Places of Interest :

Havana.

The centre is divided into five sections, three of which are of most interest to visitors, Old Havana (Habana Vieja), Central Havana (Centro) and Vedado. The oldest part of the city, around the Plaza de Armas, is quite near the docks. Here are the former Palace of the Captains-General, the temple of El Templete, and Castillo de La Real Fuerza, the oldest of all the forts.

From Plaza de Armas run two narrow and picturesque streets, Calles Obispo and O'Reilly (there are several old-fashioned pharmacies on Obispo with traditional glass and ceramic medicine jars and decorative perfume bottles on display in shops that gleam with polished wood and mirrors). These two streets go west to the heart of the city to Parque Central, with its laurels, poincianas, almonds, palms, shrubs and gorgeous flowers.

To the southwest rises the golden dome of the Capitol. From the northwest corner of Parque Central a wide, tree-shaded avenue with a central walkway (where small boys wizz up and down on homemade skateboards and other vehicles), the Paseo del Prado, runs to the fortress of La Punta.

At its north sea-side end is the Malecón, a splendid highway along the coast to the west residential district of Vedado. The sea crashing along the seawall here is a spectacular sight when the wind blows from the north. On calmer days, fishermen lean over the parapet, lovers sit in the shade of the small pillars, and joggers sweat along the pavement.On the other side of the six-lane road, buildings which from a distance look stout and grand, with arcaded pavements, balconies, mouldings and large entrances, are salt-eroded, faded and sadly decrepit inside. Restoration is progressing slowly, but the sea is destroying old and new alike and creating a mammoth renovation task.

Further west, Calle San Lázaro leads directly from the monument to General Antonio Maceo on the Malecón to the magnificent central stairway of Havana University. A monument to Julio Antonio Mella, founder of the Cuban Communist Party, stands across from the stairway.

Further out, past El Príncipe castle, is Plaza de la Revolución, with the impressive monument to José Martí at its centre. The large buildings surrounding the square were mostly built in the 1950s and house the principal government ministries. The long grey building behind the monument is the former Justice Ministry (1958), now the headquarters of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, where Fidel Castro has his office.

The Plaza is the scene of massive parades (May Day) and speeches marking important events. It was completely transformed for an open air mass held by the Pope in January 1998 with huge religious paintings suspended over the surrounding buildings. From near the fortress of La Punta a tunnel runs east under the mouth of the harbour; it emerges in the rocky ground between the Castillo del Morro and the fort of La Cabaña, some 550m away, and a 5 km highway connects with the Havana-Matanzas road.