After a nice breakfast at our home, we boarded our motorcycles and headed out into the streets. As with any new country, it is always a great experience to go out for the first time on a motorcycle to experience and observe driving habits, traffic patterns, police biases, and people’s customs. A great feeling … you find yourself fully present and aware as you take it all in … with a big smile in your face.
We found relatively empty streets, slow drivers, old cars, and really old cars, and a. lot of electric motorcycles. Our first ride was through the Vedado neighborhood where a lot of great old mansions built on what used to be a protected park.
We stopped at the old quarter to walk around. Lots of memories. A UNESCO world heritage site that has been greatly developed and improved since the last time I saw it … very nice, clean, with lots of tourists and nice restaurants. Stopped at the Plaza de la Revolucion, with a big Che Guevara portrait on a building and lots of pre-revolution Chevy’s, Cadillacs, and Buicks, and the Capitol, a replica of the one in Washington DC.
In the afternoon, we visited el Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro, the Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabana and the Christ overlooking the city across the river. These are the Spain fortifications built to protect the port in the 1700s.
A great ride around the Port of Havana (motorcycles are not allow to use the underwater tunnel that would have saved us 30 minutes) through the piers, warehouses, cruise ships, and even a floating electric plant from Turkey. Met Dulaine and Richard who ran the coffee shop at el Morro and talked about life and philosophy for a long time under the shade of a Ceiba tree at the top of the fort. Time seemed to have slowed down considerably for some reason. The good old question always comes back when experiencing something like this … why does time run so fast in the States?
For dinner, we went to the amazing FAC (Factoria de Arte de Cuba). An old factory turned into a unique art-driven gathering place … it made Time Magazine’s list of World’s Greatest Places … there were amazing art exhibits, sculptures, a theater with a ballet recital going on, a dance area … tapas restaurants … and people from all over the world just enjoying the experience. Wow.
Tomorrow, we head out into the interior of Cuba. To see and experience places I have never seen or visited.
We found relatively empty streets, slow drivers, old cars, and really old cars, and a. lot of electric motorcycles. Our first ride was through the Vedado neighborhood where a lot of great old mansions built on what used to be a protected park.
We stopped at the old quarter to walk around. Lots of memories. A UNESCO world heritage site that has been greatly developed and improved since the last time I saw it … very nice, clean, with lots of tourists and nice restaurants. Stopped at the Plaza de la Revolucion, with a big Che Guevara portrait on a building and lots of pre-revolution Chevy’s, Cadillacs, and Buicks, and the Capitol, a replica of the one in Washington DC.
In the afternoon, we visited el Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro, the Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabana and the Christ overlooking the city across the river. These are the Spain fortifications built to protect the port in the 1700s.
A great ride around the Port of Havana (motorcycles are not allow to use the underwater tunnel that would have saved us 30 minutes) through the piers, warehouses, cruise ships, and even a floating electric plant from Turkey. Met Dulaine and Richard who ran the coffee shop at el Morro and talked about life and philosophy for a long time under the shade of a Ceiba tree at the top of the fort. Time seemed to have slowed down considerably for some reason. The good old question always comes back when experiencing something like this … why does time run so fast in the States?
For dinner, we went to the amazing FAC (Factoria de Arte de Cuba). An old factory turned into a unique art-driven gathering place … it made Time Magazine’s list of World’s Greatest Places … there were amazing art exhibits, sculptures, a theater with a ballet recital going on, a dance area … tapas restaurants … and people from all over the world just enjoying the experience. Wow.
Tomorrow, we head out into the interior of Cuba. To see and experience places I have never seen or visited.
At breakfast at Luis' house getting ready to go around Habana
At the Plaza de la Revolucion
At the capitol in Habana
The Teatro Nacional
Habana la vieja
A Guayabera shirt factory
An old pharmacy with nothing to sell
Cubans love their music
A UNESCO World Heritage Site
A Ceiba Tree - a close cousin of African Baobab
Beautiful old cars everywhere
The group at lunch in Habana Vieja - David, Rene, Charles, Yordy, Luis, Wouter, and Anton
Got the music fever! Had to go play
A proper motorcycle rebel
Phew! Barely enough to pay for lunch
La Plaza Central in Habana Vieja
The view of Habana from the other side of the port in El Morro fort
Part of el Morro fortifications
A lonely construction crane in Habana
My friends Dulaine and Richard at the coffee shop inside el Morro
The Chapel in el Morro
Jesus overlooking the city
At the FAC in Habana (Fabrica de Arte Cubano)
An old factory converted to an arts center
Amazing sculptures - this one is all silver and 3 feet tall
The dance room inside the FAC
A ballet performance (amazing) inside the FAC
Some of the galleries inside the FAC
Yeap!
Wouter and Anton outside the FAC
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