10 suggestions where to eat
MÁS HAVANA
Calle Habana, 308, e/ San Juan de Dios y O'reilly, Habana Vieja
Telf.: +53 7 8643227
CASA MIA PALADAR
Calle 1ra #103, e/ Calle C y Calle D 1er piso, La Habana Vieja Telf.: +53 7 8329735
MOJITO-MOJITO
Muralla No. 166 e/ Cuba y San Ignacio Habana Vieja
Telf.: +53 7 8018187
HABANA 61
Calle Habana No. 61 e/ Cuarteles y Peña Pobre, Habana Vieja
TELF.: +53 7 8016433 5 SENTIDOS
San Juan de Dios No. 67 e/ Compostela y Habana, Habana Vieja
Telf.: +53 7 8648699
SAN IGNACIO 214
San Ignacio 214. Habana Vieja Telf.: +53 5 5642880
EL CAFÉ
Amargura #358, e/ Aguacate y Villegas, Habana Vieja Telf.: +53 7 8613817
JÍBARO
Merced 69 | e/ San Ignacio y Cuba, Habana Vieja
CHACÓN 162
Calle Chacón No.162, Esq. a Callejon de Espada, Habana Vieja
Telf .: +53 7 8601386
OTRAMANERA
Calle 35 No. 1810. e/ 20 y 41, Playa Telf.: +53 7 2038315
Thinking of me, I imagine myself city, I think that the ailments you have are what you can feel when you have lived so long. Five centuries is little compared to ancient cities like Athens, in Greece, or Istanbul, in Turkey. But it is a lot for us in our America. Havana is part of that new wave that opens with the Spanish conquest and colonization. And it has a wide scale of values. There is a symbolic value: it is the nation's capital, the head; but at the same time it is also very representative of all the cultural, intellectual, political, historical and social values of the Cuban people. It is also a catalog of the most beautiful and dazzling architecture that reached the Island, with features that can also be found in Camaguey, Santiago de Cuba or Trinidad. For example, that Moorish architecture, of Hispanic and Muslim influence, is very characterized in the historical center. Later, that timid, but exciting baroque of the Cathedral of Havana, contained more in a mood, in a kind of feeling or atmosphere that the Cuban writer
Alejo Carpentier described vigorously in The Century of Lights, his great novel.
There is the neoclassical city, with El Templete, the monument dedicated to the foundation to Havana, a kind of small model that also reproduces with great originality in other cities of Cuba, such as Matanzas or Cienfuegos. And then, that city of eclecticism that is so impressive, in Centro Habana, full of gargoyles, atlantes, extraordinary figures, imaginary creatures. There, the art nouveau (Cueto de la Plaza Vieja building) is almost subversively cast and then the art deco is very splendid, as in the Emilio Bacardí building, to make the architecture discourse even more intense. And finally, Havana of modernity, which reaches its splendor from the hand of Viennese architect Richard Neutra in the House of Schulthess, one of the most beautiful of the cast where Fifth Avenue takes us.
Havana is a living city of wisdom and memory: in this lively metropolis we find the acropolis of wisdom that is the beautiful campus of the University and the great monumental cemetery, the necropolis, beautiful too.
Our task is to promote the idea of preserving the memory of the city, not only when it comes to commemorating its fifth centenary, but in everyday life. I have dedicated more than three decades and I confess that sometimes preaching that cause was like doing it in the desert. I wish to affirm that culture has been almost a motto of our Master Plan for the rehabilitation and restoration of the historic center. Every development project that
dispenses with culture only generates decay. On the other hand, the human factor is very important. I would like to make these commemorations become a popular passion. If they do not transcend the town they will be reduced only to an official speech, move some stones and print some papers.
