Plaza de la Revolucion

So we arrived on 1/4/16 (our intention was to arrive on 1/3/16!) and here we are tied up at Marina Hemingway!!  As we were having coffee in the cockpit on the morning of the 5th when the folks on the Catamaran tied up in front of us came over to visit.  They apparently watched us coming in on the morning of the 4th and wanted to come and meet the "crazy people" who were out there in that storm.   From here unfortunately my posts will be a little out of order as I am missing my pics from the 5th and will have to make up that day later!  Sorry!!  So fast forward to the 6th - a lovely day!  Woke up that morning and after changing money decided to to head to the Plaza de la Revolucion which is the base of the Cuban Government.  Several folks in green army uniforms around - decided it would not be a good idea to photograph them!

On the Ministerio del Interior is the famous mural of Che Guevara - revered in Cuba for his part in the revolution.  On the mural it says "Until Victory, Always".  And then in 2009, they added another mural on the telecommunications building of Camilo Cienfuegos.  Another hugely important revolutionary who apparently once famously replied to a question by Fidel  "You are doing well, Fidel".  And so those are the words below his mural.

Across from the Plaza de la Revolution is a huge Carrara marble statue of Jose Marti - yet another revolutionary.  Likely the most revered as he fought for years for the independence of Cuba and is referred to as the "Apostle of Cuban Independence".  He led the Cuban War of Independence from Spain and later his writings inspired both the Castro brothers and Che.  After our visit to the Revolution Plaza we decided to walk to the Necropolis Cristobal Colon.  At 56 hectares it is the largest cemetery in the Americas.  It was founded in 1876 and is noted for its incredibly beautiful sculpted monuments.  Most are sculpted out of Carrara marble (imported from Italy) by Italian masters (also brought in from Italy).  As it turned out the fellow that we paid the entry fee to offered to be our guide (for nothing more than a tip) - Alex's english was perfect and we were so glad to have him show us around. 

This is the main entry gate to the cemetery.  And below is the beautiful sculpture on the top of the

gate - the sculptures are of faith, hope and charity.  Below is one of many family vaults.  The family are just laid one on top of another as they die in the vaults.  When another family member dies they are just added to one of the vaults.

Whole generations of families are in those four tombs!!  Below are pictures of one of the most famous monuments in the cemetery .  It is a monument for firefighters who died trying to save a hardware store.  Only the owner of the store failed to tell them the hardware store was filled with explosives.  They all died.  Every part of the monument is symbolic for example the upside down torch signifies death.  Along the base are the images of the firefighters, but they were missing one image so the sculptor put his own image under that firefighters name!  Clever. 

Another stunning monument was to the students who were killed in the 1957 attack on Batista's presidential palace.  I loved the simplicity of the row of Cuban flags and the way their tombs are stair stepped.  Just beautiful!

We decided to top off our great day roaming around the cemetery with a mojito at the Hotel Nacional and then dinner at a paladar called El Laurel - very near Marina Hemingway.  It had started to rain a little and we were walking out of the cemetery in search of a taxi when this old 1957 Chevy pulled up and stopped.  A fellow got out of the back seat and someone said that looks like Ozzie Osbourne.  When he heard his name he looked up and Michael said - well hell that IS Ozzie Osbourne.  At that point Ozzie ducked down and headed to his car - hoping to not be photographed I suspect.  We continued our search for a taxi.  Below are photos of the Hotel Nacional - a historic and stunning hotel in Havana overlooking the Malecon (Havana's famous seaside road).

Lobby of the Hotel Nacional

View from the Alfresco Bar at the Hotel Nacional - waves breaking on the Malecon

 Famous guests here included: Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, Mickey Mantle, Errol Flynn, John Wayne and the list goes on. 

Sipping a mojito at the Hotel Nacional

Grounds of the Hotel Nacional

The Hotel is so beautiful now that it is easy to imagine how incredibly beautiful it was back in its heyday.   After the mojitos - which were pretty perfect- we headed to dinner at the paladar El Laurel. In 2011, when Raul took over he allowed people to start restaurants in their homes (paladars) - the Cuban people had no problem adapting to "private enterprise" it seems as there are many paladars now.  El Laurel was recommended to us by the lady on the Catamaran.  We started out eating outside on a little terrace - but then the rain came.

Inside of El Laurel

  

Our original plan was to walk back to the Marina - but now the rain was just poring down.  Unfortunately, we had not anticipated the difficulty of getting a taxi at that time of night to go to the marina.  And... taxis are not really allowed in the marina after dark!   After about 45 minutes the fine folks at El Laurel did manage to secure us a taxi and we took our short ride to the marina.  In the couple of minutes it took us to run to the boat we managed to get completely soaked.  We could not stop laughing at our foolishness.  Such a fun day - loving Havana!