Editor’s Note: Freeline Media editor Michael Freeman reports back from his recent visit to Cuba, and has some advice to his fellow Americans: Book your flight to Havana as soon as possible!
HAVANA, CUBA — Plaza de San Francisco de Asís in Old Havana. Talk about finding paradise early in the morning in this gorgeous public square.
I’m sitting next to a statue of Chopin on a bench, surrounded by cobblestone streets. It’s like walking back in time. Pigeons cluster in a wide open square, two stray dogs lie in front of a doorway — I’m not sure if that’s their home or if they’re sticking together like two old friends.
We’re waiting for our tour guide, Abel, for an afternoon tour of the island of Cuba. It’s 7 a.m. and we get the glory of watching the sun rise over the city of Havana in its historic district, and in, one of the oldest public squares in this remarkable city.
We’re staying at what is probably consider a luxury hotel right in Old Havana, Hotel Catedral, just a couple of blocks from the ocean. Our room has two floors, the first with a dining room/living room combo, and then you go up the wooden stairs to the spacious bedroom. The unit is quiet and exceptionally well air-conditioned — perhaps too well air-conditioned. That felt at first like a big plus since it was very warm and muggy when we arrived at the airport, and the cab driver Carlos (who had been booked by our travel agent) drove us to the hotel. As we walked from the airport to our cab, the heat felt like Orlando in July. Luckily the cab had air conditioning too.
But in the next few days, the temperatures were milder, with the heat cooling off at night — similar, in fact, to Orlando in April. With just a thin white sheet on the bed to cover us at night, we kept waking up around 3 p.m. feeling chilled.
What Are Some First Impressions of Havana?
It felt like there was a fair amount of poverty near the airport, small homes and 3-4 floor apartment buildings that have really aged and seemed a few years away from collapsing. In contrast, our hotel is in Old Havana’s historic area, and it’s anything but a Super 8 motel; it has its own bar in the lobby serving rich Cuban coffee and strong Cuban Rum, a fancy restaurant where meals start at $25 and breakfast is complimentary for guests, and an outdoor deck on the top floor with a pool, bar, and a pretty spectacular view of the city below and the ocean.
As appealing as the hotel was, upon our arrival on Thursday afternoon (the flight from Orlando to Miami on American Airlines is just a quick, 30-minute jump, while the American Airlines flight from Miami to Cuba wasn’t much longer at 50 minutes) we decided to venture outside and start walking, exploring the area, seeing what we could find.
A few blocks from our hotel is a beautiful historic Cathedral – and lots of lots of people eager to hustle you. Their approach is unique, to say the least. Some offer to exchange your dollars to pesos, some are peddling Cuban cigars, and some tell you they can show you the best restaurants in the area — for a small fee. They were all acting friendly and saying things like “Amigo! Here in Havana for the first time? On vacation? Let me help!,” anything to get you to tip them. There seems to be a zillion of them and they’re polite, aggressive and super-pushy. One man wanted to know if I would give him my cap so he could give it to his son. He even offered to trade it for his cap (on his sweaty head.) I recommended he remind me on Sunday, our final day on the island.
How is the Food in Havana?
We did discover a dead end street filled with cozy little restaurants, and I do mean cozy. They mainly had outdoor seating, four or five tables max, while inside was the kitchen where they prepared food. We chose one called estonoesuncafe, a great choice. We got seated at a small table outside — by now, the heat had started to ease — and I feasted on their roasted chicken, sauteed vegetables, rich and black beans, and a very strong red wine that didn’t taste anything like the red wines in the U.S.
Our tour guide Abel would later tell us that it probably wasn’t Cuban-made red wine, since he called that “undrinkable” and used mainly for cooking. More likely, he said, it was imported from Venezuela or Chile.
The smell of the chicken attracted two hungry-looking and very thin stray cats. Finding them irresistible, I began to give them pieces of chicken — and it was a big hit. Suddenly five stray cats were at our table. One was particularly aggressive and would try to climb on my lap to eat off my plate. Our waiter would run out with a spray bottle and spray them with water to shoo them away — but they kept coming back, the little devils. And more cats kept showing up. Word got out fast, lol.
Then back to our hotel we went, and after several glasses of wine, long walks in the hot sun and two flights that morning, I was tired. The hotel bed was marvelously comfy.
Next: Traveling around Cuba on Friday.
Michael Freeman is an Orlando journalist, playwright, and author of the book A Christmas Eve Story. Contact him at Freelineorlando@gmail.com.
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