December 18, 2017 – Havana, Cuba Day 2

We woke up and had breakfast provided by the hotel at 7 AM and were off by 7:45. They also gave us snack boxes for the day, which we never ate, but gave them to someone begging at one of the rest stops.

Our first stop today was a walking tour of old town, which had been or was in the process of being restored. There were three squares that we visited. The first one was St. Francis of Assisi Square. The Cuban government is agnostic, but the Cuban people can practice their religions openly.  The most prevalent religion is catholic followed by the Satanista, which is an African religion. In this square is the old church, which is now a concert hall. Also, there is the customs house. The square is where the market used to be held. Also in the square are restaurants that used to be banks. The statue is title Conversation and is a French sculpture. Here we also saw the first mosque of Cuba that was open in 6/17/2015. There are also three synagogues in Cuba.

The second square we visited was Arms Square. Here there is a fortress from the 1600’s. The large house is where the governor lived. It is made of limestone, as are most of the buildings down here. In front of the Governors house is a street with wooden bricks. As the soldiers parading in front of the house disturbed the Governor’s wife, so he had the bricks changed to wooden. In the second half of the 17^th century the former American Embassy was in this square. Today it is the Museum of National History and a library. Here is also the first hotel that had bathrooms. Jimmy Carter stayed here. He called a branch of the University of Havana the ugliest building in Havana.

The third square is Cathedral Square. The Jesuits were kicked out of Cuba, so the cathedral here was never finished. The alcoves on the outside of the church to do have any statues in them. The two towers are different heights, as before the second one could be built, they had built something next to it, so the tower could not be as high. The houses in the square were occupied by the people that wanted to be near to the church. The largest fort, 2.5 square km, is across the street. It Is called La Cabana.

The next stop was a market where they sold handicrafts.

We then drove by their capital building. It is a replica of the one in the US. But, it has a larger dome. We then stopped at a cigar store for those who wanted to buy cigars. We took pictures.

Next we stopped at Fusterland. This is where an artist named Fuster did the whole town in tiles, at his own expense. It was quite amazing.

We then stopped for lunch at Habanera Bar and Grill. Very good lunch.

Our last stop was at the Bay of Pigs. Here I was able to get some sand. There is now a hotel where we landed. There is also a museum there, but we were not able to take any pictures.

One of the interesting parts of this tour were the roads. They had potholes everywhere. Some had plants growing in them. They do not maintain their infrastructure.