Finca Vigía — Attraction in San Francisco de Paula

We were there in December 2009. We traveled legally to Cuba on a direct charter flight from LAX to Havana. The house is small and it seems well preserved. Pilar, Hemingway's boat is also on the grounds protected under a sturdy canopy. His cats are buried nearby.Though you are not allowed inside the house it is not an issue since you can look in all the windows and see everything clearly. In the toilet you can see where Hemingway wrote his weight on the wall along with the date. His books and desk are as he left them. There are a lot of books. If you have a zoom lens on your camera or a pair of binoculars you could read the titles. Entrance for residents of Cuba is very cheap. Non residents pay more and you are also charged extra for having a camera. Our host paid for our entrance and our camera fee. There is a tower on the property built to take advantage of any breeze and a desk with typewriter along with a chaise lounge are set out ready for the author to return. A wonderful place to visit and one of the highlights of our...

Do not count your stay in Havana as a successful visit, without a visit to Finca Vigía. I booked a taxi Plymouth Cranbrook 1953, and I drove to see the residence of my favourite author. Finca Vigía AD 1886. Catalan style/architecture. The house is surrounded by greenery. Located in the suburbs of Havana. It was a great honour for my soul and my heart when I was able to see the original belongings that Ernest Hemingway had in his hands. Typewriter, books, war correspondent uniform and lots of other his stuffs. Writer's room where he wrote. His handwriting. Library, living room and bedroom. Everything beautiful, exquisite and an original. Visitors are not allowed to enter inside the Finca Vigía, but they can make photos by through open windows and open doors. This should be understood. Visiting time? It's a difficult question. For me, as a fan of his writing, it was approx 3 hours.

I visited Finca Vigía on Thursday,...

It's Hemingway's house, so it is wonderful to think that such creativity lived here. It is hard to match the man who killed so many creatures with the man who wrote The Sun Also Rises and The Old Man and the Sea. The place is festooned with hunting trophies and dead things, but then we can also see the cemetery he created for his pets. He had 50 cats around the place. You can just imagine the lifestyle that he and his wife had here and the famous writers and such who visited, drinking cocktails in that big, bright room and sitting in the gardens. It is a bit rundown and it is a pity that the written material is so sparse. It is not easy to get there as an individual visitor. We hired a taxi and it cost a lot. Most others came by tour bus. It is a pity that the pet cemetery and the swimming pool are neglected. An empty, stained pool never looks good, but just to see the typewriter made it...