One of the challenges facing cities declared World Heritage is the difficulty of reconciling tourism - sometimes massive - and the conservation of heritage values. And we must ensure that Havana does not disappear under a tide of tourists. But, at the same time, I believe that tourism should not be demonized, a necessary activity, an important economic factor,
and in the case of Cuba - given its isolation -, an opportunity also to initiate a direct dialogue with visitors from all regions I must confess that I have almost lost the battle against the sea, a battle that could only be fought by Neptune with his trident. I cannot forget the images of the devastating waves breaking against the
Castillo del Morro, erected for centuries in front of the sea and the latter penetrating the city, covering the Prado gardens with salt, wearing down the foundations of ancient palaces and modern buildings. They are dantesque visions that are repeated at every step of a cyclone. We have lost the battle against the sea, but we must win our fight against climate change. Great challenges and new adventures await us., In the restoration of "the smile of Havana", our Malecon
It is true that everything has always taken me to Havana. They have really been many years of work and commitment. I do not regret. If there were another life than this that we know below, my soul will wander eternally through Havana. It has been the best of my loves, the best of my passions, the greatest of my challenges. I really don't know why I always return mysteriously to her, in the light and in the silence, in life and in the dream.
It was originally a villa founded in 1514 by Don Diego Velázquez under the name of San Cristobal de La Habana in a lowland and unhealthy place on the southern coast, which forced its transfer through different territories until 1519 when it was settled in the vicinity of Puerto de Carenas.
Due to its economic and strategic geographical location as a fleet gathering port, from the 16th century until the 19th century, Spain developed here the most complex and powerful defensive system in America, turning it into a walled city. As the cultural capital of the country, Havana, shows a diverse and attractive range of artistic manifestations that validate its selection in 2016 as Wonder City.
Capital: Havana, Capital of Cuba Extension: 721, 01 km2 Municipalities: Arroyo Naranjo, Boyeros, Centro Habana, Cerro, Cotorro, Diez de Octubre, Guanabacoa, Eastern Havana, Old Havana, La Lisa, Marianao, Beach, Revolution Square, Regla and San Miguel del Padrón Gentilicio: habanero / a
Limits: It limits to the north with the Strait of Florida, to the east with the province of Mayabeque, to the south with the provinces of Mayabeque and Artemis, and to the west with the province of Artemisa.
Access: Its main access route is air; it has three air terminals for international services and one national. In addition, it has multiple accesses by sea such as the Hemingway and Tarara Marinas, as well as the Cruise Terminal of the Bay of Havana. Havana communicates with the rest of the provinces through the National Highway, the Central Highway, La Vía Blanca and through the national rail network.
LUGARES DE INTERÉS HISTORIC CENTER OF OLD HAVANA AND ITS FORTIFICATION SYSTEM
Declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site in 1982, its restoration and conservation as an Urban Historic Center in absolute communion with the community in a sustainable and sustainable way, has been the main commitment of the Office of the Historian of the City. Since its birth in the early sixteenth century, Havana, focused its main axes of social, cultural, religious and military life around five places. It is almost impossible to visit the ancient city without falling into one of
these, which of all more beautiful and enigmatic, full of stories, myths and legends that gave rise to the imaginary of the city.
1 ARMS SQUARE
Foundational site of the Villa de San Cristóbal de La Habana, grouped since 1559 the political, military, religious and civil function. In 1589 it acquired its current physiognomy, being surrounded by the most important public buildings of the Villa.
2 EL TEMPLETE
Baratillo y O´reilly Opened on March 19, 1828, it commemorates the founding celebrations of the Villa de San Cristóbal de La Habana. It was built according to the plans drawn by Don Antonio María de la Torre and reproduces on a small scale a Greco-roman temple of neoclassical style. Bishop Juan José Díaz de Espada y Landa solemnized the opening ceremony, and the French painter Juan Bautista de Vermay portrayed the attendees in a large canvas that is preserved on the premises, along with two others who recreate the first mass and the First council. Vermay's mortal remains were deposited in the small temple. In his garden there is a memorial ceiba that accommodated the foundation of the city, and the Cajigal Column reminder of the site where the first ceiba was.
3 CASTILLO DE LA REAL FUERZA, NAVAL MUSEUM
O´relly y Baratillo
Telf. 7 864 4488/89
Its construction began in 1558 and concluded in 1577, it is the oldest of the city's fortifications and is considered a jewel of Renaissance architecture in Cuba. With walls 6 m wide and 10 m high, it forms a huge square with triangular bulwarks in the corners. It is surrounded by a flooded moat and its only access route is through a drawbridge. It was almost useless as a strategic surveillance point due to its distant location of the entrance