castles and defensive
walls were built in response to attacks by French pirates, but proved ineffective against the powerful British forces -- who held the city for almost a year in 1762.
Havana has grown immensely since then, and La Habana Vieja long ago spread past its old defensive walls into the neighbouring areas of Centro Habana and Vedado; the resulting population is now more than two million.
Pristine beaches are only a 20-minute ride east, in Playas del Este. The short distance to Playas del Este will require a $10 to $15 cab ride, as buses are heavily crowded and their comings and goings sporadic. Nothing on the modern highway seems to move faster than a laidback 30 or 40 km/h,
(slower if you're travelling uphill). You almost begin to feel that the jaunty jalopies are in a curious race -- one where the winner places last.
Taxi drivers often stop and pick up locals hitching a ride along the road. At home, it would seem entirely inappropriate to have a complete stranger sharing the back seat of your hired car. But crawling along in a '57 Chevy under Havana's oppressive, subtropical heat alters one's notions of what
is proper; you welcome these unique opportunities to meet and mingle with ordinary Cubans.
The beaches of Playa del Este begin about 18 kilometres east of Havana and stretch another 10 kilometres to the town of Guanabo. They are excellent for swimming, often with little or no surf. And though some patches are extremely popular with Cubans and European tourists, it is possible to find
secluded areas good for a beach towel and book.
But the beach can distract a visitor for only so long. That is where La Habana Vieja comes in. Drenched in history, it is a truly awe-inspiring place to wander aimlessly among churches, museums, galleries and memorials. Street after street is graced with grand façades, boasting massive
wooden doors, barred windows and narrow sidewalks in front -- barely wide enough for one person to pass. Relaxing in open doorways, Cubans chat -- for all to hear -- with neighbours down the street. Laundry dries on lines above, and competing music vies for listening ears.
Strolling along the Bahía de la Habana -- on Avenida Carlos Manuel de Céspedes -- you will encounter the Castillo Real de la Fuerza. Built between 1558 and 1577, it is the oldest colonial fortress in the Americas and affords an excellent view across the harbour entrance. An art
gallery sits on the main floor, where the massive stone walls offer cool respite from soaring Havana temperatures.
Beside the castle lies Plaza de Armas and the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales. Decorated with massive, gently swaying palms and a statue of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes -- a landowner and revolutionary leader during the 10-year struggle against Spanish rule that began in 1868 -- the plaza
is an excellent place to relax while admiring the stately charm of this magnificent building. Put to a variety of purposes over the years, the palace has been a museum since the late sixties; a statue of Christopher Columbus stands in the courtyard.
Though not distinct from La Habana Vieja, a short distance west lies the municipality of Centro Habana. Reigning over this entire area, the hugely imposing Capitolio Nacional appears to be a replica of the U.S. Capital Building in Washington, D.C. Both commanding and beautiful -- and with huge
bronze doors detailing Cuba's history -- it presides over Centro Habana with grandiose omnipotence. Just inside the entrance, set into the floor below a 60-odd-metre high dome, is a replica of a 24-carat diamond from which all distances in Cuba are measured. The adjoining rooms and hallways are
glorious in design.
Continue north from the Capitolio Nacional and you will eventually arrive at the entrance to Bay of Havana and the fortress, Castillo de San Salvador de la Punta, that guards it. To the west, the Malecon -- also called Avenida de Antonio Maceo -- continues for many kilometres along Havana's
coast, looking out upon the Straits of Florida. Along this stretch of sun-baked, wave-battered boulevard are the old U.S. Embassy and the neighbourhood known as Vedado.
Americans established a strong presence here at the turn of the 20th century, and within a short period of time Vedado became a hot destination, prospering greatly under the Batista government. Decadent nightclubs, casinos, bars and restaurants lured hordes of U.S. tourists and Mafia thugs. The
area was a hotbed of unseemly activity until Fidel Castro arrived in January, 1959, and began reshaping the country into the Cuba we know today.
Politics both past and present -- most notably the continuing U.S. embargo, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the stubbornness of Castro -- have importantly shaped what is here today. The economic difficulties are apparent; day-to-day life involves food, medicine and fuel shortages that have
made Cubans, by turns, defiant and depressed, proud and sometimes just philosphical. In La Haban Vieja, certainly, it is not just the magnificent architecture, the museums and art galleries -- or even the proximity to white-sand beaches and crystal-blue waters -- that leave their mark on a visitor.
It is also the vitality of the local character, in the face of indignities great and small, that makes this a destination worth discovering.
Adrian Brown is based in Toronto
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